Archbishop Henry Orombi’s Christmas Message: His Name Still Means Saviour

The angel of the Lord told Joseph, "Mary will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1.21) The name ‘Jesus' literally means "The Lord saves."

The world into which Jesus was born was not a good place. His Jewish people did not have their own country; they were living under an oppressive, colonial government. Their Roman overlords were corrupt, harsh, and recruited other Jews to extort money from them through outrageously high taxes. Zaccheus was one of those Jewish tax collectors the Romans recruited. He stole a lot of money from his people in order to make himself rich at their expense.

There was a lot of idolatry in the occupying government and among the colonialists. They burned incense to the Roman King, and even sacrificed children to other gods.

There was also a lot of immorality in the world into which Jesus was born. There was financial corruption. People engaged in sexual immorality and did many sinful things to satisfy their sexual appetites. They had many sexual relations and then had abortions to kill the children conceived by those unions. There was also homosexual practice, and widows and orphans were abandoned and left to fend for themselves.

The world into which Jesus was born was not a nice place. And, yet, it sounds a lot like our Uganda of today - except that we have our own independence and freedom. We no longer have colonial overlords. Instead, our corruption means one Ugandan is stealing from another Ugandan. We are doing these things to ourselves. To read more, click here.