The Neoliberal Round Podcast

🎧 [Intro Music fades]Renaldo McKenzie (warm, reflective tone):Welcome to The Neoliberal Round. I’m your host, Renaldo C. McKenzie.And today… we unwrap a Christmas story you won’t hear in Sunday School.This isn’t about mangers and wise men.It’s not about presents or peppermint lattes or who made the better Christmas album—Mariah or Luther.No, today we’re going straight to the heart of the matter.And the question is this:Did Jesus come to start Christianity?[Pause, shift in tone—more direct, provocative.]I say no.In fact, I believe He came to end religion as we know it.He didn’t come to build churches.He didn’t come to draft doctrines or start denominations.He wasn’t trying to manufacture salvation plans or loyalty programs to heaven.Jesus came to tear down the walls that said some belong and others don’t.Let me tell you what I mean.Jesus was a Jew.Born into a deeply tribal faith with rituals, lineages, and laws that made it crystal clear who was in and who was out.And what did He do?He looked out at the fishermen. The tax collectors. The Samaritans. The Gentiles.And He said: “You. Yes, you. Come with Me.”He took the spiritual insider’s club…and threw open the doors.Not with a key, but with His very body.He said, “You don’t need to be born Jewish. You don’t need a pedigree. You don’t need the right last name or temple membership.”All you need—is Me.But here’s the twist, friends.The religious elites didn’t like that.They said, “Who are you to say they belong? Who are you to let them in?”And so they killed Him.Not just for claiming to be the Son of God—but for daring to say God is for everyone.Let that sink in this Christmas.See, Jesus didn’t come to found a new religion.He came to expand a family.To make room at the table.To say that the divine is not a gated community.But what happened?The people He tried to welcome got rejected again—so they built their own house.They called it Christianity.And in time…they built their own walls too.Two thousand years later, the family is still divided.Christians claim inheritance through faith.Many Jews reject that claim.And we’re left with holy paperwork and broken homes.But if you peel back the theology, the rituals, the politics…You’ll hear something deeper.A whisper from a man born in a stable,Who died on a cross,And still says to us today:You belong.Not because of what you do.Not because of where you were born.But because you are seen.Because you are loved.And that, my friends, is the true gospel.This Christmas, don’t just ask what you believe.Ask who you are excluding.Ask what walls you’ve built.Ask if maybe… just maybe…Jesus came not to give you a religion to cling to—But a family to open wide.🎧 [Outro Music rises]I’m Renaldo C. McKenzie, and this has been The Neoliberal Round.Share this message. Speak your truth. And remember—The kingdom of heaven is not a fortress.It’s a feast.And every chair is waiting to be filled.Merry Christmas.Stay woke. Stay free. Stay whole.Until next time.Subscribe to us at https://anchor.fm/theneoliberal, Subscribe on any stream.Visit our websites at theneoliberal.com and renaldocmckenzie.com and store.theneoliberal.comYou may donate to us at https://donate.stripe.com/7sYcN48uybAA2OEb9V93y06