So . . . when WAS Jesus born?

SO! News flash: Jesus was not born on December 25th, year 0.

OK ~ for those of you who are freaking out ... yes, that is a fact. And yes, I am sure, and yes ,we can know for sure. HOW can we know, you ask?                                      ... (so glad you asked)

It is like a word problem in math 
            what? ... yes, I know, everyone hates word problems in math...don't worry. I will do the work.

To start our quest for when, we go to the gospels. First the gospel of Luke.

Luke 1:5
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah;

What does that have to do with anything? Well, a long time before that, in the time of King David, the priesthood from the line of Aaron had been split into divisions based upon priests who were high priests and their descendants. If you go to I Chronicles chapters 23 and 24 you will read the story of how David took the descendants of Aaron and in a very precise and orderly way divided the priests into groups and assigned them a very specific schedule of when they would serve in the temple.

1 Chron 24:10
the eighth to Abijah ,

1 Chron 24:19

This was their appointed order of ministering when they entered the temple of the LORD, according to the regulations prescribed for them by their forefather Aaron, as the LORD, the God of Israel, had commanded him.

So that means the Zechariah, who was from the line of Abijah, served in the eighth week of the year. Now if you are interested, I found a very clever website that gives a really clear explanation of all of this, complete with charts and time breakdowns. It is http://www.aloha.net/~mikesch/sukkoth.htm.  And quoting from this very clever website:

"Beginning with the first month, Nisan, in the spring (March-April), the schedule of the priest's courses would result with Zacharias serving during the 10th week of the year. This is because he was a member of the course of Abia (Abijah), the 8th course, and both the Feast of Unleavened Bread (15-21 Nisan) and Pentecost (6 Sivan) would have occurred before his scheduled duty. This places Zacharias' administration in the Temple as beginning on the second Sabbath of the third month, Sivan (May-June)."


"And", I hear you ask, "what does that have to do with Jesus?"
Well, Luke goes on to tell us that Luke 1:23-25
When his time of service was completed, he returned home. After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion.

and
Luke 1:26-28
 In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin's name was Mary.

So...stay with me..."in the sixth month" means 'in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy' because Luke has noted that Elizabeth remained in seclusion for 5 months and then in the 6th month, the angel went to see Mary. And again quoting from the website:

"Now working from the information about John's conception late in the third month, Sivan, and advancing six months, we arrive late in the 9th month of Kislev (Nov-Dec) for the time frame for the conception of Jesus."

And of course, if you work forward 9 months from then, you find that Jesus was born some time in September of October, which would be in the Hebrew month of Tishri. 

See...we CAN know. Thank you, Luke! And if you look at the 'date markers" that Luke gives regarding Mary and Joesph's trip to Bethlehem for the birth of Jesus because of the tax levied by Caesar Augustus, and then do a bit of research on line, you can discover that Caesar Augustus had 3 taxations and censuses...the three empire-wide censuses were in 28 B.C., 8 B.C., and 14 A.D. The 8 B.C. date is the only one that could correspond to Jesus' birth and Herod's reign. So ... later church fathers got it a bit wrong and if you mark the separation of history by the birth of Jesus, you are 7 to 8 years off. So we can know that Jesus was most likely born some time in September/October in 7 or 8 B.C.

So ~ WHY do we celebrate Christmas on December 25th? There is a reason. It is not random. It is not a plot made by retailers so there will be lots of money spent at the end of the year.  And stay with me, cuz at first you may freak out.

Christmas is in December because that is when Winter Solstice occurs . . . and . . . that is when the pagan world in the Roman era of the early church celebrated Saturnalia. And NO, it is not that the early church father merely wanted to go on celebrating Saturnalia and put a Christian veneer on it. And yes, some of our traditions come from things pagans did at Saturnalia. OK...don't freak out! This one fact, for me, makes Christmas amazing and special and awe-inspiring. Here is my thinking:

In the days of the early church a couple of things were true -- people didn't celebrate birthdays. And, they did not have week-ends off, and they didn't get a regular 2 to 4 week vacation every year. What they did have were the festivals. A big one was Saturnalia. This occurred at the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, and the turn of the year when days began to get longer and longer and the year headed out of winter and in to spring. (quote from Wikipedia) Originally celebrated for a day, on December 17, its popularity saw it grow until it became a week-long extravaganza, ending on the 23rd. Efforts to shorten the celebration were unsuccessful. Augustus tried to reduce it to three days, and Caligula to five. These attempts caused uproar and massive revolts among the Roman citizens. Saturnalia was a time of feasting. In some places people decorated the evergreen trees, since the evergreen was 'sacred' and the tree victoriously stayed green overcoming the power of winter. So you can see, Saturnalia was a BIG deal. There is a lot of speculation about this, and I disagree with the motivation assigned to the early church by a good many of those who write articles about Saturnalia's link to Christmas. In my research I came across quite a few articles that suggest that the early church simply "let" early pagans go on celebrating Saturnalia -- as a kind of concession. This is what I think -- I think the Church Fathers used the fact that people were going to gather and celebrate at the end of December. They took the traditions and symbols already familiar to these people and used them to explain the story of Jesus and the truth of the gospel.

The people decorated evergreen trees -- and the church father (I think) said, 'Don't worship the tree. Worship the Creator. What the tree is, is a symbol of eternal life....these trees don't just stay green in winter, they don't die.  Just as the tree conquers the power of winter, Jesus conquers death and gives us eternal life.
And, Jesus hung on a "tree" - the cross - to purchase your salvation, and eternal life for you.'  At Saturnalia people lit candles -- to give light in the dark of winter. The Church Fathers might have said, "These lights represent Jesus who is THE Light of the World, in a world darkened by sin and death." At Saturnalia people went from house to house singing...this became caroling. I am sad actually that here in CA, where I live, caroling is a lost tradition. Christmas carols..."real" ones like "Hark the Herald Angels Sing", and "Away in a Manger" and "Oh Come All Ye Faithful" etc are full of Scripture and tell the story of Jesus. And so on and so on and so on. At Saturnalia gifts were given. At Christmas gifts are given  -- NOT to create selfishness, and greed in the hearts of our children and to give retailers a boost financially -- gifts are given because Magi came and gave gifts ~ extravagant gifts ~ to Jesus.   And OF COURSE because God gave the best gift of all -- The Father, God, so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him. (John 3:16-17) 

You see, I think making Christmas be December 25th was something the early church did ON PURPOSE. They USED what the world did, and what the world believed. The took the already established celebration, and the symbols and traditions already in place. They did not fight -- they did not ban the people from a celebration already in place -- they used them to teach and to proclaim the truth about Jesus. And I am CONVINCED that I am right. Let me ask you one question : Do you know any one who celebrates Saturnalia?? ... OK, someone somewhere might ~ but they would be in such an extreme minority that they can, I think, safely be disregarded. For all the world -- Christian and non-Christian -- Christmas is about Jesus. They may have parties, play 'secular' Christmas songs like "Gramma Got Run Over by a Reindeer", decorate with snowmen instead of Nativity scenes. But the world does know Christmas is about Jesus. What the early church did was radical ~ a powerful and VERY successful radical evangelistic act. Yes, it took time. But now...now the WORLD sees Jesus in the manger, see the wise men, sings songs about angels singing to shepherds. Even if they don't love or believe in Jesus, it is like they get invited to his party every year.

I want to honor and continue this wonderful, radical plan initiated so long ago. I want to do Christmas on purpose too. Here is what I suggest. Give gifts -- and tell people, your friends both Christian and non-Christian -- the story of the Magi. Talk to your family -- especially your children -- as you decorate and use the symbols to talk about Jesus:

Put up a Christmas tree and, in a really natural way, talk about evergreen trees symbolizing eternal life, talk about how Jesus gives us eternal life and he died on tree for us. Put up a nativity scene and talk about the trip to Bethlehem, talk about the shepherd and the angels; talk about the star and the wise men. As you string lights, remind them that Jesus is The Light of the world. Give gifts -- and when you give extravagantly -- talk about the Magi, and talk about how Jesus is the greatest gift ever, given super extravagantly by our loving heavenly Father. Give your friends, perhaps especially your non-Christian friends, good CD's of Christmas carols (please make sure they are good!) -- the ones that tell the story of Christmas. Send Christmas cards, if you do send them, that show and tell the Biblical  story about Jesus.
Do Christmas ON PURPOSE.

Comments

  1. So i was reading a website about advent, and the author was talking about different carols...specificlly "God rest Ye merry Gentlemen". She said that rest and merry meant different things in middle ages...so what the writer of the carol wanted to say was "God make you mighty, Gentlemen"

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