So WHY is Christmas in December?
OK, so take a deep breath. Are you feeling a bit nervous? Wondering why I titled the blog "So WHY is Christmas in December"? Are you thinking, "Well, duh! It is in December cuz that is when Jesus was born." If so, sit down ~ ummm ~ NO. He wasn't born in December. No, no...I am sure. Really. No, don't storm off...you CAN know for sure.
Go to the gospel of Luke.
Luke 1:5-10
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah;
Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood,
So doing some research into the Jewish calendar, a bit of math, you can figure out what time of year it was when John the Baptist was conceived.
One of the commentaries I read said,
And then if Dr. Lightfoot reckon, with the help of the Jewish calender, that this course of Abia fell on the seventeenth day of the third month, the month Sivan, answering to part of May and part of June,
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
So let's estimate that John was conceived in late May ...
Then ...
Go to the gospel of Luke.
Luke 1:5-10
In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood,
So, Luke gives us a time marker: when Zechariah, who was in the division of Abijah, was on duty serving in the temple. Then if you go to I Chronicles:
1 Chron 24:2-5
With the help of Zadok a descendant of Eleazar and Ahimelech a descendant of Ithamar, David separated them into divisions for their appointed order of ministering.
They divided them impartially by drawing lots....
1 Chron 24:10
the eighth to Abijah ,
NIV
1 Chron 24:19
This was their appointed order of ministering when they entered the temple of the LORD,
So doing some research into the Jewish calendar, a bit of math, you can figure out what time of year it was when John the Baptist was conceived.
One of the commentaries I read said,
And then if Dr. Lightfoot reckon, with the help of the Jewish calender, that this course of Abia fell on the seventeenth day of the third month, the month Sivan, answering to part of May and part of June,
(from Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition, Electronic Database. Copyright © 1991 by Hendrickson Publishers, Inc.)
So let's estimate that John was conceived in late May ...
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, if you add 6 months to when John was conceived, you can know when the angel came to see Mary and she conceived, and ... add 9 months and you get the time of year when Jesus was born.
So let's see: 5 (month of May) + 6 = 11 . . . that would make it sometime in late November or early December when the angel visited Mary. Add 9 months and we get sometime around August. OK, this isn't exact ~ we don't have an exact date for Jesus' birthday, but it is clearly NOT the end of December. Have I blown your "white Christmas" images to bits...are we still on speaking terms. . . are you yelling, "Scrouge Scrouge -- Grinch Grinch"?
Why did I burst this bubble? Why am I even asking this question? You see there is a REASON we celebrate in December and not in August. No, there is! and it is a GOOD reason!!!
Back when the early church was expanding, people around the world lived a very different life-style. They didn't take week-ends off, they didn't do summer vacations, they didn't really have all the state-sponsored holidays like we do. BUT there were a couple of times a year that they, as a whole community, celebrated certain yearly events ~ events which were part of the pagan religions. One of these was "Saturnalia" or "Winter Solstice". It was the shortest day of the year. In many cultures this day was dedicated to the worship of the Sun god. You can go on line and do research and find out all the things they did. Some traditions included worshiping and decorating with certain trees -- holly and evergreen trees, giving gifts, lighting candles . . . etc. So the early church fathers did not say, "Oh, evil Saturnalia. Don't do it! Do not participate in that evil celebration." (OK, I am sure that some of them actually did say something like that...) But what they did do was redefine Saturnalia. They may have said, "Let's look at what this holiday is really about. Who is the REAL Sun God: Jesus who is the Light! He came into the world to give you life. Let me show you. . . for example the evergreen tree...." They took the images, traditions and practices of this holiday that was already part of the fabric of peoples' lives and re-wrote the script, using what was already in place and adding elements to it in order to tell people about Jesus, and to present the gospel to people.
and
Check it out: IT WORKED!! I mean, really! Who do you know who celebrates Saturnalia? OK...SOMEONE out there might know someone...but most of us don't. I have read lots of articles that disparage the early church fathers for doing this "dastardly thing" ... hijacking Saturnalia. Many of them said their plan was a failure...many say their motives were ghastly. I don't agree. I think it was a brilliant, inspired strategy. And Christian or not Christian ~ American, English, Russian, French, Brazilian, South African, etc. etc. ... people from all over the world celebrate Christmas. No, they don't all love Jesus. BUT they do "come to His party! Right?!
I think we should honor these brilliant men and women who gave us this tradition-packed holiday by celebrating ON PURPOSE!!
To help you do just that, I want to spend some time in this "advent-y" blog series looking at what we do for Christmas and looking at how it preaches the story of Jesus.
So, if you add 6 months to when John was conceived, you can know when the angel came to see Mary and she conceived, and ... add 9 months and you get the time of year when Jesus was born.
So let's see: 5 (month of May) + 6 = 11 . . . that would make it sometime in late November or early December when the angel visited Mary. Add 9 months and we get sometime around August. OK, this isn't exact ~ we don't have an exact date for Jesus' birthday, but it is clearly NOT the end of December. Have I blown your "white Christmas" images to bits...are we still on speaking terms. . . are you yelling, "Scrouge Scrouge -- Grinch Grinch"?
Why did I burst this bubble? Why am I even asking this question? You see there is a REASON we celebrate in December and not in August. No, there is! and it is a GOOD reason!!!
Back when the early church was expanding, people around the world lived a very different life-style. They didn't take week-ends off, they didn't do summer vacations, they didn't really have all the state-sponsored holidays like we do. BUT there were a couple of times a year that they, as a whole community, celebrated certain yearly events ~ events which were part of the pagan religions. One of these was "Saturnalia" or "Winter Solstice". It was the shortest day of the year. In many cultures this day was dedicated to the worship of the Sun god. You can go on line and do research and find out all the things they did. Some traditions included worshiping and decorating with certain trees -- holly and evergreen trees, giving gifts, lighting candles . . . etc. So the early church fathers did not say, "Oh, evil Saturnalia. Don't do it! Do not participate in that evil celebration." (OK, I am sure that some of them actually did say something like that...) But what they did do was redefine Saturnalia. They may have said, "Let's look at what this holiday is really about. Who is the REAL Sun God: Jesus who is the Light! He came into the world to give you life. Let me show you. . . for example the evergreen tree...." They took the images, traditions and practices of this holiday that was already part of the fabric of peoples' lives and re-wrote the script, using what was already in place and adding elements to it in order to tell people about Jesus, and to present the gospel to people.
and
Check it out: IT WORKED!! I mean, really! Who do you know who celebrates Saturnalia? OK...SOMEONE out there might know someone...but most of us don't. I have read lots of articles that disparage the early church fathers for doing this "dastardly thing" ... hijacking Saturnalia. Many of them said their plan was a failure...many say their motives were ghastly. I don't agree. I think it was a brilliant, inspired strategy. And Christian or not Christian ~ American, English, Russian, French, Brazilian, South African, etc. etc. ... people from all over the world celebrate Christmas. No, they don't all love Jesus. BUT they do "come to His party! Right?!
I think we should honor these brilliant men and women who gave us this tradition-packed holiday by celebrating ON PURPOSE!!
To help you do just that, I want to spend some time in this "advent-y" blog series looking at what we do for Christmas and looking at how it preaches the story of Jesus.
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