This is that wonderful time of year when the arguments start flying about December 25 being stolen by the Roman Catholic church. The argument is that December 25 is a pagan holiday and, in an effort to shun the pagans, the Roman Catholic church set Christmas on December 25. There are a couple of problems with this idea.
- There is not a pagan holiday on December 25. There are a couple during the week prior, but not on December 25. Saturnalia was celebrated on December 17 and the winter solstice is December 21/22.
- Jews traditionally believed a prophet died on the day they were conceived. Historically, it is held that Jesus was crucified on what would equal March 25 on the Gregorian calendar we use today. Doing the math, the birth of Jesus would be on December 25. This doesn’t mean Jesus was actually born on this day, it is just an ancient Jewish belief attributing the day to his birth.
Here is what is important about this season. “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive adoptions as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5)
We don’t have the specific date for the birth of Jesus, and I think that it is a good thing that we don’t have that date. I think that as caught up as we can get about things and dates, then we would end up worshipping the day rather than Jesus. I’m not convinced that the date matters. Let us celebrate and worship Jesus as King every day.