For many people today is just another day. The stress of celebrating can get to be too much and even depressing. It’s a reminder of loss and disappointments. For them it may be good advice to say, “Don’t let Christmas be anything more than any other day.” For others it’s a day long awaited filled with great joy! It’s a day for happy family gatherings and meaningful traditions. To them we’d say, “Don’t let Christmas be just like any other day.”
But is there really anything special about today? In fact, did anything really even happen on this day?
Today in our worship we will sing Christ is born TODAY. On THISDAYGod gave us Christ his Son. But did it really happen on this day? December 25? Was Jesus really born today?
It’s hard to determine with any accuracy just how December 25 came to be a day to celebrate Christ’s birth. In fact, it’s very unlikely that he was born on this day. The Bible gives very little clues about what day or even what time of year it was when Jesus was born. The only hint we get – and it’s not a very good one – is that shepherds were keeping watch over their flocks by night. We know shepherds kept watch day and night during the lambing cycle. That would suggest the spring season; in winter, sheep were kept in corrals and not watched. So that certainly doesn’t help fix the date in December.
One popular idea is that the church chose December 25 as an alternative to the Roman pagan holidays celebrating the winter solstice and the birth of the Sun god. It’s believed that Christians wanted to direct the world to real Son of God. And Christians did re-envision many of those pagan traditions with a Christ centered focus. Decorated pine trees and evergreen wreaths are examples of ancient pagan winter traditions now associated with a Christian celebration of Christ’s birth.
But there are some problems with this idea that Christmas was a reaction to a pagan holiday. We actually have historical evidence of Christmas on December 25 BEFORE many of those Roman observances were popular. And besides that, the early church emerging from a time of persecution was not inclined to adapt or modify Roman holidays. Early Church fathers wrote about the connection to the winter solstice but saw it more as a coincidence rather than the basis for engineering the calendar.
So just how did we arrive here today? On December 25? There is another suggestion about the date for Christmas that I think has great significance for us TODAY. The early church didn’t really give much attention to birth days which is why we don’t know when Jesus’ was. DEATH days were more important. And we do find in Scripture some hints about the day Jesus died — clues in the Gospels that point to the time of year and even the specific days of Passover. So the church as early as the second century had assigned a day to the death of Jesus based on these clues from the Bible. And they figured out, probably quite accurately that he died on what would be March 25. The Christian Church in the east had calculated the death of Jesus as April 6.
So what does THAT have to do with the date for Jesus’ birth? Here’s the interesting part. It was believed in the ancient world that conception and death were related and they saw the whole salvation story connected into one believing that the conception of Jesus brought the promise of salvation. This theology is reflected in ancient Christian art like the detail in your worship folder in which the conception is depicted with the infant Jesus carrying a cross with him as he enters Mary’s womb. Early Christians understood the connection between conception and death to be so strong that they believed Jesus was conceived and died on the same day. So it follows that if Jesus were conceived on March 25 – the same day he died — then he was born 9 months later on December 25. And in the eastern church that date became January 6, the date for Christmas in the Eastern Orthodox tradition.
So December 25 has nothing to do with when Jesus was actually born but when he died. The church has always connected Jesus’ conception and birth to his death. He came into the world that did not receive him. As John says in our Christmas Gospel. He was marked for death for the moment he left heaven and entered our world. In his birth he carried with him his own burden – the cross. And so today is really anticipation of Jesus’ death. It’s all tied together.
That may sound rather morbid for a happy Christmas morning. But it is on the cross that we find our Savior. There we find one willing to die for us – willing to take on our sin and grief – our disappointments, our loss. There we find one who was not afraid to live among us and experience the fullness of our humanity. Even the sting of death. There on the cross we find one willing to deliver to us the promises of God.
To further the coincidence of the calendar today, we gather this year to celebrate his birth on a Sunday. And in the church, Sunday is always a little celebration of Easter. And so TODAY we celebrate not just his birth, but his death and his resurrection – the whole plan of salvation.
When it comes right down to it, this IS just like any other day. And the good news is that the promise of Jesus is for everyday because we have one who died and rose again to give each of our days significance – to give each season of our lives meaning and abundance – so that we would never have to go through ANY day without him.
Today is not a birth day, but a salvation day. Today is not so much about Jesus’ birth, but ours. Today is not so much about a day in history as it is about the present moment in which we receive him. John says in our Gospel that all who receive him, who believe in his name are given the right to become children of God. Today he is born in us. Today Christ lives in us.
So lets close with something that may sound out of place this morning, but something that tells the truth today and every day.
CHRIST IS RISEN!
HE IS RISEN INDEED!
