Friends,  The Bible is full of great information but sometimes withholds details to give us pause … and rely on faith.  Christmas has a lot of that.  See the column below.  Blessings, Bob

Spirituality Column #839

December 13, 2022

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Timing Isn’t Everything, Part I  

By Bob Walters

And it came to pass …Joseph went up to Bethlehem … with Mary his espoused wife who was great with child. And … the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. – Luke 2:1-6

In the past century Christmas has erupted – with the enthusiastic cooperation of modern culture and commerce – into a target date on the calendar like none other.

December 25^th, the Day Jesus was Born!  Silent night, the shunned Mary and Joseph, a cold lonely stable, shepherds, wise men, and a baby born to save the world.

Most of the Christmas-observing world celebrates the tightly scripted story of “the most wonderful time of the year” based not so much on scriptural truth and God’s incarnation, but on “holiday spirit,” comforting traditions, gifts, and a wildly misunderstood narrative of what actually happened 2,000 years ago.

Truth is … nobody exactly knows when Jesus was born.  Summer, fall, or spring?  Maybe … but definitely not the middle of winter.  Roman taxation, census taking – and often, accompanying military conscription – were not winter activities.  Folks didn’t travel much, and shepherds would not have had their sheep in the cold, nighttime Palestinian hills.

Various long-established pagan celebrations of the lengthening of days after the winter solstice – i.e., more daylight – made for a logical Christian usurpation of a festival for the “light of the world,” Jesus Christ.  So … Christmas was born as a “church thing.”

Funny thing is … there is nothing at all in the Gospels – or anywhere in the entire New Testament – about establishing festivals or feasts for Jesus.  He Himself, the Christ, God the person, is the enduring and perpetual Sabbath.  There is no special date or temple required; Jesus is the date and temple.  He elicits perpetual, abiding, comforting, obedient love and faith, not requiring periodic, specific legal observances.

Neither is a new sacrifice required, like the Christmas gifts we exchange.  Jesus was the perfect sacrifice, once for all.  The only new sacrifice is us, dying to self to live our lives for Christ and others.  And it’s not confined to December 25; it’s not a time and date thing; it’s an always thing.  Our gift from Christ and to each other is grace.

Gifts are not a sacrifice of our possessions; they are an expression of our love.

Yet … folks full of Yuletide cheer merrily celebrate Christmas who nonetheless withhold love, faith, and trust in the truth of Jesus citing “insufficient evidence” – like maybe newspaper clippings (kidding) or a real-life statue or painting – of humanity’s single most history-changing, life-changing, and eternity-confirming person.  

These are the folks who miss the “true meaning of Christmas,” i.e., God’s truth. Christmas celebrating is great, though for some not great even though it is all around them.  Many folks have fun with Christmas without believing.  The ancient Greek philosophers, Enlightenment humanists, and modern scientists want “hard facts” and “physical evidence” to “believe” anything.  But that’s not how faith’s mystery works.

It is, however, why Jesus was an obscure baby born on an unnamed date to peasant parents in civilization’s hinterlands.  Faith is the only way to know Him.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) doesn’t worry about “when” Jesus was born because there are far better questions, which will be discussed next week.  Merry Christmas!