For my wife, daughter, and me, a favorite holiday movie is “A Christmas Story” (1983). There are many reasons why. (I will ignore the fact that one of us, when young, looked rather like the main character, nine-year old Ralphie.) One reason consists in the sharply observant, humorous, and bittersweet lines sprinkled throughout the movie. An example comes early when the narrator (the adult Ralphie) exclaims, “Christmas … lovely, glorious, beautiful Christmas, around which the entire kid year revolved!” Who of us – especially children and any who were once children – can imagine a year without Christmas? The colors, smells, carols, decorations, foods, and presents!
Yet there was a time when a year had no Christmas. I do not mean the time before the birth of Jesus. Even in the early years of the Church, among faithful believers, Christmas was barely observed. Certainly Christmas as we know it did not exist. In contrast, believers in Jesus and non-believers alike today often celebrate Christmas with great fervor. To paraphrase Bob Dylan, “the times they have a-changed.” The change raises a question. Why do we now celebrate Christmas every 25th of December?
There really are two questions here. First, why do we celebrate Christmas at all? Second, why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25? The first question is the more important, so we will explore the second question first.
The second question first. Why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25? Traditionally, Christmas is connected with the birth of Jesus. Was Jesus, then, actually born on December 25? The answer is that no one knows.
Many dates have been proposed for the birth of Jesus, yet no records remain to determine the exact date. The most extensive records of the life of Jesus – our New Testament gospels – do not specify the date. Only Matthew and Luke have much information on the birth of Jesus. Yet, they do not provide the exact date. They give a historical framework for the year of birth. Matthew writes of Jesus’ birth when Herod was king. Luke records Jesus’ birth during a census ordered by Emperor Augustus, when Quirinius governed
How did December 25 become the day then? Early speculation about the day of Jesus’ birth often occurred in contexts more theological than historical. For example, one theologian thought his birth likely took place on a Wednesday because the sun was created on the fourth day (Genesis 1). Other theologians proposed dates in spring, fall, and winter. Amid such speculation, some contended his birthday should not be celebrated, as such celebrations were associated with pagan rulers and gods.
However, by the end of the fourth century, the Church, especially in the West, had established December 25 as the feast of the birth of Jesus. Many later commentators have maintained this date was picked to absorb and transform, especially for the sake of new Christians, popular non-Christian festivals centered around the winter solstice and pagan gods.
To the extent this dynamic may have propelled fixing the feast on December 25, some represent it as theological and spiritual compromise by the Church. There may be elements of this. At the same time, we may consider that God came to us in Jesus that, in him, we might come to God. In theology, this has often been described as the “Great Exchange.” Jesus reconciled humanity to God, thus transforming humanity from sin and death to righteousness and new life. In this context, it may be fitting that our old ways are taken up and transformed by Jesus into God-ways. Moreover, it can be argued from Scripture that, throughout nature and human history and culture, we see hints or reflections of God even apart from his explicit revelation. Where this is so, Jesus as God incarnate catches up, corrects, clarifies, and fulfills all such reflections. It could be said that, in some sense, he is the reason not only for Christmas but for all hinted manifestations of God in nature, history and culture, however dimly and imperfectly they reflect God. Hence, for theological, pastoral, and missional reasons, there may be warrant for establishing the celebration of Jesus’ birth on December 25.
(Compare this article from ChristianityToday.com for a good, concise discussion of some of this: http://www.christianitytoday.com/history/newsletter/2000/dec08.html.)
The first question second. The more significant question, then, is why we celebrate Christmas at all? This, I think, really consists of two questions. One, why do believers in Jesus celebrate Christmas? Two, why does our culture at large celebrate Christmas?
Why do believers in Jesus celebrate Christmas? The Church only slowly came to observe Christmas with regularity and devotion. The early Church focused on Good Friday and Easter – the great victory won over sin and death by Jesus through the cross and resurrection. Only eventually did the Church come to observe Christmas with similar attention. (Even in recent centuries, some Christians still have spurned Christmas celebration.) Controversies over the incarnation in the third and fourth centuries may have spurred this to some extent. The need to affirm the fact and meaning of Jesus’ birth took on greater theological significance.
Much the same remains true today. For believers in Jesus, the celebration of his birth at Christmas should proclaim God’s real, down-to-earth love for the world. We acknowledge God-with-us in Jesus – in this flesh-and-blood child, born to save and transform you, me, and the cosmos. Christmas – when we embrace and celebrate the centrality of Jesus in it – proclaims in word and deed God’s good news of great joy for all people.
Why does our culture at large celebrate Christmas? Why do people who do not believe in Jesus grasp so fervently a celebration traditionally rooted in Jesus? There are likely many reasons. I think one major reason is the need it reveals for people to experience light and joy in life, amid the darkness and sorrow in the world so grittily known by all. Though the substance may be sentimentalized, fogged, ignored, or rejected, the forms glitter with poignant attraction when the need is so deep and great. This is all the more reason why we who know Jesus, who know he wraps and gives true Christmas, must by our Christmas celebration give faithful witness to this good news of great joy for all people, the coming of a savior amid our darkness and sorrow, who is Jesus the lord.
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