The early Church did not celebrate Christmas much -- this is true -- but that was because the focus was centrally on the resurrection of Christ from the dead (Read what Paul wrote to the Corinthians). This was the big deal -- dying and rising. Easter remains the Queen of Seasons even though the marketplace has not done to Easter what it did to Christmas. The date of Christmas was fixed not by pagan celebrations but by the passion and death of Christ. In the West the date calculated was March 25 (in the East they used and still use a different calendar system). March 25 was the first date fixed because at the time of Christ it was commonly held that prophets died on their birth or conception date. It’s the idea of “integral age,” as scholar William J. Tighe has noted in such detail. The Annunciation of our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary is liturgically celebrated on March 25, the date of Christ’s conception through the Word spoken by Gabriel and enacted by the Spirit. In addition, you can read of the theologically-important connection between the womb and tomb in the work of John Behr in The Mystery of Christ. So because Christ died on the same date of the Annunciation (his conception), then Christmas Day has to be exactly nine months later OR March 25.
But this is not the only reason to interrupt Lent with this wonderful day of rejoicing. For Blessed Mary is the first Christian (pondering all these things in her heart after consenting to the will of the Lord). She is our own best example of faith under fire, of trust where eyes and experience say "no". She is our mother in the faith and from her we learn what it means to believe the Word of the Lord (which came to her with more than an inconvenient message and one that challenged everything she had come to know and believe of life). On this day we rejoice to stand with her before her Lord and ours, in whom we have forgiveness, life, and salvation.
Let me close this day with a little paragraph from Augustine from On The Trinity:
For He is believed to have been conceived on the 25th of March, upon which day also He suffered; so the womb of the Virgin, in which He was conceived, where no one of mortals was begotten, corresponds to the new grave in which He was buried, wherein was never man laid, neither before nor since. But He was born, according to tradition, upon December the 25th.
I have sometimes felt it was too bad we have an approximate, but not exact date of the earthly birth of Our Lord in the flesh, but perhaps it is better we do not know it, even though the church celebrates it in December. After all, more importantly we believe in the Trinity of the three in One, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is sufficient to know Our Lord Jesus came to us in the flesh, to suffer and die and redeem us from our sins. He was present forever and long before His earthly incarnation, and He is present throughout the scriptures, and His presence is revealed in the beginning, in the Old Testament, and the New Testament, and His words echo throughout Revelation. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, as scripture declares. Yet, many people confine Him to a birthplace called Bethlehem, and the thirty or forty years of His earthly ministry, and then the Cross. They are aware He was resurrected, and sits on the right hand of God on the throne of grace, but forget He is eternal God Himself, who came down to save His people from their sins. As for Mary, the godly woman who was used by God as an instrument of His earthly conception and birth, it is too bad that many Protestants do not wish to say much about her part in the redemption story. “That is too Catholic, “ they might say! Of course, the reason is that the Roman church elevated her veneration beyond her own wishes, as this faithful believer was humble of heart and never sought acclaim, nor sought to be worshipped. “My soul doth magnify the Lord, “ said Mary, “and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my savior.” I wonder if much of the world really understands and appreciates the full dimension of the Christmas story?
ReplyDeleteSoli Deo Gloria
https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=16-10-012-v
ReplyDeleteAnd also,if you wish:
https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=22-02-009-v
https://www.touchstonemag.com/archives/article.php?id=23-02-026-f
In some rabbinic traditions, the notion of the same birth and death dates was first applied to Moses. Later Jewish traditions compared one's conception or birth date to one's death date.
ReplyDeleteIn his December, 2003, _Touchstone_ article, William J. Tighe used the term “integral age” to describe “the idea that the prophets of Israel died on the same dates as their birth or conception.” Tighe also wrote:
“[S]econd-century Latin Christians in Rome and North Africa appear to have desired to establish the historical date on which the Lord Jesus died. By the time of Tertullian they had concluded that he died on Friday, 25 March 29. (As an aside, I will note that this is impossible: 25 March 29 was not a Friday, and Passover Eve in A.D. 29 did not fall on a Friday and was not on March 25th, or in March at all.)”
The first writer that expressed this notion of same conception or birth-and death dates is Tertullian (c. 200–220 AD) in _Adversus Judaeos_ (Against the Jews), and then later Augustine of Hippo (late 4th–early 5th century), in _De Trinitate_ (Book IV).
Such an “integral date” notion is not mentioned in either the Old Testament or the New Testament.
Modern scientific calculations suggest that Friday, April 7, 30 AD or Friday, April 3, 33 AD are the most likely dates for the crucifixion of Christ.
While Christmas has started to be celebrated by secular businesses immediately after Halloween, Christians today celebrate Christmas on December 25 because of tradition, not because we believe the date to be doctrinally correct or because Jesus was conceived on March 25.