Last week I mentioned that we don’t actually know the date of Jesus’ birth. As I’m sure you know, that isn’t all that unusual in the ancient world, where recordkeeping existed but not to the same level we have today. I know that not knowing the actual date can feel a bit disheartening to us, given Jesus’ importance in the history of the world, and ultimately, eternal life, yet it is what it is. As such, this gap in knowledge of Jesus’ background has caused a great deal of research, and several theories have come to the fore. Let’s take a look at several of them.
First, as I said last week, many scholars have asserted that, in the earliest days of the Church, existing pagan holidays were changed to assert facts about Jesus, and the One, True God. In particular, the Roman Empire’s practice of celebrating the rebirth of the Unconquered Sun (Sol Invictus) on December 25th, a holiday that not only marked the return of longer days after the winter solstice, but also followed another popular Roman festival called the Saturnalia (during which people feasted and exchanged gifts). Another group of big concern to the early evangelists was the cult of Mithraism whose deity was said to be born on December 25th. The thought is, that disrupting pagan traditions was proving to be very difficult, so the evangelists chose to transform the pagan holidays in ways that made their theology appropriate. By using the existing symbols, but transforming the prayers and messages so they would reflect true theology, the evangelists wouldn’t have to fight the “we have always celebrated at this time of year” type of argument, and still be able to teach the truth of Jesus.
Other scholars balk at that idea. They believe that the real reason for the selection of December 25, is because it is exactly nine months after March 25, the traditional date of Jesus’ crucifixion. What? Why would those two days be related? It was because a theological concept had developed, in the early days of the Church, that Jesus was conceived and crucified on the same date, so they set the date of his birth nine months later.” Other scholars believe that the actual date was in the early spring, placing it closer to Easter, the holiday commemorating his Resurrection. For example, the Roman Christian historian, Sextus Julius Africanus, dated Jesus’ conception to March 25 (the same date upon which he held that the world was created), which, after nine months in his mother’s womb, would result in a December 25 birth.
Whew! Whatever the reason, the Church arrived at a celebration date of December 25th, and that date hasn’t been the same since! This “adopted” date gives us an opportunity to celebrate the fact that God chose to enter the world through a profound gift of love and relationship with us. Taking on humanity at its fullest, while not diminishing his divinity, the Son of God, the third person of the Trinity, was born to walk among us and eventually take our sins to the cross, suffering and dying for our sins. He is a gift like no other, regardless of the date given.
