Why do we celebrate Christmas on December 25th? Have you ever wondered that? Was Jesus really born on December 25th? Truth be known we can’t really be sure. In fact, we aren’t even sure exactly what year Jesus was born in. I often hear about how Christmas was set up to be celebrated on December 25th to match up with pagan festivals surrounding the winter solstice. It is known that in the first 300 years following the death of Jesus there was a festival called Saturnalia in honor of the god Saturn. There is no doubt in my mind that there is a connection between that festival and Christmas. It is likely that followers of Jesus chose that time to celebrate as an alternative to Saturnalia which they saw as a very pagan event.
To suggest however that there is no connection at all to December 25th outside of coinciding with Saturnalia would be shortsighted. In fact there was a man named Hyppolytus who lived around the end of the 2nd Century and into the 3rd who claimed that Jesus was born on December 25th. There was also a man named Cyril of Jerusalem (348 A.D. – 386 A.D.) who had access to the original Roman birth census, which supposedly documented that Jesus was born on the 25th of December. So the 25th of December was not at all random. Yet despite all of this information, there is not sufficient evidence to say for sure either way.
We do need to be clear on one thing… just because we don’t have an exact date of Jesus birth does not mean that Jesus did not exist. In fact knowledge of Jesus’ exact date of birth has little bearing on the reality of His existence or on why He came. What we do know is that more has been written, more evidence has been found, concerning the person of Jesus than just about any other person in history. The Biblical record is pretty solid and from this author’s opinion is impossible to refute.
It is very interesting that though we do not know the exact date of Jesus birth, the Bible makes an
incredible statement about the timing:
“But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman…”
(Galatians 4:4).
People have often reflected on this verse. Those words “the fullness of time” are pretty significant. The fullness of time is not just a long wait. In fact we could paraphrase it to say “just the right time”. Jesus was born at a perfect time in world history. Jesus was born at a time when the Roman Empire was at its peak. The world was experiencing what is often called the Pax Romana. A good part of the known world at the time was under one government. In addition to that, culturally the Greek way of life had spread far and wide. The Greek language was well known throughout the Roman Empire. These factors made it an ideal time for information about the Messiah to spread easily – more so than any previous time in world history.
But what often gets lost when discussing the timing of Jesus’ birth is the longing and the need for hope. While there was relative peace, the Jewish people–God’s people, were experiencing a terrible oppression. They were an ‘occupied’ people, and as in many other time periods they tragically were a hated people. As a result they longed for the Messiah, the Christ to come and rescue them. They longed for hope. It was in the midst of all of this, that Jesus was born. With the cruelty of Rome looming over Palestine, the people of Israel living in desperation, Jesus entered into this world at a perfect time – when people were ready to receive Him, but also a time when news about Him could spread and the whole world could know that Jesus had come to offer salvation to all.
The world has changed a great deal since Jesus was born some 2000 years ago. Yet in some ways the world has not changed at all. People all around the world are in need of hope. People live under
oppression, are bound by terrible addictions, and bear enormous guilt over the wrongs they have done. The world is still very much in need of hope. Christmas has become many things. I think of egg nog, gifts, Christmas lights, decorated trees, and lots and lots of food. But to limit Christmas to those things would miss the truth behind it all. While we can’t be sure the 25th of December is exactly right, it seems like as good as any day to remember that Jesus was born and came into this world bringing hope and salvation to all who would receive Him. Now that is something worth reflecting on.