“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:1-5
There are some dates in our lives that we just know. We can know the date of a child’s birthday or our wedding anniversary. We can know the date of civic holidays like Memorial Day, Labor Day, or our country’s Independence Day. We can even know silly ones like the date of April’s Fools Day. However, one date that we don’t know exactly is the date of the first Christmas. Honestly speaking, we are not sure of when it happened.
The question then becomes, “Why do we celebrate Christmas on the 25th of December?” There are two reasons for that. The first reason is quite surprising, and it follows some ancient logic. In the ancient world, people believed that famous people lived in complete years. They often considered a person’s death date to be their conception date. Since the early Church calculated that Good Friday, Jesus’ death date, happened on March 25th, they then took December 25th, which comes nine months later, to be His birthdate.[1]
What, then, is the second reason we celebrate Jesus’ birth on the 25th? This reason is more familiar and known. December 25th coincided with a pagan winter solstice festival called the birth of the invincible sun. The winter solstice is the day that marks the shortest period of daylight and has the longest night and darkness of the year. Those early Christians were clever with their adaption of this festival. Instead of celebrating the birth of the invincible sun, they celebrated “the birth of the truly invincible Son of God, whom ‘the darkness has not overcome’ (John 1:5).”[2] The Church has celebrated Christmas on this date since the year 354 A.D.[3]
So, what do we make of the date of Christmas? The date of Christmas helps to point us not only to Christ’s birth for us, but also points ahead to His death and resurrection for us. It helps to point our eyes forward to that chief event of our faith. It also helps us see how the darkness, things like sin, death, devil, and the world, have not overcome our Lord but, rather, how He has overcome them!
Even the picture that nature creates is cool. From the date of Christ’s birth, the light is only getting brighter, literally! It shows John 1:5 in a literal way! The darkness is becoming less, and light is shining even more. The darkness has not overcome Him! Have a blessed Advent and Christmas season.
(Originally published in Emmaus Footprints, Vol. XIX, Number 5, December 2017)
[1] Timothy H. Maschke, Gathered Guests: A Guide to Worship in the Lutheran Church, 2nd ed. (St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House, 2009), 65.
[2] Maschke, 64.
[3] Maschke, 65.