Christmas - The true reason we celebrate Christmas - The meaning and purpose of Christmas
We are rapidly approaching that season when large portions of the world are caught up in the year’s most recognized but least understood holiday … Christmas. One would think that the name of this holiday should be sufficient for everyone to understand why we celebrate Christmas; unfortunately however, a religious service to honor the significance of Christ’s birth is far from many people’s minds. Even those who should know better too frequently fail to celebrate Christmas by focusing on our love for God, our love for one another and our love for God’s creation.
Those who would detract from our reason for celebrating Christmas are fast to point out that we are probably celebrating the birth of Christ at the wrong time of the year. They may be right. The Gospel writers, for some reason, do not give us an exact date when this blessed event took place. Perhaps they were not sure themselves or did not consider it to be of any real importance. We do know, however, that it was customary for the shepherds to bring their sheep down from the mountains some time around the month of September. Because of the shepherd’s nearness to the city of Bethlehem, and their being outdoors the night of Jesus’ birth, it would appear that Jesus could very well have been born sometime in September. If you couple this with the fact that September is the month for the Jewish New Year, the month for the celebration of Rosh Hashana or the Feast of Trumpets then September would be an excellent time to celebrate the birth of Christ. But, it didn’t turn out that way. We celebrate the birth of Christ in December. Does it matter? No. It is better to celebrate at the wrong time of the year than to not celebrate the birth of Christ at all.
Those who would detract from our Christmas celebration are fast to point out that we do not have any biblical evidence that early Christians celebrated the birth of Christ. Yes, we do know that, at the time of the Apostles, it was customary to celebrate birthdays and thus we should have evidence that early Christians were celebrating Jesus’ birthday. But, we do not. In fact, it takes another 300 years before there is any indication that Christians were celebrating the birth of Christ. In 313 A.D. the Roman emperor Constantine instituted the “Edict of Toleration,” which declared the equality of all religions, to include Christianity. This was a monumental occasion. Christians had undergone severe persecution for 300 years and now they were at last free to openly worship Christ. It was not long after the Edict of Toleration that we have the first recorded celebration of Christmas, which took place in Rome in 336 A.D. By this year, the Liturgy of the Roman Church had firmly established December 25th as the birthday of Jesus and ever since this time Christians have been openly celebrating Jesus’ birth.
Those who would detract from our Christmas celebration also seem to enjoy reminding us that many Christmas rituals and activities have pagan roots. This is probably true. If you accept Emperior Constitine as being instrumental in establishing December 25th as the date for Christmas then it is also logical that he chose this date because it is the month of the winter solstice as well as being the time for multiple pagan celebrations. When Constitine superimposed Christmas over these pagan holidays it was logical for the Christmas celebration to incorporate many pagan activities. But then, being a pagan tradition does not necessarily make the tradition evil or bad! If anyone should be upset, one would think that it would be the pagans. After all, some of our Christmas activities may have pagan roots but today these activities have become 100 percent Christian traditions. And, if we are honest, many of our Christmas tradions, inspite of their pagan roots, serve us well in making Christmas a very joyful celebration. There is really little profit in fussing over opinions about how we celebrate the birth of Christ; what makes Christmas important is why we celebrate the birth of Christ.
To begin with, the baby born in Bethlehem was unlike any other baby in history. This baby had a heavenly pre-existence! This baby was the creator of the universe! This baby’s mother was a virgin! This baby was the Son of God! This baby was the savior for all of mankind! We celebrate Christmas because it marks the time of the “incarnation.” We celebrate God “in the flesh” living among mankind as one of us. Thus, Christmas is a celebration of God’s only begotten Son leaving His spiritual home and coming to earth as a human. Because of this miraculous event, we celebrate the sacrifice God made when He sent us His son. We celebrate Christ’s willingness to endure the suffering He experienced in coming to earth as a man. We celebrate Christmas because it gives us a chance to celebrate God’s love for mankind.
All of our Christmas celebrations should focus on the fact that Christmas is about fellowship and love. Christmas is a time for joy, for loving and sharing, for laughter, for great meals, for reuniting with family and friends, for merry parties, for tinsel and for giving brightly decorated gifts. Christmas is a wonderful time of the year when we celebrate the spirit and love God gave the world through His son our Lord Jesus the Christ.
Christmas is a time when we should reflect on God’s love and realize that love is the greatest attribute any Christian can possess. Without love there can be no human accomplishment. Without love all our wealth, charity, power and relationships become filthy rags. Christmas is a time to reflect on God’s love and realize that each one of us should seek to manifest a love that is patient and kind. If we follow Christ, we will be full of a love that does not envy, does not boast and is not proud. Christmas reminds us that Christian love must not be rude, is not self-seeking, is not easily angered and it keeps no record of wrongs. Christian love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Think about the greatest gift God ever gave mankind … the love of Jesus. If we are to celebrate the birth of Jesus we need to seek a love that always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. We should expect to find great joy and mirth and fun and wonder and excitement in sharing God’s love with one another.
Exactly when we celebrate Christmas and exactly how we celebrate Christmas must take a backseat to the fact that we are celebrating Christmas because the love of Jesus never fails.