We project ourselves into the future from the time that Jesus was born until he came up to be a teenager. Of course, in those days there was no age group called teenager. Around age 12 he was considered to be a man and that’s where Mary and Joseph found him as a man in a discussion with the leaders of the temple. What is of note happened to be that the Bible gives no indication of observing the birth of Christ later in the Scriptures. The issue at hand is similar to the one Paul dealt with in First Corinthians. There were those who ate meat that had been sacrificed to idols. There were others who refused to eat that meat because it had been sacrificed to idols. This was a contradiction of terms in no uncertain terms. Does one eat it or does one not eat it? This is the same with celebrating Christmas.
It is not a matter of how our observation of the birth of Christ came to be. It is more a matter what we do with that observation, what it means to us. The observation of the birth of Christ did not occur until 300 years after his ascension to heaven. In those 300 years nobody observed; nobody even thought to observe it. However, at the end of that time there were those who thought it a good idea to recognize that the Son of God took on human flesh. There was a Roman holiday called Saturnalia in which slaves did not have to work and gifts were given. The Christian slaves wanted to use that opportunity to recognize the birth of Christ. Later, it became a custom to give gifts to each other.
Just because it was recognized during a period Saturnalia does not mean that the Christmas observation of Jesus was pagan. It was one of those times in which God took what some would call evil and used it for good. To rejoice at the birth of Christ is something we should do every day. It is also a time in which we recognize that he took on flesh like ours. We must separate in our minds the origin of the day that Christian slaves celebrated the birth of Christ from the opportunity they had to do it through Saturnalia. It does not mean that the Christian slaves celebrated Saturnalia any more than they would observe other pagan events.
What is almost more pagan is the introduction of Santa into the Christmas holiday. Yes, there was a real Santa who lived many, many years ago in Europe and gave gifts. Today when you drive in your community notice how few lawn decorations there are that reflect back to the birth of Christ versus those that accommodate Santa Claus. That’s another situation in which a good event was polluted by something inappropriate. God took something that was inappropriate being Saturnalia and made it into something good.
This is the same that’s true of all decorations and observations and gift giving such as the Christmas tree. We will deal with that history of Christmas at another time, but the Christmas tree is unique in its own way. The responsibility we have is the way through all the paraphernalia and the shopping involved with Christmas so that we may truly have a spiritual experience because of the birth of Christ.
Christian Writer 