“BLAME IT ALL ON EASTER”
“For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22 Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24 but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength…”
– 1 Corinthians 1:21-25
I’m writing this on December 25. Christmas Day. Merry Christmas and may each of you embrace a wonderful 12 days of Christmas into the brand-new year. Blame it all on Easter. Really. Whoah!
Is there any proof Jesus was born on December 25th? None.
You won’t find that in the Bible. What you will find when you start digging back into the early history of Christianity is in ancient Rome around A.D. 336 Pope Julius 1 set December 25th to be the official birthday of Jesus.
No one argued and no one balked… clarity is helpful and we’ve continued to celebrate Christ’s birthday on this day right up until today.
There are differing reasons why the good Pope Julius did that but if we were to change it now… well… it would turn church calendars and the marketplace upside down.
It’s kind of like knowing for centuries of Christian tradition we didn’t sing “Silent Night” at Christmastime before 1818 because the song hadn’t been written yet… but we like singing it now and if any pastor would suggest that song be skipped on Christmas Eve worship these days… that pastor would get fired!
Traditions take time to take hold. Change is hard.
What we do find in the Bible about Christmas comes all after the fact. After Jesus’ death and resurrection people began to ask questions about his early life… where was he born… and where he grew up? Who were his parents, etc?
Because I’m the last pastor who will tell you there were reporters in Bethlehem that first Christmas taking notes and CNN and Fox news had stations in Nazareth preparing Jesus’ biography with story bytes to be used at a later date.
Jesus’ notoriety and the ‘good news’ story he is what caused others like Matthew and Mark and Luke and John to write it all down and it’s the message from Matthew and Luke the world uses to answer questions and detail Jesus’ birth… and the only reason that even matters is because of Easter… for without Christmas there is no Easter but without Easter… Jesus’ birth has no worth!
Do you know how the Christian faith determines Easter each year? That’s one celebration day we can pretty well lock in from the very beginning… as it is connected to Jewish Passover and the equation the Church uses is this… “Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the vernal equinox…” and in English that translates to … keep your eye on the first day of Spring… mark March 21 on your calendar… then go looking for the first full moon and then the Sunday right after is… Easter. Simple. We do this every year! Sunday March 31st will be Easter in 2024!
In its earliest days… the followers of Jesus weren’t celebrating his birth and young life… instead they were trying to stay alive one more day… preaching Christ crucified and risen from the grave… living in God’s grace and faith from week to week… gathering on the Sabbath to honor the commandment and then gathering in their homes on Sunday to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and share in the holy meal we now call the Lord’s Supper… doing that for the remembrance of Jesus and embracing forgiveness of sins.
Faith matters.
Over time… Epiphany (1/6) was added to the mix remembering the wise men’s visit and then All Saints Day (11/1) to remember the martyrs and eventually December 25… all because of Easter…
The Rev. Dr. Brian K. Gigee is a long-time resident of Pearland, having pastored four churches over the last four decades in Texas and Louisiana.
Read more following Brian’s blog ‘murmurings’ at https://briangigee.wordpress.com/. Send comments and/or questions to godworks247365@gmail.com.
