WOULD JESUS CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS?

And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God (Micah 6:8).

Jesus said this to the Pharisees, "Go and learn what this means, 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,'" (Matthew 9:13).

For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that through Him the world might be saved (John 3:17).

For it has seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things: that you abstain from what has been sacrificed to idols and from blood and from what is strangled and from unchastity.  If you keep yourselves from these, you will do well (Acts 15:28-29).

There are many more scriptures that could be cited which point out the most important elements of a Christian's relationship with God.  I do not believe that God is a legalist who takes delight in finding you guilty of some transgression of the law--that is what Satan does!  Satan is the accuser who wants to take as many to hell with him as he can.

It is highly unlikely, though not absolutely impossible, that Jesus was born on December 25th.  I think the traditional explanations for this date are probably correct.  The pagan celebration of the winter solstice, Saturnalia, was on this date so the early church leadership decided to celebrate Christ's birth on the same date* as an attempt to remind recent pagan converts that Christ's coming into the world was the real triumph of light over darkness. 

The celebration of Christ's birth was never commanded, but does that mean that it is wrong to observe it?  From John 10:22-23 we have pretty good evidence to show that Jesus celebrated Hanukkah, a Jewish holiday of which there was no command from God to celebrate. Hanukkah was a holiday dedicated to the remembrance of God's supernatural provision of light for the Jewish people.  How much more so is Christmas a remembrance of God's supernatural provision of light for all mankind, "The true light that enlightens every man was coming into the world" (John 1:9)?

Yes, there is some pagan residue that has been brought into the Christian celebration of Christmas, but from my understanding of the Scriptures, it is not so much as to be considered toxic.  I know that materialism is a problem, but Jesus did not condemn material extravagance completely.  Notice that in John 12:1-8 Mary, Martha's sister, anointed Jesus with perfume worth a year's wages.  Judas condemned the extravagance, saying the proceeds of the sale of the perfume could have been used to feed the poor.  But Jesus praised Mary for her thoughtfulness and generosity, saying she would always be remembered for it.

We will always have the Christmas holiday--it is a legal government approved holiday.  There is much about how Americans celebrate the holiday that is not good.  However, if Christians can use the holiday as an occasion to communicate the gospel of Jesus Christ in word and in deed, so be it.  I believe Jesus would approve of that.

Our Father's Love,
Tom

*Because of the difference between the Gregorian and the Julian calendars, the dates of Western, Orthodox and Armenian Christmases differ. When I was in the Holy Land, our tour guide told us that Armenian Christmas was celebrated on January 19th, the day I swam in the Dead Sea.  I believe he was mistaken on that since Armenian's celebrate Christmas on the 6th.  It appears that January 19th is the celebration of Jesus' baptism.