The Unremarkable

And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7 NASB

Gave birth – Christendom celebrates the birth of the Savior. Churches will rejoice that Jesus was born. But all this festive display stands in stark contrast to the texts that relate the birth of Yeshua. Matthew gives us a story of the conception but hardly mentions the birth. Mark and John say nothing. In fact, there is no evidence at all that the earliest believers celebrated the birth of the Messiah. The Christmas story wasn’t even mentioned until approximately 336 CE. That’s a long time before this day took on such importance. Perhaps that should give us pause. If there is no record of the followers of the Messiah celebrating his birth for the first 300 years, then why do you suppose it became such an important event later?

It seems to me that there are two factors contributing to the adoption of Christmas as a birth celebration. The first is the continual syncretism of the Church. Other pagan religions celebrated the winter equinox. Due to a mistake in calendar calculation, this event was incorporated into the Church as December 25 rather than December 21, but the syncretism is the same. The festival already existed. It was merely “converted” into Christian terms. The motivation behind this adoption was the same as the motivation to remove Jewish practices. Christianity sought a unique identity and the intellectuals of the first few centuries were intent on producing a religion that could claim some antiquity (Jewish) but was decidedly different in its appeal to the masses. That meant creating a way for pagan Romans to embrace this new religion with the least amount of life-changing disturbance. Just as kosher requirements, circumcision and Temple rituals were removed, so existing religious practices were incorporated.

The second factor is theological. If Jesus is God incarnate (according to the Trinitarian formulation, he is), then the entry of God into the world in the form of a human being is a significant event. In fact, it is the significant event since it proves that the eternal, transcendent, almighty God of creation is instantiated in this particular human being. Just how this God-Man can exist before he exists (i.e., before he is born) isn’t quite clear, but it is asserted nonetheless. The doctrine of the Trinity requires the elevation of the birth narrative to world-class significance.

That makes the accounts in the gospels even more startling. Not a single line is devoted to announcing the birth of a “God-Man.” There is no indication that this event was so important that it changed the course of history. Mark and John don’t even mention it. Yes, Matthew and Luke account for a miraculous conception, but even they make almost nothing of the birth. Doesn’t that seem odd to you? Do you suppose that the adoption of Christmas might have come in concert with the adoption of the Trinity? Don’t you think it’s worth knowing the history of this idea?

Topical Index: Christmas, Luke 2:7