Was Jesus Really Born on December 25th?

There have been few questions within the Christian faith as highly debated as the actual date of Jesus' birth. As a child, I wasn't really aware that the date was in question. Christmas was Jesus' birthday, and that was that. My father being a Methodist pastor, I was later well aware of possible variances in the Christmas tradition. For instance, there is nothing biblical to indicate that Jesus was actually born in a barn.

However, there are traditional and biblical indicators that point to the accuracy of Jesus birth date. Unfortunately, where they point depends on who you ask. Topics that seem to crop up in all the sources I looked at include festivals, the conception of John the Baptist, and the role of the shepherds.

FESTIVALS

To many modern thinkers, the fact that the date of Christmas so nearly coincides with holidays celebrated around the winter solstice indicates that those in the early Church were more concerned with pulling people to the Church than with accurately representing the time of Christ's birth. Some sources attach the date of December 25^th with a pagan Roman holiday celebrating the birthday of the sun god. It is felt that early Christian leaders, seeking to get rid of this holiday, replaced it by saying that December 25^th was the birth of the Son of God. A clever and somewhat poetic, if also transparent, ploy.

Other sources say that in order for Christmas to accurately coincide with the winter solstice the date would have needed to be placed on December 21^st, as the 25^th on the Greco-Roman calendar was the festival of Saturnalia. According to Ben Witherington, a bible expert on beliefnet.com, this is "a holiday during which masters became slaves and slaves became masters for a day." I can personally see how "the Word made flesh" (John 1:14) could correlate with this holiday, but there doesn't seem to be evidence that the early Church leaders had this in mind.

JOHN THE BAPTIST

Perhaps the most complex and confusing argument in figuring out the birth date of Jesus is in figuring out the conception date of his cousin, John the Baptist. (The best article I've found detailing is by John J. Parsons on hebrew4christains.net.) In a nutshell, various groups have decided that, based on Jewish celebrations, John was conceived in mid "Savan" (May or June) and born during Passover. This is based on the days that John's father, Zacharias, would have served in the temple, which limits the possible days of John's conception. It is then surmised that Elizabeth was 6 months pregnant with John when Jesus was conceived, which would place Christ's conception during the Festival of Lights (on the 25^th day of "Kiev"). The bringing of the "Light of the world" (John, 8:12) into being at this time seems appropriate. This would put Christ's birth some time in the fall.

Others have a different view. They say that Zacharias would have served in the temple on two separate occasions. According to Parson's article this would place Zacharias in the temple during Yom Kippur and would "agree with the description about how Gabriel spoke to [him] in the narrative (Luke 1, 8-23)". In this case, John would have been conceived after this second time of service and born in July. Again assuming the 6 months between conceptions, this would put Jesus' birth date close to its now traditional date.

SHEPHERDS

The arguments that I found the most interesting were those involving the Shepherds. Sarah Dowdy on howstuffworks.com says that, "the presence of the shepherds 'keeping watch over their flocks by night' (Luke, 2:8) suggests that the birth may actually have occurred in the spring during lambing-the only time of year shepherds watched their flocks both day and night." Other's don't specify a season but agree that shepherds would not be likely to be out with their flocks in the dead of winter.

However, according to Parson's article, "Early Jewish sources suggest that sheep around Bethlehem were outside year round". "These were a special class of Levitical shepherds who kept the sacrificial lambs...which are blemishless." It does seem compelling that the announcement of the "Lamb of God" (John 1:29)would come to such a select and significant group of shepherds.

CONCLUSION

As I began to research this topic for my own curiosity, I expected there to more arguments against the December 25^th date than for it. I was surprised at the rather balanced and opposite conclusions that could be drawn by the research that has been conducted, and the thoughts that have been compiled. Nothing is quite conclusive. All the questions just seem to lead to more questions.

But in the end, I suppose that the most important question is, "How much does it matter?" A good friend said to me recently that it seems as if Christmas landed where it is to give us something to look forward to in the cold, dark months of winter. And whether the date of December 25^th is random, chosen, or accurately marks Christ's birth, seems less important than the reason we celebrate the holiday in the first place. Christ was a gift to the world whenever he arrived. And what better time to celebrate the coming of the "Light of the world" than during the darkest days of the year? It is easy to believe that God had a hand in making that happen.

Merry Christmas!

Sources: Personal reflection

www.christmas.howstuffworks.com

www.hebrew4christians.net

www.beliefnet.com

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