 |
| My Cat Tig acting out "A Long Winter's Nap...." |
“Jesus is the reason for the season”(?)
As followers of Jesus we want the surrounding world, as they
party hardy and trim their trees and buy/give gifts, to remember and hopefully comprehend
that Jesus is the actual “reason for the season.” To reinforce this, someone came up with this engaging
but somewhat condescending invective as a handy reminder that Christmas is still,
after all, about Christ. There is however
enough historical Grinch in me, upon viewing this or hearing someone intone it,
to respond with the question, “Is he indeed?” Now before working up a righteous
anger, sharing this and consigning me to the netherworld, consider the following
about Christmas as it has come down to us.
As an observance (AKA holiday), Christmas was not really even
on the church’s radar until around the 3rd century. Easter was (is!) the high point in the
Christian calendar as the early church saw the resurrection as the primary
reason for celebration. After all it was
this climactic event of Jesus’ sojourn that made possible the forgiveness of
sin and peace with God.
The shift came when, in 313 AD, Emperors Constantine and
Licinius signed the Edict of Milan granting toleration for religions in the
empire. The empire’s non-interference
with religious groups like those of “The Way” was a crucial turning point in
the life of the church, both for better and for worse. This edict ended organized persecution of the
church and believers could, for the most part, breath a collective sigh of
relief. Constantine, the church’s newfound
friend, and eventually a believer, (though waiting to be baptised until he was on
his deathbed), began to have an influence in the church that brought about
changes that impacted the way the church, and later, the world would adapt the
Christmas narrative, as an excuse for perhaps much more than was intended.
Constantine introduced pagan traditions and “appended” them
to a Christian nativity observance. Whether
he simply wanted to make it easier for pagans to convert to Christianity, or as
a means of unifying his empire, the emperor capitalized on other popular
celebrations and sought to merge them into a single event. Saturnalia, a pagan festival running from December
17 through the 24th was coupled with a festival observing the birth
of the Mithras, the Persian god of light.
The latter ran from December 25 through January 1. From its outset, the Christmas celebration
was a holiday (or holy day), when gifts were exchanged, families and friends
gathered to feast, and a birth was celebrated; just like in the Roman and
Persian festivities. Though the actual date of Christ’s birth was never specified,
this did not prevent Pope Julius I from proclaiming it to be December 25th. The first mention of December 25 as being the
date of Jesus' birth is found in an early Roman calendar from A.D. 336. The
fact that the celebration of Saturnalia, a pagan Roman holiday, fell at the
same time of year should not be lost on the reader. It was a not so subtle attempt to fuse the nativity
observance to other pagan celebrations.
Of Saturnalia it is said that:
Saturnalia
was a hedonistic time, when food and drink were plentiful and the normal Roman
social order was turned upside down. For a month, slaves would become masters.
Peasants were in command of the city. Business and schools were closed so that
everyone could join in the fun.
Obviously, not all of these traditions continued to present
day but you can see why many who wanted to retain their traditions and also claim
the Christian faith as their own would have welcomed this merging of
observances.
Over the centuries, Christmas observance and traditions have
increased exponentially. Though it was been decried by colonial Puritans as
unscriptural, it continued to be reshaped into to what it has become now; a
religious observance tacked onto an ever expanding secular and commercial
phenomenon. The glorification of the day
after Thanksgiving as “Black Friday” is a prime example of the on going
tweaking of what this season has become.
Just think of it; people leaving their homes, as early as Thanksgiving afternoon
to pick up a good buy on sale item. In its
fashion, Black Friday plays the same role as Mardi Gras does to Ash Wednesday;
a voracious commercial festival held just prior to the solemn holiday into
which Christmas has evolved.
The emergence of Christmas as one of THE major observances
of the church was accelerated by the “well-meaning” actions of Constantine and it
was apparently accepted, if not welcomed, by the grateful church of his day. By
adopting/adapting these contrasting and conflicting visions, the early church began
to morph into something very different from what it had been.
So, what of this idea that “Jesus is the Reason for the
Season”? As believers we certainly want to make sure that people know that
Christmas is about Jesus don’t we?
Shouldn’t we strive to “Keep Christ in Christmas”? The answer to these questions is an emphatic
yes but must we at the same time connect Jesus with the season for what it has
become. What it has become is
increasingly less about Jesus and more about the pluralistic society in which
we live. Even the Jesus part of
Christmas has been diminished. Christmas
parties have become holiday get-togethers.
Christmas vacation is now winter vacation. Santa is the one to whom
people want to talk.
Yes, I know. This
might be viewed as nit picking by some but the question remains; Is Jesus
REALLY the reason for what this “season” has become? Perhaps a new adage is needed; Constantine is
the reason for the season. Jesus’
nativity was just a convenient excuse.
