Christmas
Gerard van Honthorst. Adoration of the Shepherds (oil on canvas), c. 1622.
Pomeranian State Museum, Greifswald, Western Pomerania.
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In Homer’s Iliad, Zeus comments, “men are the most pitiful of all creatures, for they die and they know they die.” Gods never die. No matter what, at the end of the day gods go home; they are eternal. How, then, can a god understand a man? How can a god know our fears, our trials, our sufferings and our doubts? How can a god feel what we feel? How can a god empathize with the human condition? How can a god have the capacity for heroism, when he has nothing to lose? The answer is: he can’t.
Only with the incarnation—with God becoming man—can God know what we know, feel what we feel and truly understand us. Only with the incarnation can God have the capacity for heroism, a heroism expressed in the life and death of Jesus of Nazareth. In the Lord Jesus Christ, God put on a face, stepped into the world and lived among us, as one of us. As John tells us in the prologue to his Gospel: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God . . . and the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us” (John 1: 1, 14).
That is the genius of Christianity.
Christmas celebrates the incarnation, the time when God became man: the birth of Jesus Christ. The word “Christmas” originated as a compound of “Christ’s Mass.” It is derived from the Old English Cristes mæsse, a phrase first recorded in A.D. 1038. Cristes is from the Greek, Χριστός and mæsse from the Latin missa (referring to the Roman Catholic Mass).
No one knows, of course, when Jesus was actually born, but by the early fourth century December 25th had become the recognized date. In Judeo-Christian tradition, the creation takes place during the spring equinox, March 25th. As a result, the early Church dated the Annunciation on March 25th, linking the creation of the world with God coming into the world. Thus, if Jesus is conceived on March 25th, he is born on December 25th. In the early Church the winter solstice marks the birth of Christ and the summer solstice the birth of John the Baptist, supplemented by the equinoxes as their respective dates of conception.
Such cosmic symbolism is not unique to Christianity. The Romans celebrated the winter solstice as Saturnalia, with greenery, lights and gift giving for the Roman New Year, while Scandinavia celebrated the festival of Yule, with the burning of Yule logs and feasting.
There is something deep within humanity that resonates with such cosmic symbolism, a symbolism expressed in our Church liturgical calendar. And that symbolism is rich, indeed, adding color, tone and texture to the human experience, linking us to something much bigger than ourselves.
May all of you have a blessed and happy Christmas, as we remember—and celebrate—the birth of our Savior.