The
History of Christmas
Have you ever thought of where the world would be
without the celebration for Jesus’ Birth?
Maybe you and I
would have never come to know the Savior.
The history of Christmas did not begin with Christ.
The winter
solstice – the shortest day of the year –
has been celebrated in one form or another for
millennia.
Northern Europeans called it “Jul”,
(a
term remembered in the English word Yule,
which
now means Christmas).
In ancient Rome it was the Dies Natalis Solis Invicti,
or "the
birthday of the unconquered Sun”.
Through sacrifices and feasting,
pagans celebrated the beginning of the Sun's
revival.
As Christianity spread,
Christians were alarmed by the continuing
celebration
of pagan customs among their converts.
At first, the churches forbid this kind of
celebration.
But to no avail.
Eventually, the church adopted December 25
as the date to celebrate Jesus’ birth.
Christianity grew and so did the celebration of
Jesus’ birth.
Much of what we see today, as we celebrate Christmas,
can be found in pagan celebrations before Jesus’
birth.
The church realizing it could not ban the pagan
practices,
began to give them spiritual meaning.
They taught the people from the things they
understood.
The Romans when they celebrated Dies Natalis Solis Invicti;
would spread garland on their tables and have large
feasts.
They even went into the streets to sing carols for
money.
The Christian’s Christmas
incorporated these same practices,
but centered them around Christ.
The carols in the streets became songs
with a message of Jesus and praise to Him.
The Apostle Paul when in Athens,
was troubled by the idol worship of the people.
Paul seemed to be getting nowhere
as he tried to teach them about Christ.
Things changed when he recognized one of their gods
and taught them from something they could identify
with.
There are some who say Christmas
comes from a pagan holiday
and Jesus was not born on December 25,
which is true.
But wise Christians not only
choose to worship Jesus
and celebrate His birth on December 25,
but use that day to lead others
to an understanding of the Savior
who came to bring light
and life to all mankind!
Scripture
Reading
Acts 17:16-31 NIV
16 While Paul was waiting for them in Athens,
he was greatly distressed to see that
the city was full of idols.
17 So he reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and
the God-fearing Greeks,
as well as in the marketplace day by day with those
who happened to be there.
18 A group of Epicurean and Stoic philosophers began
to dispute with him.
Some of them asked, "What is this babbler
trying to say?"
Others remarked, "He seems to be advocating
foreign gods."
They said this because Paul was preaching the good
news about Jesus and the resurrection.
19 Then they took him and brought him to a meeting
of the Areopagus,
where they said to him, "May we know what this
new teaching is that you are presenting?
20 You are bringing some strange ideas to our ears,
and we want to know what they mean."
21(All the Athenians and the foreigners who lived
there spent
their time doing nothing but talking about and
listening to the latest ideas.)
22 Paul then stood up in the meeting of the
Areopagus and said:
"Men of Athens! I see that in every way you are
very religious.
23 For as I walked around and looked carefully at
your objects of worship,
I even found an altar with this
inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.
Now what you worship as something
unknown I am going to proclaim to you.
24 "The God who made the world and everything
in it is the Lord of heaven
and earth and does not live in temples built by
hands.
25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he
needed anything,
because he himself gives all men life and breath and
everything else.
26 From one man he made every nation of men, that
they should inhabit the whole earth;
and he determined the times set for them and the
exact places where they should live.
27 God did this so that men would seek him and
perhaps reach out for him and find him,
though he is not far from each one of us.
28'For in him we live and move and have our being.'
As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his
offspring.'
29 "Therefore since we are God's offspring,
we should not think that the divine being is like
gold or silver or stone
— an image made by man's design and skill.
30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance,
but now he commands all people everywhere to repent.
31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world
with justice by the man he has appointed.
He has given proof of this to all men by raising him
from the dead."
