What Does The Bible Say About Christmas?
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What does the Bible say about Christmas?
— Matt Edmundson
What does the Bible say about Christmas? This seems like a rather apt question to ask during this holiday season! Let me start off by saying, I absolutely love Christmas. It is my favourite time of the year. I love getting in the Christmas spirit, whatever that means, I love the festivities and the celebration of Christmas, the obligatory Christmas jumper, and putting up the Christmas tree. I am also a Christian, so I celebrate because Christmas talks about Jesus' coming as a baby. It is a time of peace, a time of hope, and the beginning of eternal life.
So what does the Bible say about Christmas? What really happened all those years ago? What is myth? And what are just Christmas traditions? Was there a Splendid Christmas Tree behind Mary with a star on it in a stable? Is Christmas full of pagan origins and pagan practices? What about Santa Claus? Did he deliver gifts at Christ's birth?
Biblical account of the Birth of Jesus
“In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. And all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. And while they were there, the time came for her to give birth. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger. And when they saw it, they made known the saying that had been told them concerning this child. And all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them.”
This is Luke’s account of what happened at the Birth of Christ and it is read throughout many churches every year. You may have heard it before, I know I have. The trouble is, when we hear it, we hear it through the tradition that we have grown up with.
The Traditional Christmas Nativity
If you grew up in the west, then the chances are strong that you have not only seen a nativity but that you have taken part in a nativity, especially at school. That play where everyone bought in Tea Towels to wear on their heads.
You know the outline, Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem. Mary is pregnant and so gets to ride on the donkey with Joseph walking next to her. After the long trip, they arrive at the inn and knock on the door only to be told that they have no room, they are full. But, out of pity, the innkeeper lets Mary use the stable that their animals sleep in. Mary gives birth to the Lord Jesus Christ, a baby that doesn't cry. Joseph doesn't really do anything. The shepherds hear from the angels in the field - which is where the majority of the cast is. Then you have the three wise men turning up with gold, frankincense and myrrh. This whole play takes place in front of a Christmas tree, with fake gifts wrapped underneath it probably left by the one and only Santa Claus as the story of Jesus Christ and Santa intertwine.
When done at school, with your kids, the nativity is cute and definitely worth watching. The only trouble is, it's not really that accurate and is based more on cultural tradition than the Bible. The wise men, for example, didn’t turn up until Jesus was at least 2. The Bible also doesn’t tell us there were three wise men either. We don’t know how many wise men came to visit Him. Also, there's usually no mention of how Mary became pregnant - through the Holy Spirit.
So our traditional nativity, whilst cute is not entirely accurate.
What Is The Real Christmas Story?
This is actually quite important because if a lot of our understanding about Christianity, about Jesus, about Christmas, is based on cultural tradition rather than what the Bible says about Christmas so we can miss some of the awe and wonder of Christmas.
The key to the Christmas story, is, of course, Mary and Joseph. Traditionally, we have understood that Mary and Joseph went to Bethlehem, with Mary on a donkey. She was heavily pregnant and when they arrived, they went to a commercial inn, like a motel, but they were turned away and had to find space in a stable or a cave.
The truth is quite different though. Mary and Joseph were actually returning to Joseph’s home village where he could have easily found shelter because he knew most of the people there and hospitality was a big deal for those living in the middle east at the time. Mary also had relatives close by. So did a Jewish town fail to help a young Jewish mother about to give birth as tradition dictates? It doesn’t sound right, does it?
So let’s look a little more closely at the inn.
What Is The Inn? And Why Was There No Room In It?
To answer this question - let’s have a look at a typical Palestinian Home at the time
We have the main family room which is where the family would live, sleep, cook and eat. We also have a stable at the bottom of the house. The owner of the house would bring in the animals at night to stop them from getting stolen, but also to bring heat to the house…like living radiators as there was no dividing wall between the stable and the main room. There would be a manger to feed the animals as we see in the nativity.
There would also be a guest room annexed to the house. And it is this room that Luke is referring to when he writes that there is no room in the inn. It’s not a commercial inn - like a motel with a no vacancy sign, but rather a private guest room at someone's home.
So what does all this mean?
Well, if Joseph relied on friends for accommodation then their guest room was already occupied so they would have received Mary and Joseph into the main family room - especially as Mary was pregnant. The room would have been cleared of men whilst the village midwife helped deliver the child, and you can see why Jesus would have been laid in a manger if this was the case - the manger was already in the family room. Add a bit of fresh straw and it is an instant cot.
This means that the village wasn’t all a bunch of folks who could have cared less about the family and Joseph wasn’t an inept husband for Mary, unable to find even basic accommodation. This is a story of hospitality and welcome at the start of Jesus’ life, which I think is amazing. Jesus, Mary and Joseph are relying on the kindness of people to help them deal with this part of their life. It's why our Christmas dinner tables should be a place of hospitality and kindness. I don't know who the family was that inconvenienced themselves for Mary and Joseph. We can inconvenience ourselves, we can show kindness and we can open our house during the Christmas season to those who need it. Often that story is not told. The newspapers don't send a reporter round to our house, they don't print it on the front page of the newspapers. But it is the right thing to do, it is what starts the Christmas story.
By misunderstanding the "no room at the inn" phrase, we can often think of the Mary and Joseph as outcasts, rejects shunned by their own people. And in doing so we miss the fact, 'no room at the inn' means hospitality and it means welcome. It means that somewhere in history an amazing family inconvenienced themselves and welcomed Mary and Joseph into their family home at Christmas.
This kind family is the first group of people that I want to look at. The second group of people in the Christmas story worth looking at are the Shepherds. the ones who washed the socks at night and wore tea towels on their heads!
The Shepherds
Think about it. The shepherds were the first recorded people to hear about the birth of Christ. So why pick those guys? Jesus, the messiah, the Saviour of the world, the coming King, God Himself, Emmanual God with us has just been born and the whole of human history will now be unalterably changed and the first people God tells are a group of Shepherds. And it's not just the fact that God tells this message to Shepherds, it is also the way He delivers this message.
God uses Angels to deliver His message. John Harding talked about this last week when he looked at what does the bible say about angels? - a talk definitely worth checking out! And what started out as one angel, turns into a whole host of angels appearing across the sky, singing and possibly playing musical instruments - that's a pretty radical way to deliver a message, isn't it? It’s not an email or text message that's for sure. We have the most incredible news, delivered in the most incredible way - so just exactly who were the shepherds to deserve this honour? Because logic would dictate they must have been really important.
Well, the truth is - we don't really know anything about them which is surprising. And what's even more surprising is their social status. They weren't celebrities of their time, they weren't the influencers on Instagram. They weren't wealthy merchants.
Yet, despite this, God delivers the message to the Shephards first. The Bible account tells us that they were afraid when the angel appeared to them, which is understandable. I'd poop myself just a little bit if an Angel from heaven appeared with the glory of the Lord God shining all around it. But the shepherds would also have been very nervous about what the angel told them to do. They told them to visit the child.
So why would this make them nervous, visiting a newborn? Well, if you are at the bottom of the social ladder, and you are classed as unclean, then you are pretty much an outcast of society. Kenneth Bailey tells us,
"From their point of view, if the child was truly the Messiah, the parents would reject the shepherds if they tried to visit him."
— Kenneth Bailey
The angel seems to anticipate this by giving pieces of key information - that Jesus would be wrapped, which is what peasants did with their newborns, and that Jesus was also lying in a manger - which the shepherds would have instantly understood that Jesus was born in an ordinary family home, just like their own, and not some Governor's Mansion somewhere that would have rejected them.
So why is all this important?
God announces Jesus' birth in the most glorious of ways to rejected peasants looking after their sheep and in that story, we see acceptance.
The story of Christmas is that God accepts all. There is no division in His eyes between the peasant and the wealthy, or gender, or race, or nationality, or intelligence, or Instagram influence, or celebrity status or marital status. The gospel, the story of Christmas is good news for all of us because in that story God accepts all of us, just as we are.
What does the Bible say about Christmas? Well, it doesn't say a lot about a certain green tree, snow, Christmas carols or Christmas jumpers. We have those as traditions now. Some of them are good, some not so good. But the Bible does talk about acceptance, about good news, about inclusivity, about hospitality, about welcome - all things that the God of heaven demonstrates to us because of the birth of Jesus Christ.
In a small house, 2000 years ago, a family welcomed Mary and Joseph into their home. And in that home, a baby was born, and they met Jesus. The outcasts were invited along to also meet Jesus. And when they all met Jesus - they were overjoyed and praised God.
And that still happens today. When we meet Jesus, and welcome Him into our homes, into our families, we become overjoyed and we praise God because we see life through a different lens. We see things differently, we see the love of God, we see the kindness of Christ and it changes us. And it's beautiful. Christmas, then, is a story of hope, a story of redemption, a story of grace. It's about God's intervention in the suffering of humanity, in which He shows His unequivocal love and His open arms and acceptance towards us.
All you can really say after that is Merry Christmas!
CONVERSATION STREET
With: Matt Edmundson & James Burch.
What is Conversation Street?
Conversation Street is part of our live stream, where the hosts (in this case, Matt & James) chat through Matt’s talk and answer questions that were sent in through the live stream. To watch the conversation now, click here.
James: Interesting talk.
Matt: Yeah, I mean, not just because I did it, but I enjoyed doing that talk because the thing about Christmas is, you do have to question what is tradition, and what is actually real. There are some things which I'd never really fully understood, like, the whole thing of the no room at the inn. I remember the first time I realised what was going on there and what it meant. It means the complete opposite of what we've taken it to mean over the years. I thought, man alive, that's quite cool. Very challenging. It's challenging to me in terms of, who have we got coming round at Christmas? How are we being hospitable?
James: No that's good. That's something I've not really thought about before. I think the "no room in the inn" is such a traditional theme, isn't it? It can often be spun to say that Jesus was a bit of an outcast, which I suppose later in his life, and through his teachings and ultimately leading up to his death and the Easter story, is a big part of the theme. Therefore, it's probably us connecting that with this sense of the family not feeling welcome at the time of his birth. We've probably put one and one together and come up with three because it seems to fit a bit of a narrative. That was fascinating though, and I suppose the other thing that we all do, which I am guilty of is that we westernise Christmas don't we?
Matt: Yeah, we do.
James: We're doing it now with jumpers and Christmas cards that have got snow in them when in reality I guess the chances of snow in Bethlehem were pretty limited.
Matt: Do you think?
James: Yeah, and that's not a big deal for me. I like the traditions of Christmas, but even Tracy on the livestream says about visiting the Holy Land. I've not done that, but I'd imagine truly seeing that helps you to understand a bit more about the New Testament culture. I found your diagrams really fascinating of the house too. Little bit like Cluedo. It was good. Is there a shortcut, you know a secret passageway between the inn and the stable? To properly understand that though and therefore it becomes much more about hospitality and being welcoming is huge.
Matt: Yeah, I think it's a big deal. And that's what it wants to tell us. The two key things for me I wanted to bring out this week were that, and God's announcement to the shepherds which I find absolutely incredible because it's the complete opposite of what we would do. I do digital marketing and we run online businesses. There's this whole thing of influencer marketing right now. Super trendy. "Let's get influencers involved to shout out on Instagram about how cool we are." You listen to stories of Nike, how their whole fortune turned around when they signed Michael Jordan. Do you remember? All of a sudden, Air Jordans became like the thing in the '80s. This whole influencer marketing thing is very real. It's very commonplace in our society, but it's not what God did. I find it absolutely fascinating.
James: Like you say though, to completely flip it, and show right from day one that Jesus's whole life was all about going against any sort of level of status within society, and actually him being available for everybody. The fact that the shepherds were considered probably pretty low on the pecking order is something that probably comes through a bit more as a theme that has managed to survive the test of time, isn't it? I think the fact that Jesus appears and is welcomed by shepherds, and then the angels appearing to them is mind-blowing. I think that's a really cool theme to continue remembering. God's acceptance for all is massive, isn't it?
Matt: Yeah, it is. Claire's put in the comments. It's really refreshing and exciting to raise kids here in Morocco which is generally much closer to Jesus' culture, and doesn't have all the commercialism. My kids completely understand the part of the house that is for the fancy guests, and the other part where the animals are because they have friends in the mountains, whose houses are exactly like that, even still to this day. That's amazing.
James: Yeah, that is. The West has taken over Christmas a bit, hasn't it? In many ways, it's kind of created this other version. That story and that visualisation of what the first Christmas was like definitely needs to be understood more. It's certainly passed me by over the years.
Does The Bible Talk About A Christmas Tree?
Matt: That's on all the Christmas cards. What do we think, are Christmas trees in the Bible? Now the reason why this is a really interesting question is that there is a passage buried deep in the Bible that is often cited in the book of Jeremiah.
“Learn not the way of the nations, nor be dismayed at the signs of the heavens because the nations are dismayed at them, for the customs of the peoples are vanity. A tree from the forest is cut down and worked with an axe by the hands of a craftsman. They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move." - Jeremiah 10:2-5
It references cutting down trees, chiseling the wood, bringing them into the homes, and decorating them. So, there is something in the Bible that says, do not cut down trees, do not decorate them, and do not bring them into the home, which I have done this Christmas. The thing is, you can find very obscure verses in the Bible, if you just take it out of context, and you can make it back up anything you say. But this passage refers to turning the trees into idols. If you ever read the Bible, idols are never good. God's not a big fan of idols. Let's just leave it there. So I think if you take it out of context, it's talking more about idol worship, whereas I don't perceive the Christmas tree to be idol worship, I have to be honest.
James: No, I would agree. I'm trying to be balanced here rather than just going, yeah, rubbish. Because some people may feel that and that's a valid opinion. I'd argue in your living room there's probably a bigger idol than the Christmas tree right now. Probably the TV, isn't it?
Matt: Yeah, that's a very good comment.
James: Arguably, the Christmas tree distracts us from the TV and makes us think about Christmas. So, maybe it's a good thing. But yeah, I think it's an interesting line in the Bible that I don't really understand to be honest. I'm sure it was relevant at the time as were a lot of things, and are probably things that have moved on culturally now. We just kind of go, yeah, it's fine.
Is Christmas Rooted In Paganism?
James: Well, with my extensive knowledge of this subject, take this with a pinch of salt. I suppose Christmas traditions probably are. I don't necessarily think that's a bad thing. I'm not saying I agree with paganism, but I think some of the traditions probably are, aren't they? Let's face it, I think everything about what we experience has been created by humans creating traditions, whether it's in this country or it's been taken from other cultures and adapted.
Yeah, I would imagine that there probably are some elements there. I don't think that the mass commercialization of it all is right, but I'm certainly not the person that would say, you shouldn't celebrate it, and that you shouldn't give gifts because done in the right way, the hospitality and the welcome, in our current culture, means coming together, sharing, giving, eating food. That's how we demonstrate hospitality, isn't it? Back in the day, there would have been some controversial decisions made that were clearly aligned to paganism and different beliefs. Perhaps over the years, they have become a bit watered down. It's a huge topic that I'm not really equipped to answer. That's my ten pence.
Matt: I think your 10 pence very good value. I would agree. I think it's hard to understand what is pagan, and what has grown up with Christmas and tradition over the years. Christmas was not known amongst the early christians as a holiday until the third century when Pope Julius the First picked December the 25th as the annual date to celebrate Christ's birth on the Georgian calendar. Supposedly having Jesus's birthday December 25th would allow Christians to still participate in the Roman festivals, which were pagan.
Now, this is where there's a bit of contention because the Romans were celebrating some of the pagan festivals and Christianity was a big impact on Rome. There was this sort of kind of crossover. What I didn't realise was, it was not until the sixth century, that the holidays were introduced and it's traditions had spread to the UK.
James: On a coca-cola lorry. I love that advert. I'm not saying anything about the company itself.
Matt: Sharon's put here, Christmas traditions are quite strange in that there are things that we do every year, like having Christmas trees, but we don't know why we do them. That's a really interesting point. There are things that we do just because they are traditional and we don't question why. I know why we put the star on the top of the Christmas tree. That is the star of Bethlehem that the wise men followed. I get that. I get the light. I get why we light candles because Jesus is the light of the world. I don't think you can understand Christmas until you get that. Do you know what I mean? That Jesus is the light of the world. So I get why we do candles, but things like Christmas trees. I just like them.
What Is The Star Of Bethlehem?
James: There was a question about the Star of Bethlehem wasn't there? I suppose linked to maybe the wise men. Am I right in saying Matt that the visitors that we call the wise men or the three kings, wasn't until a couple of years after Jesus was born? Did they follow an obvious star in the sky?
Matt: Yeah, that's a really good question. There were a couple of things that came up about the wise men. They weren't there at Jesus's birth, we do know that much. It was more likely to be a few years later that they came to seek Jesus out. Apparently, they weren't kings. We don't know if they were royalty, but it was very unlikely that they were kings. It was very unlikely.
James: I was gonna say, do we even know they were wise men? I mean there's a shortage of wise men, I think.
Matt: They were the only ones that ever existed.
James: I think wisdom has been watered down over the years. I think it's probably best to say, three blokes. Nothing better.
Matt: Actually, there's no evidence that there were three. There were three gifts. We know they brought frankincense, gold and myrrh.
The star is interesting though, because in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 2, it says, after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem. Notice it didn't say three. For, they saw a star when it rose and have come to worship him, so they knew that they needed to come to worship him. A few verses later, it says, after listening to the king, they went on their way and behold the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. We've interpreted that on our Christmas cards as there was a star in the sky, which guided them and stopped over the house where Jesus was somehow.
James: I question that.
Matt: Yeah, was there this big ball of gas? I don't know.
James: Maybe it was over the estate.
Matt: So, the scientists have looked into this, wondering what this could have been. An astronomer called Michael Molnar has written a book called the Star of Bethlehem. He said, and I quote,
“Nothing in science is ever Case Closed. Nor is it in history. We may never know if the Star of Bethlehem was a conjunction, which means when planets align in the sky you get this bright star in the sky, or whether it was an astrological event, or a fable to advance Christianity. Maybe, just maybe it was simply a miracle.”
- Michael Molnar
And so that's maybe the route I'm going to go down. Whatever it was, it obviously worked for those fellas.
James: For me, it works either way, doesn't it? I don't think my Christian faith balances on the specific facts of that star and whether it was or whether it wasn't. It's an interesting conversation to have. I guess if angels appeared, it could be something similar to that.
Matt: Yeah, it could be. Sharon's put, from my understanding, there were pagan celebrations in December, but celebrating Jesus's birth in December was started on purpose by Christians. It's likely that Jesus wasn't born December 25th because the shepherds wouldn't have been out washing their socks by night during the winter months. So it's more than likely spring, from what we can understand. So I would say that Christmas wasn't originally a pagan celebration, but there were pagan celebrations around at the time, which is a very good way of looking at it. Somehow some of the traditions have seeped into it.
Is It Biblical To Celebrate Christmas?
Matt: Should Christians celebrate Christmas? Actually, the Bible doesn't tell us anywhere to go and celebrate Christmas. For me, the reason why I celebrate Christmas is that when the shepherds found out about Jesus, they did celebrate it. We read that story.
Romans 14:5 says,
“One person considers one day more sacred than another, another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.”
I think what I draw from this is I personally am comfortable with what I know to celebrate Christmas in the way that I celebrate it, in a way that I think personally is honouring to God. I don't think I'm violating any commands of Scripture. If I am, then I feel like at some point, God will reveal that to me. If you don't feel comfortable celebrating Christmas because of the things you've talked about, then God bless you. I have no drama with that at all. Just as we've read down in Romans, each one of us should be fully convinced in our own mind, and we'll celebrate it or not however we deem fit.
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