THE TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

Religious by Robert Morton, III

  

It’s the Christmas time of year again and every one is celebrating the holidays. The kids are making a list and the parents are jumping through hoops, trying to fulfill all of their little hearts desires. The tree is up and decorated with beautiful ornaments and the lights illuminate the shadows of all the houses in the neighborhood. However, it makes you wonder why we celebrate Christmas the way we do and has the true meaning been lost in all the hype. I know I enjoy this time of year very much, watching all the kids play, with their hearts filled with joy. Spending time with family and friends, I mean how could you not like it.

 

Holiday, What ever happened to Holy day? I mean is it possible that somehow we’ve lost the true meaning of Christmas, somewhere in all this tradition. Often we hear people say that Jesus is the reason for the season but has this just become an old cliché. I know that we have many different beliefs in our society when it comes to religion and I respect each and every one of them. However my only concern at this time is the celebration of Christmas. I will say one thing though, the cliché is right about the fact that Jesus is the reason for the season but this opens the question, who is Jesus really?

 

Over 2000 years before Jesus was born, the prophets of the Old Testament wrote about him. Skeptics will beg to differ and say that the Old Testament prophets spoke of the messiah not Jesus. There are over 300 prophecies attributed to the messiah in the Old Testament,    in order for Jesus to be the messiah, He would have to fulfill all of these prophecies. The odds of fulfilling only 8 of these prophecies are 1 in 100,000,000,000,000,000. The odds of fulfilling 48 of these prophecies would be 1in 10 to the 157^th power, in other words 1 to a 1 with 157 zeros behind it. Now if that doesn’t open your eyes then imagine what the number would be for someone to fulfill all thee hundred plus prophecies, the number would be staggering. In fact Jesus did fulfill all of the prophecies that were written about the messiah which leaves us to believe that Jesus is the messiah.                          

 

The Bible tells us in the Old Testament that the messiah would come from the seed of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob which He did. (Genesis 18:18, Genesis 17:19, Numbers24:17)  In the New Testament we see these scriptures fulfilled Acts 3:25,Matthew 1:2,Luke 3:34).I could go on and on about how He would descend from the tribe of Judah, He would be born in Bethlehem, He would be born to a virgin mother and so on and so on. However as you can see we would be here all day. Now I say all of that to say this, even though some people may not believe in the Bible, it doesn’t change the fact that historically and Biblically that these facts are true. This bring us back to the issue at hand is Jesus the reason for the season, I believe He is.

 

What is the true meaning of Christmas and why do we celebrate it? Christmas comes from the words Cristes masse or Christ’s mass and is historically regarded as the celebration of the birth of Christ. The first Christmas celebration was held in Rome in 336 AD. As of 1994 the Britannic book of the year recorded that there are over1.8 billion Christians in the total world population of over 5.5 billion people. In America there are over 281 million people and over 241 million are Christians, maybe that is why Christmas is so popular in the United States.

 

Some people say that Christmas has become too commercialized and there may be some truth to that. Retailers make up to 70% of their annual revenue during the Christmas time of year. Christmas started to become more commercialized in1867, when Macy’s department store in New York City remained opened on Christmas Eve until mid night. Macey’s also is responsible for the first window display in 1874, so I guest that they were the first to capitalize on the phenomenon soon to come, commercializing Christmas.

 

Most people don’t take out the time to research things before they jump on the band wagon, if it’s alright for the Jones’s it must be alright for me. That’s not very smart or very prudent; in fact it probably goes against the belief of most of us. Why is it then that  

Something as sacred as Christmas and as celebrated as it is, taken so light heartedly? If you knew for a fact that a lot of the traditions that we commonly embrace during this time of year have nothing at all to do with Christmas, would it change your mind? I don’t think so.

 

In 336 AD Christian leaders decided to make December 25^th the day that we set aside to celebrate Christmas, because they wanted to eclipse a popular pagan holiday called solstice. This was intended to celebrate the sun standing still or being at the farthest point from the equator. The tree is a German tradition started in 700 AD by the 1800’s it was wide spread in England and shortly there after Pennsylvanian German immigrants brought the tradition to the U.S. The mistletoe was rejected by Christian leaders because of its pagan roots, however they embraced holly. They felt that holly symbolized the crown of thorns on the head of Jesus at the crucifixion and the berries symbolized His blood. The mistletoe is a Scandinavian tradition associated with the Goddess of love (Frigga) hence the kiss under the mistletoe.  Poinsettias were attached to Christmas in 1828 when Joel Roberts the first ambassador to Mexico brought it back with him. Not to mention Santa but I’m sure you get the point.

 

Now I know that a lot of this may be very hard to take and I’m not suggesting that you should change anything about the way you celebrate Christmas. I only hope that you remember the real reason that we celebrate Christmas in the first place. Over 2000 years ago Jesus Christ was born to spread true love and to take away the sins of the world. He is the Holy messiah spoke of by the prophets in the Old Testament and we know this because He fulfilled all of the prophecies foretold of Him.

 

We celebrate His birth to honor Him and to show our appreciation for Him. Through out history there has never been another that could equal the impact that Jesus has had on the world and continues to have until this day. If you research all the world religions no other religious figure has ever made the claim that they were born of a virgin mother, lived a sinless life, died and was raised from the grave on the third day but Jesus and that is what makes Him so unique.

 

I remember when we were kids and how much we would look forward to waking up on Christmas day to open up our presents and play with all of our toys. Hoping that Santa had already come, we would sneak down the hallway one after the other just to see if he had. As usual we were not disappointed; toys and gifts were every where. There were even a couple of times that I thought that we almost caught Santa on the way out, hum He kind of looked like daddy but that’s beside the point. All I know is that was the happiest time of my life.

 

I guess I’ve said all of that to say this, no matter why you celebrate Christmas or how you celebrate it, know the reason for your self and don’t do it because it’s the popular thing or the traditional thing to do. Know for your self that it’s the right thing for you and your family. I personally believe that it is important to set aside the time in our life to celebrate the birth of Jesus. As we observe the nativity seen this season, make sure you realize that it is much more than just a baby in a manger. The Bible tells us that God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up in to Glory.(1 timothy 3:16 ) I challenge you to try to find any one else through out history that fits this profile other than Jesus.

 

In conclusion I want to remind all of you that there is nothing wrong in the celebration of Christmas, because contrary to popular belief, it is the most important day of the year. I only ask, that this year you take a little time as you begin to put up the tree, decorate the house and shop for all the toys and presents. That you remind your self that over 2000 years ago, God manifested Himself into a child, born in Bethlehem, in a manger and they named the child Jesus. That is why Jesus is the reason for the season, and that’s the true meaning of Christmas. 

 

 

ROBERT MORTON III, Contact: ulacrump@charter.net

 

Copyright 2004 Robert Morton,III

Reviews and comments requested
Posted 12/13/2004