Christianity maintains that December 25 is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ, but IS it? The tradition started in the 4th century and despite the fact that many tried to get rid of Christmas as the premier day on many a calendar, the festival clung stubbornly to its position on December 25.
But regardless of tradition, what does the Bible say about the birth of Jesus? Is it possible that the Bible would stay mum on the birth of its most central figure, the Hub around whom the Old and New Testaments of the Bible evolve: Jesus? Upon closer scrutiny, it becomes clear that the Bible is not at all secretive about the birth of Jesus. All that needs to be done is to read the parts around Jesus’ birth in the context of the history of the Law for the Jews and voilà!
THE DATE OF JESUS’ BIRTH
The quote above actually says more than what meets the eye. Caesar Augustus wanted to have a census taken of all the troublesome Jews in his Roman Empire (all the world). However, the Jews were spread right across his empire and such a census would have been a logistical nightmare, except for one stipulation in the Jewish law that would call them to the Promised Land, making a census so much easier: The Jubilee! According to the Law (Leviticus 25) every Jew was required to go back to their allotted land (v10). The Bible actually says that Jesus was born during the hustle and bustle of the Jubilee.
So the birth of Jesus took place exactly 1200 years after the walls of Jericho fell, on the great day of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. Notice just how very fitting it was for Jesus, whose sole purpose for His earthly life was to be an Atonement Offering to repair the breach between the Spirit God and natural man, to be born on the Day of Atonement. While the Jubilee trumpets were sounded over the Promised Land to herald the 24th Jubilee, it also heralded the birth of the everlasting Jubilee of God: Jesus the Christ, born on the Adam Calendar on the 10th/7th month of the year 4992AA and on the Roman calendar September 25, 8BCE.
This date for Jesus’ birth, removed from the traditional date of December 25 (winter!), thus lends credence to the report of the Bible that the flocks of sheep and their shepherds were still in the fields (Luke 2), because autumn had just sprung and the fact that there was room for Mary in a barn, which would have been full of animals during the winter. A final thought on this point is that Judaism actually celebrates the birth of Christ every year on the correct date on their calendar. In the Tabernacle (and later on the Temple) they also had an annual live production on the Day of Atonement prophesying what would happen to Jesus and the Jews, by acting out the stipulations of Leviticus 16.
IS DECEMBER 25 ABOUT JESUS CHRIST?
So now back to the traditional date of Christmas on December 25: A gynaecologist will immediately recognize the connection between December 25 and September 25. Yes! December 25 is the day that the egg in the womb of Mary was artificially fertilized by Gabriel, the angelic gynaecologist. December 25 was not the birth of Jesus, but in fact the start of His sojourn on Earth when His life was set off 9 months prior to when He was born on Yom Kippur.
So the question is: Does Christmas deserve a special spot on the calendars of the world? The Roman Catholic Church has a special date set aside to celebrate the start of Jesus’ life in Mary’s womb. They call it “Annunciation,” referring to the announcement of the angel that Mary would give birth to Jesus, nine months before His birth. it means that this “Annunciation” must in fact move to December 25, because THAT was the day the angel appeared to Mary and she dedicated her temple (body) to the Lord in her famous words: “I am the Lord’s servant. May it be to me as you have said.” (Luke 1:38)
Now that we have reshuffled the facts to fall in its correct order, we see that the "Annunciation" was actually during the hours of night on the secular date of December 24/25, when the fertilization of Mary took place. Later that same day Mary made a hasty trip to her cousin, Elizabeth, who was in her sixth month of pregnancy with John the Baptist! She arrived at Elizabeth’s place on January 6, the date on which the Magi would pay Regulus (the little King) a visit exactly one year later, the REAL reason why the Eastern Church celebrates “Christmas” on January 6, on which day John the Baptist completed his sixth month in Elizabeth’s womb. He was eventually born on April 6. (see Luke 1:26ff)
WHAT SHALL WE THEN CELEBRATE ON CHRISTMAS?
The answer is very simple: On December 25 LIFE was started in the womb of a specially chosen woman to bear the foetus that would eventually become the crown of humanity: Jesus! Christianity doesn’t have to waver one inch from holding a special mass for Christ: Christmas! And the rest of humanity? Again the answer is very simple: EVERY human has a day of “annunciation” in their lives, which can easily be computed as being exactly three months before their birthday. So it is only normal that every human shall celebrate his or her life on their respective “days of annunciation”! But it is also normal that humanity, as a unit, will celebrate life on the day that will be most fitting for the occasion: December 25 – Christmas! Call it ANY other name, but get into the mood of the celebration of life with the rest of humanity on December 25!
Get out of your skin on December 25 and remove the tinted lenses from your eyes, through which you looked at your fellow man and at the rest of nature. Remove all tags which you posted to others. Don’t think of others as theists, atheists, as belonging to religion or non-religion or whatever. Look at poor and rich people as fellow human beings and celebrate life with them. Look at other races as being part of one rainbow. And give somebody special a small present, just to say: “I celebrate your life”!
But remember the name “Eve” means “mother of all the living” (Gen.3:20), which means that our celebration of life should not be limited to that of humans. We should also celebrate the life of all nature and celebrate the fact that the life of the complete ecology of Earth is interdependent. Humans need each other as well as the rest of the ecology, to have a successful temporal stay here on Earth, the true Eve, and the true “Mother of all the living”!