Today, Christendom is in festive mood as it celebrates Jesus’ birth. Joyful carols, special liturgies, brightly wrapped gifts, festive foods will characterise the event whose date is trailed by controversy, writes CHINAKA OKORO .
Mazi Ofoma was of the Anglican faith before he was converted to Jehovah’s Witness. Before his conversion, he believed Jesus Christ was born on December 25 which is celebrated as Christmas Day. But, having seen the ‘light’ as those who are “born again” describe their current spirituality; he no longer believed in the doctrine that teaches what he termed heresy. He became dismissive of the celebration revered by Christendom .
But his childhood friend, Mazi Ikenna who is of the Catholic faith is a dyed-in-the-wool believer that Jesus Christ was born on December 25; hence he celebrates the event with pomp.
Ofoma’s sudden detestation of the celebration of the birth of the Saviour was the cause of squabble between two close friends.
Ikenna reminded Ofoma that “tomorrow is Christmas Day when Christians throughout Christendom will celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ; the originator of Christianity.” “Oh! That your pagan practice,” Ofoma retorted. A quarrel ensued.
Ofoma maintained that the celebration was an offshoot of a pagan practice, which has no Biblical backing, while Ikenna held fast to his belief that December 25 was the birth date of Jesus Christ.
Between Ofoma’s and Ikenna’s views which are veritable? Is Ofoma right in declaring Christmas celebration a pagan practice? Or is Ikenna right that Jesus Christ was born on December 25?
Today, Christians around the world gather to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. Joyful carols, special liturgies, brightly wrapped gifts, festive foods will characterise the feast.
The word Christmas was derived from an Old English phrase Christes Maesse, which means Mass of Christ and was first used in A.D. 1038.
Divergent views about actual date
There are contending views as to the actual birth date of Jesus the Redeemer. Some authorities of the unorthodox leaning opined that Jesus was born in October, while majority, especially those who are of the orthodox tradition have stuck to December 25 as His birth date. Again, some maintain that the Saviour’s birth date was not Scriptural.
In “How December 25 became Christmas”, published in Aboutjesuschrist.org, Andrew McGowan wrote: “There is no evidence for this date. So then, who decided that Jesus’ birth would be celebrated on that date? The early Christian church did not celebrate Jesus’ birth. It wasn’t until A.D. 440 that the church officially proclaimed December 25 as the birth of Christ. This was not based on any religious evidence but on a pagan feast. Saturnalia was a tradition inherited by the Roman pagans from an earlier Babylonian priesthood. December 25 was used as a celebration of the birthday of the sun god. Some scholars think the church chose the date of the pagan celebration to coax them to embrace Christianity.”
There is further evidence that December 25 is the wrong date for the birth of Jesus Christ. The Biblical Archaeology Society noted that “early writing by Iranaeus, who was regarded as Church authority and who was born about a century after Jesus, noted that Jesus was born in the 41st year of the reign of Augustus. Since Augustus began his reign in the autumn of 43 B.C., this appears to substantiate the birth of Jesus in the autumn of 2 B.C.”
How December 25 date came about
However, records showed that Christmas was first celebrated on January 6, which was also observed as an official Roman holiday starting from A.D. 534. Biblical experts posit that it was Pope Julius the First that changed the date for Christmas celebrations to December 25.
Historical records revealed that December used to be observed as a heathen holiday-the feast of Saturn, the birthday of the unconquered Sun. But the Church was said to have chosen this date in order to adapt and absorb the tradition of the pagan Saturnalia festival or the feast of the Nativity.
The December 25 date was said to have been adopted a few years after the Ascension of Christ to heaven when Christian leaders met in Nicene, Italy.
Again, sources say the December 25 date was chosen by the then Universal Church to stop the heathen festival of Saturn when it was celebrated.
The birthdate of Jesus Christ was vaguely mentioned in the Gospels of Saints Matthew and Luke. According to St. Luke’s Gospel, an Angel of God appeared to shepherds and told them about the birth of Jesus Christ.
However, St. Matthew recorded in his Gospel that the wise men also called the Magi. They were sages, who followed a star to where Christ was born and gave gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Because there were three gifts, there is an unsubstantiated assumption that there were three of them.
The only clue in all these is that in St. Matthew’s Gospel, Christ’s birth date was situated during the reign of King Herod, which Bible scholars and experts in ecclesiastical matters put at about 5 B.C. “Herod was king of Judaea and Samaria from 37 to 4 B.C.” while in the Gospel of St. Luke, Jesus Christ’s birth date was situated to be during the reign of Caesar Augustus “the Emperor of Rome from 30 B.C. to 14 A.D. who issued a decree for census of the whole world to be taken. The census, experts maintained, took place when Quirinus was Governor of Syria, about 8 to 6 B.C.”
All these are devoid of exact Biblical or scholarly pronouncement of December 25 as the birthdate of Jesus Christ.
Wide acceptance of December 25 birthdate
Despite over-stretched arguments and stiff opposition by some Christian sects and denominations, December 25 has gained wide acceptance of over 95 per cent of Christendom as the birthdate of our Redeemer.
Christmas is, perhaps, the only festival that is celebrated with joy and happiness the world over. The entire Christian community and even some non-Christians eagerly long for December 25 every year to regale in fun and festivity.
Some say “Christmas is a period when people squander all that they have saved from the beginning of the year. People spend money without remembering that January will come when they will pay school fees, pay house rents and other bills.”
Contrary to some banal views, Christmas is not merely carnal feast to satisfy man’s tastes, moods or desires, but a deep spiritual reminder of the coming of Jesus Christ to earth to save humankind.
Significance of Christmas
Ordinarily, humankind should situate the birth of Jesus Christ in the context of everyday living and not a yearly or seasonal affair so as to understand the import of His birth and the impact of His teaching on their lives. It should not, according to experts, be a yearly event, which comes and goes without impacting positively on people’s lives.
Read Also: Christmas: Lawan urges Nigerians to embrace Christ’s virtues
As Mary and Joseph did, humankind should, at this Christmas period, accept, treasure and ponder the historic event and appreciate the mystery of the incarnation.
The story of Jesus Christ is that of humility, poverty and privation. Christ is King, but He came to earth as an ordinary man. What a marvellous and challenging paradox-heavenly glory and human slavery. He merits Saint Augustine’s description: “Lying in a manger but containing the world, wrapped in swaddling clothes but vesting us with immortality.”
Commentaries by adherents
Chairman of Catholic Men’s Organisation (CMO) of Saint Mary’s Catholic Church, Isolo, Lagos, Hon. Anthony Ofoegbu said: “Christmas should be a reminder to humankind of those unequalled virtues of Jesus Christ whose birth we celebrate.
“The way we celebrate Christmas tends to suggest that the whole essence of Christ’s redemptive coming as a man is lost on humankind. We celebrate in such a manner that more sins are committed than we were redeemed by Christ. Our entire actions smack of Christianity without Christ.”
Ofoegbu’s assertion corroborates those of the Catholic Bishop of Parramata, Australia, Bishop Kevin Manning, who argued, sadly, that “modern-day approaches to Christmas tend to paganise, manipulate or dismiss the mystery by trivialising or commercialising the Nativity. It requires little effort to overlook a tiny child lying in a manger, but one can hardly do so when it is God’s way of accomplishing salvation…”
Manning’s contention proves that many have lost the fervour of Christmas. It becomes more potent when one looks at the contemporary trend.
Thousands of Christians, it seems, have lost touch with the spirit of Christmas; beclouding the essence of Christ’s advent in what former Parish Priest of Saints Joachim and Anne Catholic Church, Ijegun, Lagos, Very Rev. Fr. John Ola-Maria Agbolade described as “crass materialism.”
Fr. Agbolade said: “It is bad that people regard Christmas as a special period for wardrobe renewal, home repainting and renovation and exchange of gifts among loved ones and families accompanied by endless flow of assorted drinks and scrumptious dishes.”
For Eze Ndigbo of Lagos State and Chairman Council of Ndi Eze Dr. Christian Uchechukwu Nwachukwu, the celebration of Christ’s birth calls for happiness, joy and merriment because of the salvation He brought to humankind.
However, Nwachukwu, whose birthdate is December 25 expressed worry over the tendency of some Christians to approach this all-important event wrongly. He condemned the level of self-aggrandisement that has crept into Christendom from the secular world, noting, regrettably that in all the glitter and glitz of Christmas, the less-privileged individuals are often cut off from the grandiose celebrations.
Eze Nwachukwu maintained that all the huge and unnecessary expenditure, and atrocities committed during Christmas celebrations fall short of the essence of Christmas.
He said: “Christmas invites us away from the hectic escapism into God’s silence to ponder the mystery of the incarnation and treasure real family life. Ours is a world full of noise, infantile religiosity, enticing distractions and self-righteousness, which leave us destitute within the enormous mystery of the incarnation.”
Mrs. Jennifer Iheanacho, who owns a supermarket on Peter Agha Road, Oke-Afa, Isolo, is much concerned about the drabness and lull that characterise this year’s Yuletide due to what she called “an unusual lack of patronage”.
She said: “Previously, I find it difficult to attend to the surging customers. The customers are not forthcoming as if they had travelled before the season.”
Mrs. Iheanacho’s complaints sum up the outlandish expectations, euphoria and overwhelming excitement people attach to Christmas period. People bank on Christmas season as the time they would accomplish what they couldn’t in the past eleven months, thereby losing focus of the essence of Christmas as a time of spiritual renewal.
Leave a Reply