Christmas in October

2008-06-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

This week my sister gave birth to her first child, a healthy girl they've called Katy June. Celebrating with her and her husband has turned my thoughts towards birth.

Did you know that there's a good chance that Jesus was not born in December? Yep, just when you thought you had your life all figured out, what with looking forward to the Christmas season in December and all, I have to come along and spoil it for you. I promise you, though, that this won't be as painful as you think.

First of all, some background. There are 7 holy festivals that the Lord commands the Jewish people to observe (Leviticus 23). The Feast of Tabernacles is the last of these, taking place in late autumn. It is also the third and last pilgrim feast, when the Jewish people were expected to gather and celebrate in Jerusalem. (In case you're wondering, the other 6 festivals are: Passover, Unleavened Bread, Firstfruits, Weeks, Trumpets [or Rosh Hoshana as modern Jews call it], Atonement [Yom Kippur], and Tabernacles [Sukkot]. The other two pilgrim festivals are Unleavened Bread and Weeks.)

During this feast, Jews build tents to commemorate their wandering in the wilderness, and how God took care of them during that time. However, they also believe there's a spiritual dimension to it. They believe that the tents represent our bodies, the sinful covering that contains our soul while it wanders on earth, until it goes to meet God after death. When you think about it, isn't that what Jesus did? He, the Son of God, come down from Heaven and took on a human body to walk among us. After His death and resurrection, He went back to the Father. So already we see a connection between this ancient feast and the Messiah!

This connection is made explicit in the gospel of John. In the first chapter, John says, "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." (vs. 14) The Greek word here translated "dwelt" actually means "to fix one's tabernacle, have one's tabernacle, abide (or live) in a tabernacle (or tent)." (NAS New Testament Greek Lexicon) And in Revelation 21:3, John says "And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them"

There's more, however. You see, the Jews also believe that this feast points toward a Messiah. They don't believe it was Jesus, though. They believe the Messiah has not yet come, but will return in the future to redeem His people. And when He comes, they believe that the Feast of Tabernacles (or Booths as it's called in some Bible translations) will be a part of His millenial reign. They believe this based on Zechariah 14, which prophecies the final battle of Armageddon and then says in vs. 16:

Then it will come about that any who are left of all the nations that went against Jerusalem will go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to celebrate the Feast of Booths. (NASV)

So at the same time that the Jews use the Feast of Tabernacles to look back in their history, they also use it to look forward towards that glorious time when Messiah will come. Now let's look at the events of Jesus' birth as recorded in Luke.

First of all, the Romans commanded everyone to report and be counted for a census. I love what John Hagee said about this in his book His Glory Revealed. Hagee believes that Jesus was born during the Feast of Tabernacles and explains his belief by saying:

Luke explained the crowded conditions by saying that every family had gone to their home city to be taxed, but the Romans were nothing if not logical. If you wanted to gather taxes, would you do it in the dead of winter, or right after harvest, the farmer's "payday"?

He also points that Bethlehem is only four miles from Jerusalem, so it would have been natural for pilgrims to stay there before continuing on their way.

That's not the only evidence, though. As Hagee points out, during the month of December, Israel gets bitterly cold. It would make absolutely no sense to have sheep out in the field during this time. Therefore, shepherds kept the sheep out from spring to autumn, or roughly from Passover to Tabernacles.

There's also the message that the angel brought to the shepherds. Do you remember it?

Do not be afraid ; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people ;
for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:10-12)

First of all, Sukkot a was time of "great joy." Indeed, it was considered the most joyous of all the Jewish feasts, with people inviting family and friends to come join them in their tent for nights of feasting. Therefore, the shephereds would have associated the phrase "great joy" with this feast and would have understood its Messianic implications.

Secondly, there was another name for this feast, the Feast of the Nations, because of the verse in Zechariah quoted above. So when the shepherds heard "for all the people" they would have been thinking about all the people gathering to worship the Messiah and understood that He had come at last! Can you imagine how those shepherds felt when they heard the angel's message? I don't think joy and excitement begin to cover it!

Now let's relate all this to our present day. As I said, Tabernacles is a feast in the autumn, usually in October. This year it will be Oct. 14-20. What other holiday occurs at about the same time? Halloween, of course. This holiday come from the ancient Celtic tribes. They believed that at about this time their chief god descened to the underworld, ushering in the dark days of winter. It was also the time when the veil between earth and the spiritual realm was torn, so that dark creatures roamed the earth that would harm humans if they remained outdoors after dark. Now think about this: at about the same time that the gods of death and darkness were being worshipped, the Lord of Light and Life may have been born! Hallelujah! And so, my friends, as we look forward to Halloween, let's not focus on the dark aspects. Instead, let's focus on reaching a dark world and telling people about the Messiah who came and conquered death, Hell, and the grave!

And yes, we can still have Christmas in December. I, for one, will not be putting up a Christmas tree in October! The ancient Church decided to put the holiday of Christmas in December to cooincide with another pagan festival, and thus to try and win converts. I see this as an extension of the theme first enumerated in Halloween/Tabernacles: that of Light conquering the darkness. So Happy Tabernacles and Merry Christmas!

Welcome to the Weirdness

2007-12-09T12:20:00.000-08:00

First of all, let me apologize to Bill Hybels, the author of the book Just Walk Across the Room. The phrase "weird God" actually comes from that book. Hybels uses it to describe stories we Christians tell about unexplained phenomena, angelic visits, etc. You know, the kind of stuff we love to tell with knowing glances and that give you goosebumps. If you ever happen to read this blog, Mr. Hybels, please don't charge me royalties, because I'm broke.

Anyway, welcome to the House of Insanity. At least, that's how it feels trying to walk the Christian walk, doesn't it? You think you have everything nicely planned out, you think you know everything, and then Boom! something happens to shake you up. Remember the old commercial with the slogan, "Life's messy, clean it up"? Well, this blog is for all those who think that being a Christian is also messy at times, and who want to grapple with issues without hearing platitudes.

And speaking of messy, the Bible is pretty messy, isn't it? Oh, we wish it weren't. We try and sweep the nasty bits under the rug so we don't have to deal with them. If you were raised in the church like me, then you were probably taught to think of the Bible as a series of stories. Nice, neat stories all with a great moral lesson. The people in the Bible were just cut-outs to move around the felt board (please tell me I'm not the only person who remembers those). Then you grow up and find out the people weren't cut-outs, they were flesh and blood, with all the faults of other human beings. And you encountered stories they never taught you about in Sunday School. It's so much easier, though, to think of the Bible as a simple book. Simple stories, simple lessons. That way we can make life so much easier. Think of it as the Bible in Three Easy Lessons: Trust God, Pray Hard, and Don't Ask Questions.

The truth is, though, that the Bible is messy. Very messy. And God can't be packaged into a series of easy lessons. So we're going to confront the Bible as it is, not as we'd like it to be, and try to deal with it on its own terms. It won't be an easy journey, but the greatest accomplishments always come with the most work, don't they? Just like climbing Mt. Everest. Only slogging through this spiritual journey will give you a feeling unlike anything you'll ever get climbing a mountain.

Weird God

Christmas in October

Welcome to the Weirdness