BALTIMORE, Maryland, Friday, December 23, 2016 - Before the coming of the Christ Child, either December 20 or December 21 was called the day of the Winter Solstice or, simply, the Winter Solstice. Winter Solstice is the day which has the least amount of daylight and the longest night. After the Winter Solstice, the days get progressively longer, until June 20 or 21 of the succeeding year, which is the longest day and shortest night of that year.
Not long after Christ's time on Earth, Christians began to celebrate and honor his birth on December 25. It is not known exactly when Christ was born, but scholars have come to a sort of "agreement" that it probably did not occur in late December. In this case, the Vatican does not disagree with what the scholars are saying. Instead, Catholics and other Christian Synods suggest that December 25 is merely the day selected by Christians to celebrate the birth of the Christ Child.
The Birth of the Christ Child, or Christmas, is a miraculous event in every sense of the word "miraculous." God, a Trinity in the heavens, humbles himself to have the Son born on Earth to a human mother, and the mother selected by God to give birth to the Christ Child is a young woman and a virgin. Her name, of course, is Mary. The Holy Spirit placed the embryo of the Christ Child in Mary's womb, where it is gestated for nine months, before being born in Bethlehem.
The site of the birth in Bethlehem, a small town in what was then the Province of Judah, was foretold centuries earlier in prophesies found now in the Old Testament of the Bible, most notably in the book of Micah, Chapter 5, Verse 2: "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days."
Other prophesies foretelling the Blessed Event are found in the books of Jeremiah and Isaiah, and even in the Book of Genesis. And before I go any further, I want to give credit to the book, "100 Prophecies" by George and Ray Konig. In Isaiah Chapter 7, Verse 14, the Prophet wrote, "Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel."
"Immanuel" or "Emmanuel," as the name is sometimes spelled, means "God With Us," and once the Christ Child was born to Mary (and Joseph), God certainly was with us, in the flesh, here on Earth, at least for some 33 years, give or take.
That short verse in Isaiah also revealed other facts about the upcoming birth of Christ. Just those few words also informed readers that God would be a child when he first appeared on Earth in human form. Herod, the King at the time of the birth, was expecting an adult to appear, ready to assume leadership of Judah as other prophecies had foretold. In the movie, "The Nativity," the character of Herod expresses stunned surprise when he learns that his supposed competitor for the kingship of Judah would, in fact, be a child. When the three wise men tell him that the king will be just born, Herod realizes that he has time to strike him down before that occurs. He sends soldiers to Bethlehem to kill all male children under the age of two, an event Christians call the Killing of the Innocents."
But the Holy Family escapes the carnage. Joseph is warned in a dream by an angel to take Mary and her child out of Bethlehem at once. In fact, the angel tells the family to go all the way to Egypt and to stay there until the Lord tells them to come back to Israel. Only when Herod has died does the Holy Family receive word from above that they can return to Nazareth.
According to George and Ray Konig, Isaiah wrote his prophecy between 701 BC and 681 BC, or about seven centuries before it was fulfilled. Micah, incidentally, wrote his prophecy sometime between 750 BC and 686 BC, the Konigs report.
In Jeremiah, Chapter 23, Verses 5-6, the Lord said to the Prophet, and the Prophet wrote (using my Revised Standard Version, circa 1962): Verse 5: "Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. Verse 6: In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which by which he will be called: "The Lord is our righteousness."
Jeremiah tells us that the Messiah will be descended from King David, which Joseph is. The Gospel of Matthew begins with a genealogy tracing the line of David down to Joseph, a period of dozens of generations, all recited by name. Luke also has information about this. Jeremiah's words gave constant hope to the people of Israel, a hope which offered light to a people held in slavery both in Egypt and in Babylon. The movie, "The Nativity" illustrates the effect that this hope had on the Jewish citizens of Israel even hundreds of years after the prophecy was recorded. George and Ray Konig write that Jeremiah made his prophecy sometime between 628 BC and 588 BC. When you recall that the United States is less than 250 years old, one can begin to see the staying power that hope has.
There are other prophecies in Isaiah and even one in Genesis that pertain to the Birth of Christ. In Genesis, Chapter 49, Verse 10, it is written that "The scepter shall not depart from the Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples." Bible scholars believe that the verse is telling readers that the ruler of Israel will always be from Judah, until it comes to "whom it belongs." And scholars say it is Jesus to whom the scepter belongs. The Konigs believe that these verses in Genesis were written "as early as 1400 BC."
The other prophesy is Isaiah (Isaiah, Chapter 11, Verses 1 to 10), which describes the amazing nature and fairness of the Messiah, who would be seen as so great a leader that even wild animals would lie down next to each other. The verses describe Christ, and what he was to his people.
The Bible, in the New Testament Gospels, points out how the Birth of the Christ Child fulfilled these prophecies. At Christmas, both the miraculous birth, and what that birth means to Christians, is reflected on and, indeed, celebrated by Christians. The wise men and their staggering journey to see what the ancient prophets had written about, the place of Christ's birth, the fact that the Angel announced his birth to the time's poorest and most forsaken people, all serve to encourage Christians to live up to Christ's teachings.
In St. Paul's letter to the young Christian activist, Titus, verses are written that are often read at Christmas in Christian church's. The Letter of Paul to Titus, Chapter 3, Verses 4 through 7. Verse 4: "...but when the Savior appeared, Verse 5: he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit, Verse 6: which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, Verse 7: so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life."
Verse 8 is rarely included in the reading from Titus, probably because it isn't entirely clear if it refers to what precedes it or what comes after it. Verse 8: begins "The saying is true."
The story of Christmas never gets old, and for Christians, it is never overpowered by the commercial nature that has come to be associated with Christmas. I hope people will take just a moment, or many moments, to remember why we celebrate Christmas. The "why" is incredibly powerful.
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