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Tuesday, December 20, 2005
What you need to know about Christmas
By Henrylito D. Tacio
Regarding Henry
WE, FILIPINOS, celebrate the longest Christmas in the world.
Unfortunately, this most durable holiday, which has been around since it first unfolded in Bethlehem two millennia ago, while Rome was savoring its imperial glory, has lost some of its authenticity and originality. Was Jesus Christ born on December 25?
Luke, an authority on Christ's birth, expressly mentioned in his book that there were shepherds tending their flocks in the fields on the night of Jesus' birth. But in Palestine, shepherds always drove their flocks from the fields and mountainsides and corralled them not later than the middle of October to protect them from the oncoming cold and rainy season.
"It was an ancient custom among Jews of those days to send out their sheep to the fields and deserts about the Passover, and bring them home at commencement of the first rain (the harbinger of the cold, rainy season)," writes Adam Clarke in Commentary. In the Holy Land, the first rain begins sometime in October or November.
Thus, the authoritative book of Clarke continues to say: "As these shepherds had not yet brought home their flocks, it is a presumptive argument that October had not yet commenced, and that, consequently, our Lord was not born on the 25th of December when no flocks were out in the fields; nor could He have been born later than September, as the flocks were still in the fields by night."
Was Jesus born in the year 1 A.D.? According to the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus was born when Herod was the king of Judea. The book of Luke states: He was born when Cyrenius (in Roman history, Quirinius) was the governor of Syria, but King Herod is said to have died in 4 B.C. and Cyrenius did not become governor of Syria until ten years later.
The administrations of Herod and Quirinius were separated by the whole reign of Archelaus, the son of Herod.
Apparently, from the statements of Matthew and Luke, a difference of ten years in the time of the birth of Jesus Christ can be noted. There were no kings in the Nativity scene! Matthew has given us this information: "Jesus was born during the time when Herod was king. Soon afterward, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem and asked, "Where is the baby born to be the king of the Jews? We saw His star when it came up in the east, and we have come to worship Him."
History records showed that in those days, Rome was expanding its political dominion throughout the world and Herod, who ruled only a small part of the Roman Empire, would not tolerate any challenge to his throne.
The wise men, as Matthew called them, would aptly apply to men of high learning such as those skilled in the medical arts and the law. But a safer assumption, based on their ability to interpret the movement of objects in the firmament, is that they were astrologers, which is how "The Living Bible" version described them.
Matthew also did not specify how many wise men were there. In fact, the names Gaspar, Melchor, and Baltazar are not mentioned in the Bible. Ancient writings had attempted to identify them with the number of gifts given to the Holy Child. But Matthew, by using wise men, suggested a much bigger number than three.
In those days, only only a few men could not take long and perilous journeys, say, about three. Caravans formed to travel the rough routes, so that the travelers would be protected from bandits and wild animals. The wise men were not present in the manger at all. Their journey, which started as soon as they saw the star, and assuming that the star appeared in the east on the day Jesus was born, took a long route.
From the east, the distance to be covered would have taken months or even years! Taking two years or slightly shorter to reach Bethlehem, the wise men would naturally find Jesus in a house and not in a manger. Matthew recorded: "When the wise men saw the same star they had seen in the East, how happy they were, what joy was theirs! It went ahead of them until it stopped over the place where the Child was. They went INTO THE HOUSE, and when they saw the Child with his mother Mary, they knelt down and worshipped Him. They brought out their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, and presented them to Him."
Indeed, the wise men started the tradition of gift giving during Christmas. What's the story behind? Clarke's Commentary has this explanation: "People of the east never approach the presence of kings and great personages without a present (meaning gift) in their hands."
It must be recalled that Queen Sheba brought gifts to King Solomon when she visited him. As such, wise men gave gifts to Jesus Christ because they knew He was born King of the Jews.
Christ does not want us to celebrate the day He was born. Even the early Catholic priest Origen pointed this out: in the Scriptures, no one is recorded to have kept a feast or held a great banquet on His birthday.
It is only sinners who make great rejoicings over the day in which they were born into this world." One of the great sinners in the Bible who celebrated his date of birth with "extreme rejoicing" was Herod. Check out Matthew 14:6-10 for that.
For Bisaya stories from Davao. Click here. (December 20, 2005 issue)
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