Aahh - it ’ s Christmas time once more ! ‘ Tis the season to be merry , and to be nice to every one you meet ! Christmas tree , Yuletide carols , presents for every one ! If you ’ re more of the religious type then the Advent season brings more solemnity and holiness , forgiveness and acceptance , midnight mass and Misa Cantata .
But before I get carried away with all the joy and good things of Christmas I ’ d like to pull back a little and look closely what this season is really about ( this is all but natural for ageing folks like me .)
First understand that Christianity has its roots from God ’ s chosen people - the ancient Jewish nation . Naturally it follows that our Christmas tradition also has the same roots . Well , yes and not really .
Take for example that Nativity scene we have on our fireplace mantel , the yard or church . The bright star , the three Kings , and the shepherds .
You see , many generations before Jesus ’ time , Israel and Judah ( that ’ s
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the Jewish nation ) were destroyed by the ancient evil empires of Babylon and Assyria ( modern-day Iraq , Syria and other parts ). Most of the Jews were taken captive and exiled to Babylon , that time the world ’ s seat for learning , science and culture . Many of what we have today were products of the ingenuity of the Babylonian scientists , scholars and astronomers . They were so good that they were referred to as “ wise men ” or magicians - or magi .
The Babylonians were pagans and practiced idolatry , worshipping just about everything including the moon , planets and the stars . Now these Babylonian wise men or magi , they were the first to map out the constellations and gave meaning to each one , relating each heavenly body and their movement to some divine message from their gods , including predicting the future ( the basis of today ’ s horoscope ).
These wise men eventually became familiar with the religion of their captive Jews , including the prophecy about the coming Messiah .
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With their knowledge of the skies and the Jewish prophecy they put two and two together and was able to calculate when the Messiah is to be born and where , which was at a time when three or four planets were to align . Modern-day scholars believe the alignment of the planets produced a very bright light - the star !
And so the wise men from the “ east ” ( Babylon ) did believe that a King is to be born on their calculated date at their calculated location , based on the aligned planets position ( the star ).
Here are some facts : There was no airplane yet so they started travelling by foot many months before - some modern scholars say by the time they arrived , Jesus probably was already about four years old and , as the Bible say , was already living in a “ house ” ( there goes your manger ). And there could have been more than “ three ” wise men ( these were rich people so they had a huge entourage ). By calculating
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back , many scholars believe Jesus wasn ’ t actually born on December 25 but sometime summer or fall ( hence shepherds were sleeping in the fields ) - early Roman pagan celebrations happened in December so it was said early Roman Christians eventually adopted that date instead .
The truth is many of our Christmas traditions - the Christmas tree , lights , Yuletide logs , gift-giving , feasting , etc . had nothing to do with the Nativity . History has it that the early Christians adapted to all these to win over pagans in order to
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convert them to Christianity .
Well , I grew up believing that Christmas is Christmas . Besides , who cares about dates and places and whether planets aligned or not . What we know is that one day God became man , the start of His long designed process of giving us the chance to renew our relationship with Him . And that ’ s enough for me , and hopefully for you as well .
My wife and I and all our wonderful kids and grandkids wish you all a wonderful and Merry Christmas !
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