The Day of Jesus’ Birth (Series: When Was Jesus Born?)

“Everybody knows” that whenever Jesus was born, it most certainly was NOT on the 25th of December. I’ve heard it again and again – but maybe we shouldn’t be quite so confident.

So what are some of the common objections to the December date?

First, because it does get quite chilly in Israel at this time of year, the shepherds and their flocks wouldn’t be out in the open fields at night, as Luke says they were when Jesus was born (Luke 2:8). Also, would a Roman census really take place when it was such a bad time for everyone to travel?

So why celebrate on the 25th of December? One theory is that the Romans had a festival that day, celebrating sun worship – sol invictus, the unconquered sun. This was related to an older celebration known as Saturnalia. Could it be that the Christians were simply adapting the pagan festivals to their needs – giving the old rituals Christian themes?

This is a pretty common belief, but there are actually some curious problems with it.

For one thing, although we know nothing about a celebration of Christmas in the first centuries of Christianity, it does seem that the date of Jesus’ birth was discussed quite early. By 200 AD, Clement of Alexandria was already pointing out that various groups recognized a specific day for the birth of Christ. Almost 200 years later, Chrysostom said that it was still a matter of great debate.

So the date of Christ’s birth was being discussed in the second century – and if that early, it’s likely that it was a matter of discussion right from the start. After all, Luke and Matthew in particular make quite a big deal of the event in their Gospels.

So here’s the problem. The sun festival was made official by emperor Aurelian in the year 274 – long after traditions and perhaps even celebrations related to Christ’s birth were already common.

(And as a side-note, the poor emperor who gets blamed for everything, Constantine, was 2 years old in 274, and not even around in 200.)

Ok, but before that there was Saturnalia, a longer feast (mostly taking place before the 25th). But think about this. Saturnalia was a pagan feast, full of immoral behaviour. Now we’re back in the first decades of Christianity, when Christians are being killed for their beliefs. Many refuse to give up the Scriptures – refuse to sacrifice to the gods – and so they decide to adopt a pagan festival, full of immorality, and make it their own. Really? And they take on the feasting of the pagans? Wouldn’t they be more likely to call a fast?

Now this is not to in any way deny that Christian traditions were influenced by other religions over the years. But something does seem a little fishy here, that the early Christians would grab hold of a pagan festival so readily so early on.

The Christian interest in a winter date for Christ’s birth is so early that some scholars have made a startling suggestion – that the Romans chose the 25th because they were copying the Christians! Think about it – Christianity was a rapidly growing religion, about to completely eclipse the worship of the Roman gods. One way to counter the trend might be to make the 25th, a date (possibly) when Christians celebrated Jesus’ birth, an official holiday to tempt Christians to join the pagans!

Now, we have to admit that there were several dates that were vying for attention here. December the 25th was not the only one. But that brings us to another curious fact.

There was not one, but two dates that became most associated with the Nativity. One was the 25th of December, and the other was the 6th of January. Both are still celebrated today, actually. And both dates are pretty close together, wouldn’t you say? And both in the time of year when the skeptics say Jesus simply couldn’t have been born.

Did no one in the Middle East notice the whole sheep in the fields thing?

Remember Clement of Alexandria? He actually argued for a date that would correspond to what is now … drum roll please … January 5th or 6th.

Next time we’ll get into some more interesting evidence about the day of Jesus’ birth, but let’s just deal with the sheep.

Would the shepherds really keep the sheep out of the fields in December? Well, this wasn’t exactly a Winnipeg winter – the lows could get down to 6°C, but they aren’t likely to get below freezing. Cool? Sure. But not so cold that woolly sheep would perish in the extreme temperatures. As for the shepherds, some warm clothes and a nice fire and you’re good to go.

As a matter of fact, the early rains of October and November would mean that fresh grass would be in the fields – just a perfect snack for sheep.

As further confirmation, a section of the Mishnah (the first part of the Jewish Talmud) explains that certain special sheep would graze in the fields around Jerusalem (and Bethlehem) all year round. Why? Because they needed to be handy for sacrifice.

So yes, sheep reserved for sacrifice probably would have been grazing out in the fields near Bethlehem at the end of December. These were special shepherds, and special sheep.

So the sheep argument seems to be a no-go. In fact, it seems rather appropriate that the birth of the Lamb of God would be announced to shepherds who were taking care of sheep for sacrifice.

But is there other evidence that would point us to a December date – or January date – or another date altogether? We’ll take a look next time.