(Originally written for The Baldwin Bulletin: Pastor's Column December 16, 2020)
Now after Jesus was born in
Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king… (Matthew 2:1) In those days a
decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered…And
all went to be registered, each to his own town. And Joseph also went up…to the
city of David, which is called Bethlehem…And while they were there, the time
came for [Mary] to give birth. (Luke 2:1-6)
Birthdays
are important—for celebrations, for legal reasons, for tracking growth and
development. As we get closer to December 25, many Christians are looking
forward to celebrating the birthday of Jesus. Is it his birthday, though,
right—December 25, Year 0?
Years
are often put in terms of BC, or “Before Christ,” and AD, or “Anno Domini”—“in
the year of the Lord.” BC counts down, AD counts up. When we flip the calendar
to January 1, it will be AD 2021 because that’s the next number. While the
Bible shows the Israelite people had a system of months and years, people
living in 587 BC didn’t think of the calendar turning over to 586.
So, when did our dating start? In AD
525, a monk named Dionysius Exiguus was figuring out when to celebrate Easter
and concluded it had been 525 years since Christ was born. The primary calendar
system in his day was based off Diocletian’s reign, and he saw a way to
Christian-ize it.
Jesus’ birth year isn’t exactly known,
though. We don’t have a birth certificate saved somewhere. Matthew 2 and Luke 2
give us three historical markers. Jesus was born during Herod’s reign. This is
traditionally believed to have been Herod the Great, who reigned until either 4
or 1 BC. We also hear of Caesar Augustus, who reigned through AD 14. To help us
more, Luke 3 begins with a list of officials when John the Baptist began to
preach, including In the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar…
(Luke 3:1). Tiberius succeeded Augustus. John the Baptist was at most 6 months
older than Jesus based on the angel’s proclamation to Mary (Luke 1:36).
We don’t know how long prior to Jesus’ ministry John began, but Jesus was about
30 when he began (Luke 3:23). That brings us back to at least 1 BC (there’s not
actually a Year 0), and to give Herod his time, Jesus was likely born a few
years earlier. Scholars believe he may have been born as early as 7 BC. Rather
than keep shifting calendars depending on who you trust, we’ve kept this system.
We also don’t know if December 25
was his exact date of birth. Scholars have traced a fixed date being
celebrated—for some December 25—to at least AD 354, for others January 6,
potentially back as far as 200. Some believe the December date was chosen with
the intent to offer a Christian substitute for the pagan worship of the sun god
with the winter solstice. We don’t exactly know what date Jesus was born to
Mary and Joseph on.
Does it matter? Should wrong or
questionable dating shake your faith as a believer? Not at all. Should it cause
you to race to your elders or pastors and tell them to call off everything
planned around Christmas this season? No, I don’t think so. Regardless of when
exactly Jesus was born, when we celebrate it, whether Christians used this as a
reason to celebrate their God when “everyone else” was celebrating their god, what
is most important in our recognition, worship, and celebration is that we do
celebrate the incarnation of Jesus the Christ, our Savior.
Comments
Post a Comment