Some of our Christmas traditions are just traditions and not biblical. For example, Jesus was not born on December 25. The Christmas tree is based on the celebration of the reincarnation of Nimrod. The ancient Babylonians burned a “Yule” log (the Chaldean word for infant) in the fireplace, and the next day a symbolic evergreen tree was placed inside the house.
These are pagan rituals that we (including me) use as elements for Christmas. Most people in the world don’t know the origins of these things and use it as part of Christmas even though we are not worshiping Babylonian gods and goddesses.
What should we do with these traditions? Let’s look at what Jesus did when He was faced with a festival that had a lot of tradition, some of which may have been true and some not. In John chapter 10, He was in the temple for the Feast of Dedication, also known as the Festival of Lights, or Hanukkah. You won’t find Hanukkah in the Bible anywhere because it happened in the period between Old and New Testaments. But Jesus was celebrating Hanukkah, and He used the Festival of Lights to show that He and the Father are one. (John 10:22-30).
I believe that’s what we should do with Christmas. We can use it to shine the light on who Jesus really is. People are singing the words we preach in evangelical churches every week:
Christ by highest heaven adored, Christ the everlasting Lord. … Veiled in flesh the Godhead see! Hail, incarnate deity! Pleased with us In flesh to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel. Hark, the herald angels sing, “Glory to the newborn king!”.
Some of them don’t understand what they’re singing, but that’s where we come in. We can redeem the songs and tradition by reminding them who are we celebrating. Does it matter when He came? No, it matters THAT He came. We can remind people that Jesus came because of His love He was willing to come in flesh, die for us on the cross and rise again from the grave to conquer death, so that whoever believes in Him will have eternal life.
Since the celebration is already ongoing, let’s use it to remind them of Him.
Angga