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From the Introduction:
“Isn’t there anyone who knows
what Christmas is all about?”
That is what a despondent Charlie Brown asks at the
beginning of one of the most famous scenes in holiday
television history. You probably know what comes next: a
spotlight illuminated recital of the nativity story from
Luke 2:8-14 by Linus, who concludes his presentation
with, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie
Brown.”
A Charlie Brown Christmas was an
instant hit when it was first broadcast in 1965 and has
become a classic, mostly, I believe, because of Charles
Schultz’s simple point: Christmas is about Jesus.
Millions of us make watching that program part of our
annual holiday ritual because we like to be reminded
that Christmas is supposed to be more than shopping,
bustle and stress. We agree (at least to some degree)
that “Jesus is the reason for the season” and accept (at
least nominally) that we should “Keep Christ in
Christmas.” Charlie Brown helps us keep that
perspective.
But what do these popular sayings
mean exactly? Is there more to them than some mild
anti-consumerism? That is what this little booklet is
about.
I think most of us approach
Christmas in basically the same way we do Presidents’
Day or Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day. These days are
about celebrating the lives of great men, particularly
everything that happened after they were born. We
remember their heroic works, wise teaching and
outstanding character. Certainly this is appropriate,
and just as we should take time to think about
presidents and civil rights leaders on their holidays,
at Christmas we should focus on all that Jesus was,
taught and did during his life.
However, I believe that when it
comes to Christmas, we would do well to also examine the
significance of what happened on Jesus actual birth day.
Although many great things occurred after Jesus was
born, the nativity itself was an amazing event.
Something objective (and wonderful) happened that night
in Bethlehem, and I think to fully understand Linus’
answer we need to explore just what that was.
We will do that primarily by
discussing the story behind the Christmas story. Jesus
was a Jew, and claimed to be the Jewish Messiah, or
Savior. In order to understand Jesus, then, we must have
some understanding of the Jewish Scriptures (what
Christians now call the Old Testament) and the Jewish
culture into which Jesus was born. When we view the
Christmas story in that light, a whole new dimension of
meaning is illuminated.
Along the way, I will point out the places where we fit
into the story. The Old Testament is very symbolic, and
is meant to teach us not just about the Jews, but also
ourselves. As we see how Jesus fulfilled some of the Old
Testament imagery, we will see what he did (and is
doing) for us.
The Outline
This quick journey is broken into three sections.
To provide some context, I will
start by briefly reviewing the story of the Children of
Israel, paying special attention to exile to and escape
from Egypt. We will discuss what this story tells us
about the world and ourselves.
I will then talk about the Festival
of Tabernacles and make the case that Jesus was actually
born on the first day of this festival.
Part three is about the
significance of this date. We will explore what Jesus
birth date tells us about the meaning of his birth. My
hope is that by the end of this tract you will be able
to see how relevant the timing of Jesus’ birth is to us
today.
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