I raised the issue of the day Jesus Christ was born with the Heavenly Father in 2009 and what He told me was that His son came into the world on December 25, that Christians celebrate his birth. I wrote about this in my column ten years ago in the December of that year with the title: God confirms Jesus was born on December 25.
I start my story on the celebration of the birthday of Jesus Christ on December 25 with the information that this is the third time that Christmas is coming up on a Wednesday in the 21st century. The earlier ones were in 2002 (17 years ago) and 2013 (six year back). In other words, this is the second time PABULUM (Food for Thought) which began on December 19, 2007 is featuring on Christmas Day.
The column coming out today is also significant for me because it is the 67th birthday of my cousin and the current head of the Adedipe dynasty of Akure, High Chief Olusegun Abiodun Adedipe VI, Elemo of Akure and the third-in-rank in the Kingmakers Council. But it was a Tuesday he came into the world on December 25, 1962.
The birthday of Jesus on December 25 is controversial because there is no information in any of the 27 Books in the New Testament as to the day or month he was born. It was also not in the predictions made on his coming in the Old Testament Books of Isaiah 7:10 – 16 and 9: 6 – 7 and Micah 5:2. Neither did his mother, Virgin Mary, Jesus himself nor his disciples celebrate his birthday.
Indeed, it was not until 200 AD, 168 years after the death of Jesus, that the celebration of his birthday began in Egypt and it was marked on May 20. When the people of other countries started doing so, they celebrated the anniversary either on January 6 or 10; March 28 or April 19 or 20. They did so because these were the dates that corresponded in their calendars with the day in the ninth month in the calendar of the Israelites when Jesus was born.
It was not until 352 during the papacy of Pope Julius I, the 35th Pontiff (337 – 52), that the celebration of the birthday of Jesus on December 25 started. Some people, like Isaac Newton (December 25, 1642 – March 20, 1726), an English mathematician, physicist, astronomer, theologian and author, claimed that the date was chosen to correspond with the winter solstice, which in ancient times was marked on December 25.
In 1743, Paul Ernst Jablonski (December 28, 1693 – September 13, 1757), a German Protestant also said that December 25 was chosen to correspond with the Roman (pagan) solar holiday Dies Natalis Solis Invicti. But in 1889, Louis Duchesne (September 13, 1843 – April 21, 1922), a French priest, philologist, teacher and a critical historian of Christianity and Catholic liturgy and institutions, suggested that the date was chosen because it was exactly nine months after the Annunciation on March 25, the traditional date of the conception of Jesus.
Until the early 18th century Christians generally accepted December 25 as the day Jesus came into the world. But some began challenging it as from the 1720s because of the story of the shepherds in Luke 2:8 – 20 who went to see Jesus and gave him presents. As narrated in the passage, the men, whose number was not given, were taking care of their animals in the fields in the night when an Angel appeared and informed them of the birth of Jesus.
Since December 25 is in winter when the weather is severely cold and there is snow, people therefore say the shepherds could not have been in an open place tendering their flock in that period of the year. They argue that if the story of the shepherds is true that Jesus must have been born late in September or the first half of October, when the climate would have been clement for the herdsmen to be in an open field with their animals.
The shepherds in the Bible were not like those in present – day Nigeria and other African countries who roam about feeding their cows and other animals in public places and forest. As happens in developed countries, the shepherds in the Holy Book had their animals in shelters (ranches) and fed them there.
The conception of Jesus taking place on March 25 clearly shows that He must have been born on December 25, which was exactly nine months later. God created human beings and all the things on earth. In Genesis 17: 10 – 12 He directed that fathers must get their baby boys circumcised (named) when eight days old.
January 1 is exactly eight days after December 25. This means that the Ancient of Days caused Jesus to be born on December 25 and his circumcision to take place on January 1, the beginning of a new year. In other words, the awesome one in heaven arranged it for Jesus to be born in the last week of December and his circumcision or naming ceremony to have taken place eight days later on January 1, the beginning of a new year.
Contrary to what many a people say, it does not stand to reason that Christians would have chosen December 25 when pagans celebrated their idol as the day Jesus was born. Rather, I believe God made him to be born that day, so that the anniversary of his birth would overshadow that of the idol worshipper and make it irrelevant as it has turned out to be for centuries now
TA – TA PROFESSOR TAM DAVID – WEST
Ta – ta is colloquial word that means goodbye. Had it been possible for the dead to see or know what is happening in the world, I am sure Professor Tamunoemi Sokari David-West (Wednesday, August 26, 1936 – Monday, November 11, 2019) would have been delighted that I used an uncommon word in my title. In other words that I did not use adieu, goodbye, good night, farewell or so long.
I know this because he was an avid reader of my column and someone who contacted me many a time after reading my articles since my days as the Editor of the Sunday Concord (March 5, 1994 – May 29, 1989). As a matter of fact, he was the first person who reached out to me when this column commenced twelve years ago, on December 19, 2007. He phoned and later that day sent this text message for me to be able to quote him.
He began: “Dear Sina, I must say that I was very excited that you’ll now be writing for the Daily Sun. With your PABULUIM on Wednesday in your well – researched historical style, the SUN has adequately filled what I have always felt is an unfortunate lacuna in our popular publishing. Congratulations.
“Let me particularly appreciate you for joining me in correcting the embarrassing error in the last 29 years that General Olusegun Obasanjo was the first to handover to an elected civilian government. Ghana’s General Kwasi Afrifa did so in 1969 while Fl. – Lt. Jerry Rawlings beat Obasanjo to it by a week, doing so on Monday, September 24, 1979.
More to come next week including the tail – end of his relationship with President Muhammadu Buhari