Speaking the Same Language

A recent article in our local newspaper caught my attention and made me laugh. It is a syndicated op-ed piece by Leonard Peikoff of the Ayn Rand Institute called "Why Christmas should be more commercial." It gives a brief history of the secular origin of Christmas and its transition into a religious holiday. The premise of the article is that "It is time to take the Christ out of Christmas, and turn the holiday into a guiltlessly egoistic, pro-reason, this-worldly, commercial celebration." While I disagree that the religious aspects of the holiday should be removed, I think the article puts a spotlight on the culture war in America between religious fundamentalists and secular humanists. I can only imagine many Christians that I know in our little notch of the Bible belt crying out "blasphemy" as they read the article. Most people have little knowledge of history, let alone church history, but rather have assumptions and interpretations that have little or no basis in fact. Many would be surprised to know that Jesus' birthday is not 12/25/0.

Peikoff uses historical record to show the secular origins of Christmas which predated the Christian celebration. After failed attempts to steer the faithful away from such pagan celebrations, he says, "the Christians came to a decision: if you can't stop 'em, join 'em. They claimed (contrary to known fact) that the date was Jesus' birthday, and usurped the solstice holiday for their Church." I would like to think the adoption of the secular celebration as the Christmas holiday was not a concession of defeat by the church but rather a bold effort to reach the culture that followed a Biblical model.

This kind of theological hijacking is no new phenomenon in church history. King David and the prophets borrowed Canaanite tradition and imagery and adapted it to form a new Zionist tradition that would rally the Israelites as a people and bind them to Jerusalem and the land of Israel. This kind of borrowing and improvising occurred numerous times in the Old Testament, especially in Creation accounts and the flood narrative. Jesus Himself adapted known images and stories from His culture to communicate a new message that people could both understand and long remember.

For example, in Luke 13:1-9 Jesus told a parable about a landowner who threatened to chop down a barren tree if it did not bear fruit. Jesus' illustration reflects an interesting folk tale that had been already told for centuries. A father once said to his son, "My son, you are like a tree which yielded no fruit. Although it stood by the water, its owner was forced to cut it down. But the tree said to him, 'Transplant me, and if even then I bear no fruit, cut me down.' But its owner said to it, 'When you stood by the water you bore no fruit, how then will you bear fruit if you stand in another place?'" There was also an Arabic tale about how to cure a barren palm tree. A man would take a friend with him to the barren tree. He would tell his friend how disappointed he is with the tree and how it must be cut down. He would then tap the trunk of the tree three times with the backside of his ax, and his friend would stop him saying, "Give it one more year to bear fruit."

In the first folk tale the tree had no excuses for being barren. The verdict was final. In the second tale the tree was given one more year to bear fruit or be chopped down. How striking then that Jesus changes these familiar stories, and has the gardener intervene personally saying, "Leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it," (13:8). In Jesus' version the gardener uses his relationship with the owner to intercede for the tree, and it is that twist in the story that would be most memorable to those who heard it.

Jesus always started where people were. He spoke in a language they could understand, speaking not only their dialect but in stories and images that even children could grasp. Jesus also did not speak in vague religious abstracts but actually demonstrated in His life and actions the message that He preached. Perhaps, instead of decrying that "they want to take Christ out of Christmas" and "we should remember the real reason for the season," true believers should strive even harder to be more Christ-like during this time of the year and stop relying on the media, the government, and the marketplace to do it for them.