Off The Editor’s Desk – 12-23-2020
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Merry Christmas
It’s that time of year again that we celebrate the birth of Christ. I wish all of you a happy and joyful time of year.
I would ask everyone to put aside your political feelings and pass friendship, best wishes and the love of country and family and neighbors into the next year.
Christmas is a time to remember the birth of our savior and a time for us to reflect on our lives and that of our loved ones.
The first Christian celebration on December 25th was in the year of 336 during the time of the Roman Emperor Constantine. He was the first Christian Emperor of Rome. But, I remember reading some time ago about a celebration of light being held before that time to celebrate the passing of the winter solstice where the days were staring to get longer. Monday, December 21st was the shortest day of the year and on the 22nd the day, sunlight was three seconds longer.
Why is Jesus’ birth celebrated on December 25th? I found this bit of information on the Internet, so take it as I found it. “A very early Christmas tradition has it that on March 25, Mary learned that she would have a very special baby, Jesus. So, nine months after March 25th is December 25th. Some early Christians thought that the world was made on March 25th.
So if you can accept that date, then the world was made, Jesus was conceived, died, all on the same day of the year, March 25th.
I always think about the Wise Men coming to honor the baby Jesus following the star of the East. If you read the second chapter of Matthew where he explains how the Wise Men found the newborn baby by following the new star.
David Weintraub, a professor of Astronomy at Vanderbilt University, posed this question. “Can astronomy explain the biblical Star of Bethlehem?”
He writes, “To understand the Star of Bethlehem, we need to think like the three wise men. Motivated by the ‘star in the east,’ they first traveled to Jerusalem and told King Herod the prophecy that a new ruler of the people of Israel would be born. We also need to think like King Herod, who asked the wise men when the star had appeared, because he and his court, apparently, were unaware of any such star in the sky.
“These events present us with our first astronomy puzzle of the first Christmas: How could King Herod’s own advisors have been unaware of a star so bright and obvious that it could have led the wise men to Jerusalem?
“Next, in order to reach Bethlehem, the wise men had to travel directly south from Jerusalem; somehow that ‘star in the east’ went before them, ‘til it came and stood over where the young child was. Now we have our second first-Christmas astronomy puzzle: how can a star in the east guide our wise men to the south? The north star guides lost hikers to the north, so shouldn’t a star in the east have led the wise men to the east?
“And we have yet a third first-Christmas astronomy puzzle: how does Matthew’s star move before them like the taillights on the snowplow you might follow during a blizzard, and then stop and stand over the manger in Bethlehem, inside of which supposedly lies the infant Jesus?
Weintraub continued, “The astronomer in me knows that no star can do these things, nor can a comet, or Jupiter, or a supernova, or a conjunction of planets or any other actual bright object in the nighttime sky. One can claim that Matthew’s words describe a miracle, something beyond the laws of physics. But Matthew chose his words carefully and wrote ‘star in the east’ twice, which suggests that these words hold a specific importance for his readers.
“Can we find any other explanation, consistent with Matthew’s words, that doesn’t require that the laws of physics be violated and that has something to do with astronomy? The answer, amazingly, is yes.
Weintraub goes on with a long explanation of how the star could have happened. “Together, a rare combination of astrological events (the right planet rising before the sun; the sun being in the right constellation of the zodiac; plus a number of other combinations of planetary positions considered important by astrologers) would have suggested to ancient Greek astrologers a regal horoscope and a royal birth.”
But he concludes, “The earliest time the men could have arrived in Bethlehem, the baby Jesus would likely have been at least a toddler.”
Thanks for reading! ~Carlton