‘Tis the Season! (4)

“‘So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the LORD throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.’” Exodus 12.14

Grounded in history
The holy days of ancient Israel were grounded in historical events. Certain things happened in Israel’s history, arranged by the mighty hand of God, which were definitive for them as a people and decisive in the subsequent unfolding of their history. The holy or feast days of Israel intended to commemorate and, in a certain sense, relive those important events, thus renewing the people in their true identity and purpose.

Holy days remind us that our religion is rooted in historical realities. It is not simply a psychological construct or an outdated cultural institution. The Christian religion is grounded in historical events, and our holy days remind us of this.

For many people today history as such is mostly irrelevant. The only history that matters for many people is whatever they happen to be doing at any particular moment in time. Such a view of history plays well into the hands of those who delight to revise history, or even to ignore it, according to the demands of their preferred agendas. For most folks the only history that matters is now, today, and what they can get out of it. This translates readily into how they approach the holidays. Thanksgiving has historical significance for them because they get two days off work, a day to binge and watch sports, and to grab some great bargains on Black Friday or Cyber Monday or “Gift Tuesday.”

Christmas has historical significance because, in addition to time off work, we get cool gifts and enjoy fun parties.

Easter has less historical significance for most Americans because it always falls on Sunday, a day they long ago appropriated for their own purposes anyway (and most Christians as well, truth be told). But usually there are some great Easter sales of spring clothing, automobiles, or yard equipment, and so they still look forward to Easter rolling around each year.

History or “my-story”?
The historical significance of our great Christian holy days has, for many people, been reduced to whatever they can experience in a moment in time in order to take their minds off the daily grind. “History” is really only “my-story”, writ larger in my present experience, and holidays exist to allow me to liven up “my-story” in whatever ways I choose.

But Christians must not allow the historical significance of our holy days to go by the board. Thanksgiving is rooted in a national response to events of tremendous moment for the shaping of our national identity and character. It is a day set aside by presidential decree to acknowledge the gracious hand of God in the formation and deliverance of this nation through its darkest times and at all times. Real historical people – Washington and Lincoln – saw the hand of God at work in the formation and reformation of this nation, and their contemporaries agreed with the importance of observing a national day for acknowledging God’s hand in our history.

Real history
Christmas and Easter are grounded in even more important historical events, although it sometimes seems as though not even all Christians believe the birth and crucifixion of Jesus to be historical in the same sense as the days we live in now.

But the birth of Jesus occurred in real history, as did every day of His earthly sojourn and all the days of His suffering and death. His resurrection also occurred in real history, and so did the pouring out of His Spirit. The history of the Christian movement is real history, and the historical record is clear concerning the many and varied ways in which Christianity has contributed to the historical development and enrichment of the human race.

Holidays are about history, and if we fail to remember that history or to remind our contemporaries of it, then we will only be confirming their narrow and narcissistic view of “history” as “my-story” and my supposed right to make of my life whatever I will.

If we allow our holidays, especially our Christian holy days, to encourage such fallacious thinking, then we will be more contributors to The Lie of unbelief than celebrants of the glory and grace of God.

Next steps: Make a list of the historical events associated with Thanksgiving and Christmas. Share that list with some friends. Ask them if they believe these events happened in the same “history” in which we presently live. Follow the conversation wherever it goes from there, making a point to emphasize the historical grounding of each of these holy days.

T. M. Moore

We’re taking a 3-week intermission from our series on The Disciplined Life to review three archive series on the meaning of Christmas. This week’s study, ‘Tis the Season, is part 1 of a 3-part series on Christmas, As Advertised, and is available as a free download.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.