When was Jesus born?

When Was Jesus Born?

We don’t have a birth certificate for Jesus. In fact, the gospels are silent as to the date of Christ’s birth. The two gospels that do speak about the year contradict each other. Matthew 2:1 states that Jesus was born “in the days of King Herod,” who died in March or April of the year that we would call 4 bc. Luke 2:2 states that Jesus was born when Quirinius was governor of Syria, that is, not until the year that we would call 6 ad. So we don’t know scientifically the year of the Savior’s birth.

What about the date—December 25? It’s possible that this is Jesus’ birthday. We know that some churches kept December 25 as the solemn feast of the nativity very early on. Maybe they knew something that we don’t. Some think that there are other reasons why December 25 has been kept as Jesus’ birthday at least since the year 336.

Some scholars think that Christians began celebrating the birth of Christ on December 25 because it was the pagan feast of the Unconquered Sun, proclaimed by the Roman emperor in the year 274. According to the calendar at the time, December 25 would have been the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, when hours of sunlight stop “shrinking.” (December 21 is the solstice on modern calendars.) Since Christians knew that Jesus was truly the Unconquered Sun of Justice, what better day to feast his birth in the flesh?

Another group of scholars think that the early Christians thought: “The gospels say nothing of Christ’s birthday, but John the Baptist, as usual, points to the truth. He says ‘Christ must increase, but I must decrease.’ (John 3:30) Now we can figure out Jesus’ birthday!” John the Baptist was hinting that his birthday was the summer solstice—the longest and brightest day of the year—June 25 on the old calendar. (In fact, we still celebrate the birth of the Baptist on June 24!) After all, John is the brightest and strongest of the prophets to foretell Christ’s coming. So this means that John would have been conceived on September 25. Being a holy saint, he would have been in Elizabeth’s womb for exactly nine months. Luke 1:26 tells us that John was conceived six months prior to Jesus. So Jesus was conceived on March 25. Being the Son of God, Christ is the perfect human being, so of course he was in Mary’s womb exactly nine months, and thus born on December 25.

Sadly, there are still those today who won’t believe that Jesus even existed until they see some kind of birth certificate. But we who are baptized are open to other ways of knowing truths bigger than official documents and laboratory?evidence can tell. We learn in our liturgy to sense divine action in human history. We know that we can trust our church calendar, waiting in Advent, rejoicing at Christmas, joyfully celebrating God in the flesh—our flesh—born into our world, redeeming even our calendars, giving us holidays to cherish. Today is born our Savior, Christ the Lord!

Copyright © 2001 Archdiocese of Chicago: Liturgy Training Publications, 1800 North Hermitage Avenue, Chicago IL 60622?1101; 1?800?933?1800; www.ltp.org. Text by David Philippart and Gabe Huck. Art by Luba Lukova. All rights reserved. Used with permission.