"Bah Humbug"

‘A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!’ cried a cheerful voice...‘Bah!’ said Scrooge, ‘Humbug!’ ...‘Christmas a humbug, uncle!’ said Scrooge’s nephew. ‘You don’t mean that, I am sure?’ ‘I do,’ said Scrooge. ‘Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.’

‘Come, then,’ returned the nephew gaily. ‘What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You’re rich enough.’ Scrooge having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, said ‘Bah!’ again; and followed it up with ‘Humbug.’

"Bah humbug!" What does it mean? 'Bah' is an expression of contempt and a 'humbug' is a fraud; the word 'humbug' referred to some public sensation that was all a hoax. Scrooge thought Christmas was all a hoax, a bunch of foolishness. Is Christmas really a humbug?

If Scrooge was alive today and still his old unconverted self—grumpy and greedy, I believe he would be a great champion of the Christmas giddiness that afflicts modern Americans, because the modern motivation behind the Christmas celebration is the spirit of Scrooge. Scrooge's god was money, and Christmas today is basically a marketing gimmick for merchants. The love of money—the spirit of Scrooge—drives the modern celebration of Christmas in our culture. Thus, prompting some to cry out, "Bah humbug! It is all a hoax...or at least most of it."

These modern Scrooges have been to the mall. They've seen the greedy kids on Santa's lap and heard the siren's song calling them to buy their children what they do not need. Some have seen the spirit of Christmas overcome their children, their little hearts full of Christmas covetousness, causing more than one Christmas morn to end with bitter, grumbling children, senses satiated but still unsatisfied.

Others cry "Bah Humbug," because they think Christmas is a warmed-over pagan holiday. They want nothing to do with this feast of heathen origins. Some believe Christmas originated in the Persian sun worship of Mithra. Unfortunately, for the theory, there never was a feast of Mithra on December 25th. Mithra's sun festivals were in the spring and autumn. Others believe Christmas is related to the old Roman festival of Saturnalia, but with little evidence, since the principle days of the feast were December 17th to 19th.

What is the origin of our celebration of Christmas on December 25th? The origin of this ancient tradition is clouded in mystery, but I have grown fond of a theory espoused by Alfred Edersheim in his article "Christmas—A Festival of Jewish Origin?" In the Apostolic Constitutions, written before the Council of Nicea, near the end of the 3rd century, we find the following exhortation, "Brethren, observe the festival days; and first of all the birthday which you are to celebrate on the 25th of the ninth month" (Bk. 5 sect. 3:13).

The ninth month is the month of Kislev in the Jewish calendar, which is our December. In the Jewish calendar, this 25th day of Kislev was formerly a Jewish feast day, it was the Feast of Dedication, celebrating the dedication of the temple after the victory of Judas Maccabeus in 146 B.C. At this Feast of Dedication, Jesus first told his disciples that His human nature was the Temple of the Divine, saying, "The Father is in Me, I in Him" (cf. John 10:22-38).

When the early church was fixing a date to celebrate the birth of Christ, the day when the Son of God took to himself a true body, it looked at the feasts of the old economy and remembered Jesus speaking of His body as the temple (Jn. 2:19-21). The body of Christ was the true Temple in which God dwelt, and so what better day to celebrate Christ's birth than December 25th, replacing the old feast of temple dedication with a celebration of the true temple's dedication?

An intriguing confirmation of this theory is that Weihnachten, the German word for the celebration of Jesus' birth, means "Night of the Dedication."

Still others cry, "Bah Humbug" because of the superstitions, bad traditions, and questionable practices within the church that accompany the Christmas celebration. Good Protestants begin by despising the English name for the day "Christ Mass." They also bemoan the false religiosity that declares the day holy, and they grieve at the idolatrous manger scenes, with images of God incarnate violating the second commandment. It is enough to make even a lukewarm reformer cry, "Bah humbug!"

I am forced to concede that the American celebration of Christmas has a fair share of humbug to overcome. Can the feast of Christ's birth be reformed? Should we just join with our Pilgrim forefathers who treated Christmas Day as any other. It's tempting, but Jesus is the Lord of the feast, and we should not waste a good opportunity to feast and celebrate the glorious works of God.

Therefore, I am going to advocate the celebration of this ancient feast with the following reformations. First, Christmas should not be deemed a holy day. In the new administration of the covenant we have one Holy Day, the Lord's Day—the Christian Sabbath, which should be a glorious weekly feast and celebration. Second, the Christmas celebration should primarily be a celebration among family, friends, and the Christian community not shaping the official assemblies of the congregation. Third, children should be protected from cheesy, sentimental, pseudo-religious Christmas traditions (I will leave parents to determine what those might be). And finally, all should be careful to avoid the covetous spirit of Scrooge, which characterizes our culture's celebration of Christ's birth.

With these qualifications (I'm sure more could be made), I encourage believers everywhere to celebrate the feast of Jesus' birth, rejoicing in the blessings of God, eating the fat, drinking the sweet, and delighting themselves in the Lord, for the joy of the Lord is our strength.