Easter and the holidays that are related to it are movable feasts which do not fall on a fixed date in the Gregorian or Julian calendars which follow only the cycle of the sun; rather, its date is determined on a lunisolar calendar similar to the Hebrew calendar. (Wikipedia)
How come that Lent moves around while Christmas stays put?
From Daniel Engber, columnist for Slate:
Because the church said so in A.D. 325. The date of Easter is determined according to the lunar calendar, while the date of Christmas is fixed on the solar calendar. Before 325, there was no official celebration of the birth of Christ, and Easter was celebrated by some Christians on Passover (a lunar holiday) and by others the following Sunday. The rationale: Christ's last supper took place on or around Passover, he was crucified on a Friday, and the festival of Easter celebrates his resurrection two days later.
But what if, indeed, last year's Christmas was to be our last Christmas as both Pope Francis and Queen Elizabeth have been widely reported to have stated last year?
It's going to be the first celebration of Jesus' true Birthday then!
Then we could say with heartfelt and soul-stirring remembrance,
"Thank you for coming into our lives Yeshua!"
Christ's real birthday
Jonathan Cahn is a Messianic Jewish Rabbi and pastor best known for his best selling novel The Harbinger, in which he compares the United States and the September 11 attacks to ancient Israel and the destruction of the Kingdom of Israel. In particular, he sees Isaiah 9:10 as a prophetic warning to the United States.
Cahn has addressed the UN a few times, the last one on March 2, 2016, when he spoke at the UN-Symposium on Peace, Reconciliation, Sustainable Development and Multicultural Understanding.
In the video below he directly answers many questions related to the Birthday of Jesus. Excerpts:
Cahn: It would change on our calendar every year, but it's gonna be in spring, it's gonna be March, April, and it's gonna be Nisan 1. You could find out Nisan 1 every year. In fact Nisan 1 is the true New Year for Jewish people, but Jews don't celebrate it because they think Rosh Hashanah* is.
*Rosh Hashanah is the anniversary of the creation of Adam and Eve.
Astonishing revelation: Jonathan Cahn brings forward proof that Messiah Jesus (Yeshuah) was born in spring. Why and when exactly?
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The date changes on our calendar every year, just like other movable Christian holidays such as Easter. This year, 2016, Nisan 1 falls on April 9, 2016 according to the Hebrew calendar. Best-selling author Rabbi Jonathan Cahn reveals Christ's real birthday |
Jonathan Cahn the Messianic Jewish Rabbi best known for his best selling books "The Harbinger" (2012) and "The Mystery of the Shemitah," (2014) has now released a documentary film called The Mishkan Clue" -- a quest to solve the mystery of the date of Christ's birth.
In "The Mishkan Clue," Cahn rules out the traditional season for celebrating the occasion and makes a case for why knowing the actual date matters, focusing on the biblical passage that "shepherds were in their fields watching," as key to identifying when Christ actually was born.
Cahn considers a variety of material circumstances to pinpoint a time for Jesus to have been born, but ultimately decides a springtime delivery is the best fit with the details of the account because it is Israel's "lambing season."
"Only in the lambing season do shepherds watch their flocks by night," Cahn says. In late March and and early April the shepherds would watch for lambs being born in the fields, he explains. "So here they are, out looking for lambs to be born and who do they find? The Lamb of God."
Leo Hohmann outlines Cahn's arguments in a post on WND Diversions, focusing on how Jewish observances coincide with key moments in the life of Christ:
-- Passover lines up with Jesus' death.
-- He rose on the Feast of First Fruits, and created the Church with the sending of his Holy Spirit on Shavuot or Pentecost.
-- The Feast of Trumpets or Rosh Hashanah foretells the Messiah's second coming.
So looking for a Jewish holiday in the spring that would fit with the Messiah's birth, Cahn settles on Nisan 1, because it symbolizes a new beginning.
Most scholars agree that the present tradition of celebrating Jesus' birth in December dates back to Emperor Constantine and his desire to coopt the Roman holiday of Saturnalia, a pagan celebration that includes a sacrifice to Saturn, a public banquet, gifts and a carnival-like atmosphere.
But Cahn's point is not political or religious or even academic, but relational.
He emphasizes that Christmas is a time to celebrate "God joining Himself to your life."
"Your life was meant to be like this tabernacle, filled with the glory of God. In that place is the fullness of your healing, in that place comes your emotional healing, your joy, your shalom, your destiny."
In other words, Jesus is the reason for the season. - Christian Examiner
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| A clue on why we celebrate December 25. Above illustration is from Gill Broussard |
