Guest column submitted by Michael Bullington–
Perhaps you read in last week’s Sentinel about the seven must see Christmas displays in Citrus Heights. Yes, our wee city, playing Bethlehem to Sacramento’s Jerusalem, is filled with wonderfully lit displays celebrating the season.
Most of us delight to the magic of the moment and yearn for ever more majestic ways to commemorate the occasion. Santa’s twin-engine plane can be seen flying over Auburn Boulevard across from Walmart. Inflatable displays are popping up everywhere. And in some spots in the region, you can even tune into an FM dial that will pipe music into your car that is synchronized with flashing light displays.
By contrast, not a lot has changed in nativity scene visuals over the years and decades. But I still love seeing them included among the hordes of reindeer, rotund Santa’s and Charlie Brown-inspired characters. They represent for me the heart of the occasion.
It makes me wonder about what things really transpired 2,000 years ago on a supposed “cold winter’s night.” Here’s some of what I’ve found.
Shepherds in the arid environs of the Judean plain graze their flocks at night during the warmer months, to keep them from being exposed to the intense heat of the summer. Then they rest them during the day in the coolness of the many caves dotting the countryside of that region. By contrast, during colder periods of the year, they graze during the day and rest in the evenings. The caves and stables were empty when they were out grazing.
Accordingly, when Joseph and a pregnant Mary arrived in Bethlehem, finding an untended manger during the evening, it is only logical to presume that the time of the year was the warmer months, rather than December. Additionally, that Caesar had decreed a census which required Israelites to sometimes travel long distances to register in the places of their birth, again indicates a time of the year when the weather was favorable – not the winter.
How about the typical three kings in many nativity scenes? The biblical account makes no mention of the number or identity of the visitors, except to describe them as wise men, rendered in Aramaic as “Maji.” At the time of Jesus’ birth, there was a crisis of succession in Parthia (greater Persia). The Persians had a priestly tribe called the Maji, also referred to as wise men for their religious and astrological acumen. These men had been around during the exile of the Israelites to Babylon beginning in 597 BC, as had the prophet Daniel of lion’s den fame.
Daniel shared many looks into the future during this time, even predicting the successive rise of the Persian, Greek and Roman empires along with prophecies of a coming Messiah King. Based on his prophecies, it’s not beyond possibility that the wise men of Persia/Parthia knew the timing and location of the predicted king’s appearance and location. Considering that the Parthians were without a king, it is also conceivable that to these wise men was entrusted the responsibility of finding a king to lead their nation.
As to their number, a delegation comprised of royal emissaries sent to locate a king could have been considerable in number. 500? 1,000? Or more? One can only speculate, since no number is given in the accounts. However, we are told in Matthew 2:3 that when they showed up, King Herod and all of Jerusalem “were troubled.”
It strains the imagination that three solitary men on camels would cause this kind of ruckus, but entirely possible that 1,000 soldiers and royal emissaries on Arabian steeds could have had a profound and troubling effect on a king concerned for his reign and even his life.
Regarding the timing of their arrival, we are told that they went to the house where the baby was located and that Herod’s murderous rampage targeted the male children under two years of age. This leads to a possible time frame of the Maji arriving as much as two years after the birth of Jesus.
Related: 7 must-see Christmas light displays in Citrus Heights
In spite of my gumshoe fascination with the actual history, I still like to look at the nativity scenes. They represent what popular culture has grasped of the wonder of a two-millennia-old phenomenon.
Nevertheless, traditions that have sprung up over the years pale in importance to the well-attested reality of the historical birth of one Jesus of Nazareth, the son a carpenter and a virgin named Mary. Being both the son of man (human) and the Son of God (by the Holy Spirit) through a virgin, He stands as the only person in all of history to qualify as the mediator between God and Man. And to all that appropriate this reality by faith, is granted the promise of an eternity with Him.
From the carol “Noel, Noel:”
“Son of God and Son of Man
There before the world began
Born to suffer, born to save
Born to raise us from the grave
Christ the everlasting Lord
He shall reign forevermore”
May this Christmas be the brightest and merriest of all!
Michael Bullington is a history buff and 34-year resident of Citrus Heights. He also represents Guardian Life Insurance Company of America and Park Avenue Securities, LLC.
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