{UAH} The Star of Bethlehem And The Timing of Chrismas Explained

As with any Catholic teaching, there are always people who will be skeptical about events surrounding the Nativity of our Lord.  Here are a couple of arguments that might come in handy this time of year...

How the Star of Bethlehem Moved

Challenge: The star of Bethlehem is a myth. No star leads people from place to place.

Defense: The star of Bethlehem did not lead the magi.

Some propose that the star was a supernatural phenomenon, making it capable of leading the magi. However, this proposal is unnecessary. The text doesn't claim the star led anybody.

When the magi arrive in Jerusalem, they say, "Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East" (Matt. 2:2). This passage has been understood two ways: (1) the magi were in the east when they saw the star, and (2) they saw the star when it rose over the eastern horizon (as stars typically do).

On neither interpretation did the star lead the magi. They recognized that its appearance implied a Jewish royal birth, and they therefore went where one would expect such a baby to be found: King Herod's palace in Jerusalem. If the star were leading them, they would have gone straight to Bethlehem. The fact that they had to stop and ask where to find the baby shows they weren't being led.

Once told where to look for the child, they set out on the road to Bethlehem, which is about six miles south of Jerusalem. Again, they are not following the star. They are already on their way when, by a providential coincidence, they see the star again.
"The star which they had seen in the East went before them, till it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy" (Matt. 2:9-10). Their rejoicing at seeing the star again indicates they recognized the coincidence. They weren't expecting it.

All the text implies is that the star was in the southern sky in front of them as they traveled to Bethlehem, and when they got there it was, from their perspective, vertically above the Holy Family's house. That fits the natural motion of a star, which would sweep out an arc in the sky of 15 degrees per hour as they went to Bethlehem.

The text thus indicates that the second sighting of the star was providential, but it does not suggest that the star moved in an unusual way.

The Timing of Christmas

Challenge: Christians are wrong to celebrate Christmas on December 25. Jesus couldn't have been born then. It would have been too cold for the shepherds to keep their flocks outdoors (Luke 2:8).

Defense: There are several problems with this challenge.

First, the Catholic Church celebrates Jesus' birth on December 25, but this is a matter of custom rather than doctrine. It is not Church teaching that this is when Jesus was born (note that the matter isn't even mentioned in the Catechism).

Second, although most Christians today celebrate Christ's birth on December 25, this was not the only date proposed. Around A.D. 194, Clement of Alexandria stated Christ was born November 18. Other early proposals included January 10, April 19 or 20, and May 20 (Jack Finegan, Handbook of Biblical Chronology, 2nd ed., §488, §553). By far the most common proposals, however, were January 6 (ibid., §§554-61) and December 25 (ibid., §§562-68).

While the last was eventually adopted by the Catholic Church for use in its liturgy, the fact that the Church did not declare alternate proposals heretical shows the matter was not considered essential to the Faith.

Third, the proposals that put Jesus' birth in the colder part of the year (November 18, December 25, January 6, and January 10) are not ruled out by the fact that there were shepherds keeping watch over their flocks at night.

Ancient Jews did not have large indoor spaces for housing sheep. Flocks were kept outdoors during winter in Judaea, as they are elsewhere in the world today, including in places where snow is common (search for "winter sheep care" on the Internet). Sheep are adapted to life outdoors. That's why they have wool, which keeps body heat in and moisture out.

Sheep are kept outdoors in winter in Israel today: "William Hendricksen quotes a letter dated Jan. 16, 1967, received from the New Testament scholar Harry Mulder, then teaching in Beirut, in which the latter tells of being in Shepherd Field at Bethlehem on the just-passed Christmas Eve, and says: 'Right near us a few flocks of sheep were nestled. Even the lambs were not lacking. . . . It is therefore definitely not impossible that the Lord Jesus was born in December'" (ibid., §569).

Source: Catholic Answers

Paul Mugerwa