When was Jesus born? Many people have googled this exact question. Most of us for countless generations have probably assumed its December 25 or Christmas. Which is completely understandable.
As the world has largely celebrated the birth of Jesus on December 25th for decades, maybe even centuries!
The two gospel accounts that include the birth story of Jesus give little to no detail about the time of Christ's birth, but with some investigative powers we can deduce a time frame that is most likely for Jesus' birthday.
Lets begin!
In Luke 2:7-8 We are told that when Jesus was born in Bethlehem, there were shepherds tending their flocks at night. If this was December it would be too rainy and too cold. The shepherds would more likely seek out shelter from the cold weather. It is more likely that this event occurred in a more temperate time of the year like Spring, Summer, or Fall.
Also, just before Jesus was born, a census was made by the Roman Empire. Luke 2 records that this forced many families to travel back to their hometown or their family's hometown to be counted. Which is why Mary and Joseph are travelling to Bethlehem. If this was winter, the roads would be too dangerous for anyone to travel.
So where does December 25th come from?
Early on in the history of Christianity, there were multiple Roman emperors who sought to unite their massive empire. There weren't just Christians and Jews in the Roman empire but there were pagans, and many other people who worshipped many different gods.
So these Roman Emperors wanted to find common ground. The winter solstice and other Holy Days worked just right for them. They declared it as Jesus' birthday and now the pagans and the Christians would come together on the same day.
So should we as Christians celebrate Christmas on December 25 or at all?
I will leave that up to you. But I will continue to do so, because its one of the few days out of the whole year that millions of people are talking about Jesus and I want to jump in on those conversations.