"If Jesus Had Never Been Born"

Reading: "Keeping the 'X' in Xmas" by Rev. Violet Kochendoefer

We, as Unitarian Universalists, would keep the "X" in X-mas..."X" being that unknown human value that seems to change Christmas from just any holiday into a celebration of birth and life and hope and rededication and joy for all humanity.

WE BELIEVE IN X-MAS. We join all humanity of the ages in rejoicing at the return of the sun, as days grow longer, as did the followers of the Sun God Mithra (after whom our Sunday is named) whose birthday was celebrated three thousand years ago on December 25, and called in Rom "Natalis Invicti," (the birthday of the unconquered God) or the festival of "Sol Invictus," (the birthday of the unconquered Son). We do not believe in Mithra, the God of Light, miraculously born; but we rejoice in the renewed light and hope the winter solstice promises.

WE BELIEVE IN X-MAS. We celebrate, as the Romans celebrated "Saturnalis," with prisoners freed, with lifting of restraints, closing of schools, with feasting and merriment, exchanging of gifts of wax candles and dolls for children. We believe neither in Saturnus or Thor; but we are still warmed by their fires, and know the same need they felt to set aside serious business and celebrate with abandon.

WE BELIEVE IN X-MAS. We are not nature worshippers; but we symbolize our kinship with the Druid and Tree Worshipper in our holly and mistletoe and decorated trees, which express continuance of life amid powers that threaten it.

WE BELIEVE IN X-MAS. We join with our friends of Judaism in Hanukkah--their Festival of Lights, symbolizing victory and freedom from domination, and rededication, by lighting candles and delighting in their mystery of warmth and brightness.

WE BELIEVE IN X-MAS...in Santa Claus, who wears many disguises around the world--St. Nicholas, Father Christmas, Petit Jesus, Pere Noel, Kris Kringle...Santa, who in parts of Italy and Russia appears as a woman--Befana and Baboushka. We believe in Santa Claus because he symbolizes unselfish giving, and the often forgotten virtues of childhood--innocence, truthfulness, simplicity, joy and wonder.

WE BELIEVE IN CHRISTMAS, our Christian version of the pagan winter festival of humanity. We do not need to believe in the virgin birth of Jesus any more than we believe in the miraculous birth of Greek or oriental gods, to sense the power of the figure of Jesus of Nazareth, by which we know that humanity can manifest through his life a spirit which can uplift, inspire and help his fellow human beings. We do not need to believe in angels to hear their glorious and timely message of Peace on Earth, Good Will to All.

In the newborn infant, each generation experiences the wonder and mystery of birth, as Christmas remains a festival of life in the home and the child. For Christmas is not a theology...it is the rebirth and rejoicing of the human spirit!

YES, WE BELIEVE IN X-MAS because it is Humanity's Day--Our Day...because it is the holy day which transcends all holidays. X-mas has been celebrated ever since humanity began to celebrate. It will be celebrated as long as humanity exists...even after the gods of today are forgotten.

Sermon:

So, you've made it to December 23rd, and you all look pretty good for what you've been through. I know it hasn't been easy. I know we can't see the wounds that have been inflicted from another holiday season, the traumatic shopping sprees, the myriad decisions about who gets what, the family disputes over who visits whom, and of course the stress of having to do a million things before that looming deadline of December 25^th.

Let me tell you, you're not the only ones to suffer stress this time of year. Last Sunday I visited with our youth group and talked with them about the Unitarian Universalist elevator speech. Remember my sermon about getting on an elevator and someone asks you about your UU faith, and you have to give a lucid answer before they get off the elevator? About as easy to do as getting down a chimney with a bag of toys, isn't it?

But I was impressed with the answers given by our youth. One said he answers that question from friends by saying, “Unitarian Universalism allows him to choose his own beliefs.” Another said she repeats our seventh principle, “We believe that we're a part of the interdependent web of all existence.”

It was apparent to me that they have struggled with their faith, and they confessed how difficult it is to be a UU. Many of their friends don't see our faith as a religion at all since we don't require belief in a creed or a specific version of God. That makes Christmas a challenge for them as they try to explain that they're not Christians but they still believe that Jesus was a pretty cool guy.

I imagine many of you are in that same boat, trying to figure out what in Christianity and in Christmas can be salvaged. I suggest you talk to your kids about this dilemma and share your own frustrations as well as your convictions and beliefs. And most important, listen to them. Let me assure you that their faith is important to them.

You might even want to make a suggestion that together you can do what Unitarian Universalists have done for centuries this time of year: we get out our theological shovels and we dig down through the layers of commercialism, of inaccurate and self-serving theology, of fanciful fables, so that we can reach down to the beating heart of not only Christmas but Christianity, and not only Christianity but religion.

You might even ask them the question I'm asking you this morning, “What if Jesus had never been born?” And you can cheat because I'm going to give you the answer – or at least my answer. Would it make a difference in our lives and in our world if Jesus had never arrived? Just think of the movie “It's A Wonderful Life,” but instead of George Bailey who was given the opportunity to see what his hometown of Bedford Falls would be without him, let's think of what history would be without Jesus.

But to answer that question we need to reflect on what religion would have filled the void left by Christianity. Would it have been Judaism? Doubtful.

Jesus rebelled against his own faith of Judaism for good reason. It had become overly legalistic, corrupt, and irrelevant. Judaism was also confined for the most part to the tiny nation of Israel, which was brutally defeated by the Roman army less than century after the death of Jesus.

The dominant religion of that time throughout the Mediterranean region was not Judaism but paganism, paganism being the term used for the pre-Christian religions. In fact, the core of Christianity -- the worship of a man who was also god and who brings salvation to his people -- was also the core of other ancient religions that began thousands of years before Jesus. Most of the basic beliefs of Christianity were begged, borrowed, or stolen from older pagan faiths.

In fact, one of the pagan celebrations of the day was a wild Roman bash called Saturnalia which culminated on December 25th, the day they believed was the shortest of the year, and the birthday of the sun itself. Those lusty pagans made our celebration of Christmas look like a funeral.

The solstice has long been a time to commemorate the birth of saviors and messiahs. For instance, long before Jesus Christ was said to have been born, there was another holy birth in a land east of the Mediterranean Sea. This child was said to have had no earthly father, but to have been conceived by God and born of a virgin. For hundreds of years his birth had been foretold, and when he was born a brilliant, divine light shone in the heavens above him.

The child was seen as a threat by a local ruler, and he tried to have the boy slain but did not succeed. The early life of the youth is still veiled in mystery, but there were indications that he was an especially wise boy and that teachers and philosophers were greatly amazed with his knowledge and maturity. In his early thirties the young man began a public ministry that included the casting out of demons, curing the blind, and performing numerous miracles. He was even tempted by the devil in the wilderness of the desert and managed to come away triumphant.

This man preached the message that there was one all-knowing, all-seeing, all-loving God who was the father of us all. And he warned that at the end of the age, there will be a general bodily resurrection and a final day of judgment. All those whose souls were found to be impure would then be thrust into the eternal torment of hell while those whose souls were pure and who followed their shepherd's teachings would rise with him to be with God. One of his most profound teachings we now recognize as the Golden Rule: "Whatsoever you do not approve for yourself, do not approve for anyone else."

Sound familiar? It certainly should. We know this as the story of Jesus, but it's also the story of the savior, Zoroaster, who lived and preached in Persia six centuries before the birth of Jesus.  Six centuries! Is it a coincidence that his life sounds so much like that of Jesus? No way! There's no doubt that Christians used much of the myth surrounding Zoroaster to create the Christ.

But Zoroaster wasn't the only savior to give Jesus a boost in his ratings. December 25th was also the birthday of another god who had much in common with Jesus. His name was Mithra, and he was Christ's top competitor as a god during the first two centuries of Christianity.

Those who joined the religion of Mithra were baptized with water, and they used bread and water mixed with wine as their sacrament. A cross of light was their symbol. Following Mithra's death he ascended into heaven where he still keeps watch over his followers on earth and grants the wishes of those who pray to him. Mithra also promised his followers a bodily resurrection after death and salvation from eternal torment.

Life on earth is a constant struggle between the forces of good and evil, of light and darkness, the pagan religion taught, and Mithra was the leader of the forces of good, referred to as the "Invincible Sun," which would eventually defeat the dark power of evil. So what better time to celebrate the birthday of the Invincible Sun than at the birthday of the sun itself, December 25th.

Get it? Christ was the product of a theological gumbo with Zoroaster and Mithra and the Jewish prophets and the many other gods and dreams of that time and place stirred into the pot. But if Christ was a mythological creation then who was the man Jesus? Or was there a Jesus? Could it be that he too was a figment of humanity's hopeful imagination?

There are in fact scholars who believe that Jesus was a fabrication. That may sound far-fetched, and yet there is only one historical document that mentions his name and the authenticity is questionable. The only other accounts we have of his life are by the gospel writers, none of whom ever met him or were even alive during his lifetime, and their accounts are confusing and even contradictory. The earliest gospel was written about 70 years after Jesus' death and the latest perhaps 150 years or four generations later, so their versions are about as reliable as a politician recounting the life of his grandparents.

It's truly amazing that in all of the thirteen Epistles of Paul, written about three decades after Jesus' death, there is not one word about Christ's miraculous birth. Can you imagine the most prominent Christian theologian and salesman not only of his day but of all history not knowing about the virgin birth of Christ? And not having the slightest hint that Christ ever performed a miracle, and not knowing about his most famous teachings from the sermon on the mount, and not knowing the Lord's Prayer Jesus taught his followers, and not knowing his parables – Paul mentions none of these in all his writings. He never quotes a single saying of Jesus.

What did Paul know about Jesus? He knew of his crucifixion and his resurrection – and that's all folks! The Christ Paul knew was the Christ he saw in a vision on his way to Damascus, an apparition but not the living man. And the theology he taught was his own and not that of Jesus. That's why some call Christianity Paulism instead. It makes you wonder if there was really a Jesus at all, or if he was invented to give a human dimension to the Messiah.

So you can see the question of what the world would be like if Jesus had never been born may be mute since he may never have been born. We may never know for certain if Jesus lived and breathed on this earth.

But I choose to believe he did. I believe he was probably a little known Jewish carpenter who dared to rebel against the oppressive religion and government of the day and who tried to teach people how to live a more loving life. I believe this simple man who never traveled more than 90 miles from his birthplace, owned nothing, attended no college, marshaled no army, and instead of producing books did his only writing in the sand, this itinerant preacher who few took seriously, this failure of a man who died at the age of 33 as a criminal rather than a hero, somehow – somehow -- turned into the biggest man at the heart of the biggest religious movement in history.

And I believe if he had never been born he would have been created from the imaginations and hopes of a desperate people. If not all myth, his life was certainly mostly myth, so if he had not been the catalyst for a new religious spirit, it would have been someone else. So my answer to the question, “How would the world be different if Jesus had never been born,” is I doubt that it would.

Jesus the Christ was certainly born but perhaps it was a virgin birth, not of woman at all but of a people who yearned for God to be experienced fully in human history, a people who were drawn to that place where heaven and earth seem to meet and to that life where the divine and the human flow together as one.  Each one of us gives birth to that hope in our own lives, the hope that endures over despair, the love that conquers hatred, the life of the spirit that eclipses egotism and materialism.

So let us celebrate Christmas as a time for the rebirth and rejoicing of the human spirit. And let us celebrate X-mas because it is Humanity's Day--Our Day...because it is the holy day which transcends all holidays. May this spirit be what we give birth to and celebrate this Christmas and every Christmas!

Resources & Inspiration:

The Masks of God by Joseph Campbell

Resurrection: Myth or Reality? A Bishop's Search for the Origins of Christianity by John Spong

Why Christianity Must Change or Die: A Bishop Speaks to Believers In Exile by John Spong