Where did the tradition of the Christmas tree originate?
The Christmas tree is perhaps the most recognized symbol of Christmas. Every year right after Thanksgiving, up goes our Christmas trees with lights, ornaments, and ribbons. Why do we put up Christmas trees every year? Why go through the trouble? Why go through the expense? Most of us put up a Christmas tree because that’s just what people do at Christmas.Or because Mom and Dad always did it. Or Grandpa and Grandma have always done it. It’s just a tradition!
The truth is that no oneknows exactly how the Christmas tree tradition began. Some people believe it, "began in Germany almost 1,000 years ago when Saint Boniface, who converted the German people to Christianity, was said to have come across a group of pagans worshiping an oak tree. In anger, Saint Boniface is said to have cut down the oak tree and to his amazement, a young fir tree sprung up from the roots of the oak tree. Saint Boniface took this as a sign of the Christian faith. But it was not until the 16th century that fir trees were brought indoors at Christmas time." http://www.christmas-tree.com/where.html
"Legend has it that Martin Luther began the tradition of decorating trees to celebrate Christmas. One crisp Christmas Eve, about the year 1500, he was walking through snow-covered woods and was struck by the beauty of a group of small evergreens. Their branches, dusted with snow, shimmered in the moonlight. When he got home, he set up a little fir tree indoors so he could share this story with his children. He decorated it with candles, which he lighted in honor of Christ's birth." http://www.christmas-tree.com/where.html
Christmas trees are a fairly young tradition. German immigrants, settling in Pennsylvania and Ohio, brought the tradition to the United States. And it has only grown since then.
Trees are an important symbol in the scriptures.
When we read the scriptures, we see that trees are an important symbol. Take, for example, the tree of lifein Genesis 2:8-9 (NIV). "Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and there he put the man he had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and tree of the knowledge of good and evil."
Trees are an important symbol because of their longevity. You have heard that you don’t plant a tree for yourself. Instead, you plant trees to provide shade for your children and grandchildren. Trees have this enduring, almost transcendent quality. They continue on living long after we have come and gone. They are symbolic of eternal life.
If you were to drive out to Berlin, Illinoisto the church I first pastored, you will find one of the largest and oldest cottonwood trees in Sangamon County. An expert visited the church one day and explained how the tree was easily a hundred years old. Preachers have come and gone at that church. Members have come and gone throughout its 175 year history. Generations have passed on. But that tree lives on year after year.
In the scriptures, the tree is a symbol of eternal life.
At the foundations of the world, the tree of life stood as a testimony to God’s intention for mankind. His intention is that we would partake of its fruit and live forever. The tree of life didn’t cease to exist because Adam and Eve sinned. It was never destroyed. It remains for all eternity. Sin didn’t erase God’s original intention.
Throughout Revelation we read about the tree of life. Revelation 2:7 (NIV) says, "To him who overcomes, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God."
Revelation 22:1-5 (NIV) tells us, "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lambdown the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever."
Christmas trees are in the very center of our Christmas celebrations. They are adorned with light and life. They are surrounded with gifts and boundless joy. This Christmas your Christmas tree could remain a token tradition you just do because it's something to do. Or you could redeem it as a symbol of God’s intention for mankind: everlasting life! As you sit around your Christmas tree, you could share God's purpose in Christmas which is to give us eternal life in Christ.
In the scriptures, trees are instruments of God's saving work.
Trees weren’t just a symbol of eternal life in the scriptures. Trees have been an instrument of God’s saving work throughout the Old and New Testaments. God instructed Noah to cut down trees to construct an ark. This was to be an ark in which Noah and his family would be saved.
Do you remember how God used a simple wooden staff to prove his power to Moses and the Israelite nation? When Moses threw down his wooden staff before Pharoah, it became a snake. When Moses struck the Nile with his staff, it became like blood. When he struck the dust of the ground with it, the dust became like gnats. When Moses raised his staff, the waters parted and provided a pathway of deliverance that allowed the Israelites to escape the Egyptian army. When he struck the rock with his staff, it poured out water for a thirsty people.
And when God sent his only Son Jesus Christ into the world to seek and save the lost, he was first laid (that’s right!) in a wooden manger. And do you remember where the wise men laid their gifts? They laid them in front ofJesus’ manger.
When you lay your Christmas gifts under your Christmas tree, are you doing it only because it’s some token tradition you do just because you’ve always done it? Or when you lay your gifts under your Christmas tree do you marvel at God’s salvation work? He saved Noah. He saved Israel. He sent Christ to seek and to save. In the manger laid the only one who can save us.
How can we enhance our Christmas traditions?
Do you think your Christmas celebration would be enhanced by sharing God’s plan of everlasting life? Do you think it would be enhanced by sharing the story of God’s saving work throughout history?
In Luke 19 it was a sycamore tree that enabled the short Zacchaeus to see the Lord of the universe. As children we would sing: "Zacchaeus was a wee little man, and a wee little man was he.He climbed on top of a sycamore tree, the good Lord for to see. And as the Savior passed that way, he looked up in that tree.And he said, 'Zacchaeus, you come down! For I’m coming to your house today!' "
It’s really up to you this Christmas what that tree in your living room will represent to your family. Will your tree help you see Jesus more clearly? Will it point you to the manger where the Son of God lay andwhere magi laid gifts? Will it point you to everlasting life? Will it point you to something or someone eternal, someone or something transcendent? Will it cause you to celebrate Christ? Will it cause you to marvel over God’s work of salvation from Noah, to Moses, to Christ, to the tree of life in Revelation? Or will it just be another empty tradition for celebrating our materialistic ambitions?
The tree represents the true cost of Christmas.
I’ll tell you something else that every single one of us should contemplate every time we see a Christmas tree. It's not just God’s plan of offering us the tree of everlasting life. It's not just his work of salvationthroughout history. Every Christmas tree should cause us to contemplate the true cost of Christmas.
The true cost of Christmas isn’t reflected on Mastercard or Visa or in your checkbook. The true cost of Christmas is that on a tree of things, on the cross, the Son of God was willing to suffer and die for our sins so that the whole world might be reconciled to God. The tree represents that the true cost of Christmas isthat the whole world might not die, but have life eternal.
How is it that any of us could gather around a tree at Christmas and not see the manger? How can we not see the tree that God adorned with his broken body and shed blood? Don’t rob yourself or those you love of the true meaning of Christmas.