Christmas 2019

Post date: Dec 31, 2019 2:26:41 PM

The history of how the Paradise Tree became the Christmas Tree

In the 15^th & 16^th centuries the Germanic Christians of northern Europe had a wonderful way to recall why Jesus Christ came to save humankind.

The Bible told them that Christ came to restore what was lost by the first sin (the original sin) of Adam and Eve and from our own sins. So, the Christians began celebrating a drama of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

The people gathered early on the morning of the day before Christmas. Either in the plaza or inside their church was erected a large Paradise Tree.

(On it hung only apples- the only fruit they had in those northern climates).

A drama group re-enacted the scene in the Garden. God gave Adam & Eve a garden and told them to eat of all the fruit trees except one. It was the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. “To eat of the fruit of a tree” was a Hebrew expression meaning “to deliberately do something”.

The Book of Genesis pictures the devil as a serpent to keep the Jewish people recently arrived from Egypt from worshipping snakes as did the local Canaanites.

As Eve walked in the Garden, the serpent asked her, ‘Did God really tell you not to eat from any of the trees in the Garden?’

The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, it is only about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden that God said you shall not eat it or even touch it lest you die.”

But the serpent said to the woman, ‘You certainly will not die. God knows well that the moment you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like gods who know what is good and what is evil.’

The woman saw that the tree was good for food, pleasing to the eyes and desirable for gaining wisdom. So, she took some of its fruit and ate it. And she gave some to her husband who was with her. Adam said, “Eve, what have you done?” And he ate it.

When they heard the Lord God moving about in the garden in the evening, the man and woman hid themselves from the Lord God among the trees of the Garden. God then called “Adam, where are you?”

Adam answered, “I heard you and I was afraid because I was naked.” “Who told you that you were naked? You have eaten then from the tree of which I had forbidden you to eat.”

The man replied, ‘The woman that you put here with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate it.’ The Lord God then asked the woman,

“Why did you do such a thing?” The woman answered, ‘The serpent tricked me into it, so I ate it.’

The Lord God, after promising them a REDEEMER, banned them from the Garden of Eden.

After the drama was finished the people returned to their daily lives. That night, they returned to celebrate Christmas Midnight Mass.

But now the Paradise tree had more than just apples hanging on it. Now it had candles on every branch. These symbolized Jesus Christ, the Light of the world.

He came dispelling the darkness of sin that first entered the world at the Tree in Paradise. Christ’s coming was prepared by the faith of our Jewish ancestors and was announced by a Star and a Host of Angels.

And ever since we call this tree a CHRISTMAS TREE.

Whenever you light up your Christmas tree let Jesus Christ light up your heart!

LET US JOIN TOGETHER AND SING ‘O COME ALL YE FAITHFUL

O COME, ALL YE FAITHFUL, JOYFUL AND TRIUMPHANT,

O COME YE, O COME YE TO BETHLEHEM;

COME AND BEHOLD HIM BORN THE KING OF ANGELS;

O COME, LET US ADORE HIM, O COME LET S ADORE HIM, O COME,

LET US ADORE HIM, CHRIST THE LORD.