Christmas is About Evangelization

21 December 2025  Romans 1:1-9

The Fourth Sunday in Advent

“…established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord...” Romans 1:4

Why don’t we put up Easter lights, and Easter trees?  

Why isn’t there Easter shopping, and Easter presents? Why isn’t Easter a national holiday like Christmas is?

Christmas, in other words, is about evangelization. The Good News, however, is still the message of Easter – God has overcome death for you.

St. Paul never told any version of the Christmas story. He may not even have known it.

He always led with the Easter story instead, because that was the story that really changed everything: Jesus is “established as Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by His resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:14, emphasis added). If you believe that Jesus really rose from the dead, then it is hard to resist His claim that He is God, that He is quite exclusively the way to salvation, and that everything He taught is true. If you don’t think that Jesus rose from the dead, then you have to explain what really did happen at the Empty Tomb, and explain how whatever that is can be competent to explain the world-changing impact of the Gospel and the Church. Lots of luck with that.

It is Easter that really changed everything. St. Paul was always emphatically clear about that.

So why are there only Christmas lights, Christmas parties, Christmas presents, and Christmas vacation?

The reason has a lot to do with how we got Christmas celebrations in the first place. They were a bit of a latecomer to the Church. It was after Christianity had become legal, but before a great many Romans, particularly in rural regions (the Latin word paganus, “pagan,” means “rural”) had come to believe the gospel. For many Romans, Saturnalia was still the biggest holiday of the year, followed immediately by the Feast of the Unconquered Sun (Sol Invictus) which was observed on December 25, the first day after the winter solstice when it was possible to tell with the naked eye that the days were getting longer. The fourth-century Church thought it might be a good idea to attract Roman non-believers by celebrating the birth of Jesus around the same time, even baptizing some Saturnalia customs and converting them to Christian use – like decorating with candles and evergreens, gift-giving and merrymaking. It caught on. It was, and remains, a fantastic success. All of western society becomes a little more permeable by the gospel in late December, every year.

That’s why we have lights, and presents, and parties, and vacations. The barriers are thinner, and the iron is hot, right now. The lights, and presents, and parties, and vacations all call attention to that.

Christmas, in other words, is about evangelization. The Good News, however, is still the message of Easter – God has overcome death for you.

Sin doesn’t need to be a barrier between heaven and you anymore. God is with you. His Risen Self is available for you at every Mass, every day, everywhere.

Christmas is what will get a lot of people through the door. It is always Easter that will make them stay.