Question of the Month

Summer 2008

 

Our question this month comes from someone who asks, “I have a question about the calendar.  Why did the Church change the Old Testament calendar dates of holidays like Passover, without God telling them to do so? It seems so confusing!”

 

Thank you for raising this important issue.  Most of us just “assume” that our calendars and the dates for important events of the faith are correct.  This is false!  As an example, this past Easter was celebrated on March 23 by most of the Church around the world, but the actual date should have been April 27.  The April date was celebrated by Greek Orthodox Christians around the world because they use another calendar connected to the Jewish method of marking time.


The reason we have all these different calendars is because we have had a series of Popes and other leaders that made some “good faith” attempts to better mark time according to their view of history and what was important to them. The Gregorian calendar is the most widely used calendar in the world today. It was first proposed by the Calabrian doctor Aloysius Lilius, and decreed by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom it was named, on 24 February 1582 by papal bull Inter gravissimas.   

 

I hope you can see how complex this issue has become with all the changes in history.  Somewhere along the way, the Lord and His calendar got lost in the shuffle.  The Lord did NOT direct anyone to change His calendar on His behalf.  Only the Lord can change or interpret the calendar He created - since the Lord invented time itself.  The Lord’s dates, calendars, and purposes each reflect His redemptive purposes for us in the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

When the Lord set up the original calendar in the book of Genesis, the dates were chosen to teach us important things.  For example, the Lord’s calendar begins in Genesis because that is when time began.  Hence, the world was created in the 1st month.  That makes sense, right?  According to the Lord, the world was created in our fall, not in January.  Pope Gregory chose January as the 1st month simply because the days were longer after the winter solstice and a new cycle started again.  Unfortunately, Gregory and the Lord were not on the same page with regards to what was important.

 

Our Lord later modified His original calendar by making Passover and the springtime the new 1st month according to Exodus 12.  The Lord did this because He wanted us to mark time anew from our Lord’s death, burial and resurrection.  Our Lord’s grace and mercy allows us to “start over” when it comes to dealing with our sin and hence needed to be marked with a new time on the calendar to commemorate it.  Time begins anew with the Gospel and that is why it is “Good News”.

 

Now the issues I just shared above are not known by 99% of the Christian Church.  The reason for that is that all of us have been given traditions that we often do not question, let alone understand.  Traditions are good, but sometimes they hide or confuse God’s purposes.  Our Lord Jesus spoke about this issue a lot in His public ministry.  I encourage you to read Matthew 15:1-9 and see the trials our Lord faced in challenging long-held traditions.  As an example, just imagine how hard it would be for anyone today to change the Gregorian calendar in America.  People tried to change the USA to metric units years ago and it failed miserably.  People love their traditions and it is hard to change them anywhere and at anytime.  As a result, I think it is unlikely that any new changes will come to the religious traditions and calendars used by the Church until the Second Coming.

 

I think the best thing any Christian can do amidst all of this calendar confusion is seek the Lord on this issue.  I don’t think our Lord wants all of us embroiled in some big battle to change calendars in the Church world.  There are much more important things to do than making sure everybody celebrates Passover on the right date.  What is REALLY important is to know WHAT happened on Passover and why.   We must keep our focus on the essentials and let the rest go with the Lord’s ultimately timing.  One day ALL of our calendars will be coordinated.  That event will take place when the Lord of the Calendar, and time itself, will return to this earth to rule and reign.  It should be a great day….and oh, by the way, it will be on schedule according to the calendar.  

   

 

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