The Jews ... disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" So Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you have no life in you." (vv. 52-53)

There are many who frown upon the celebration of Christmas because of its historical association with the pagan festival of Saternalia. It is true that the early Christian church decided to celebrate the birth of Christ on December 25 not because of any concrete evidence for that date, but in order to replace the popular Roman festival with a Christian festival. Christians felt that they had a new and more profound reason to celebrate during this season when the daylight hours gradually begin to lengthen.

In recent years a growing number of crit…