Are you ready for a quiz? Grab pencil and pad and write down the names of the two most important Christian Holidays. It should only take you a few seconds. No consulting your calendar allowed; just write down two holidays. Got it? And the days are: Christmas and Easter—and I’ll bet you got it right.

But let me tell you something curious. Neither one of these days is found observed anywhere in the Bible. And if they had the importance in the early church that they do today, you would think they would have mentioned them. You would think Luke would have recorded somewhere in Acts that we stayed over at Troas through Christmas and then sailed across to Philippi. Or maybe: We hastened in order to be in Jerusalem at Easter. But no, nothing like that is found in the Bible at all.

Luke, though, does reference holidays in his travelogue. Acts 20:6 says: And we sailed away from Philippi after the days of unleavened bread, and came unto them to Troas in five days; where we abode seven days. In Acts 20:16, he records this: For Paul had determined to sail by Ephesus, because he would not spend the time in Asia: for he hasted, if it were possible for him, to be at Jerusalem the day of Pentecost. What if I told you that these holidays of the Bible, while they have a Jewish/historical significance, are actually Christian in their meaning and application? Would that change the way you look at them?