Who doesn’t love stealing a kiss from your loved one under that funny green plant?
The history of “kissing under the mistletoe” is charming. It dates back a couple-thousand years to the Celts (whose territory once spread across much of western Europe). Mistletoe is a resilient plant and its green leaves are often seen peeking out from under heavy snowfall. Even after all other plants around it have yielded to the winter weather, the mistletoe endures. Because of that, the mistletoe was seen by the superstitious Celts as a plant that represented thriving, endurance, and…eh hem, of fertility. To be blunt, it was, to the Celts, the unofficial plant-mascot for making babies, and was decorated in Celtic homes during the winter months as a reminder of the need for the Celts to keep their population growing during the harsh winters as they waited for the spring.
With that in mind, it’s easy to figure out why “kissing” when you come upon a mistletoe became a tradition.
So where does the spiritual application come in?
Setting aside the fertility aspect of it, consider that the Celts loved the mistletoe because it was a plant that lived in the “dead of winter.” It was a living symbol of the promise of life before the Spring had come. In that sense, it’s a reminder of our salvation in Christ: We are promised a renewal in the form of our resurrection from the dead, at which point our bodies will change (the way flowers bud in the spring) and begin a perpetual life in Heaven with God. But before our spiritual springtime comes, we must live in the winter of this earthly discontent. That’s okay, because we get to live in this earthly world. We have life in Christ. We haven’t yet been changed the way we will be when the Lord returns, but our salvation now is a constant promise that the change He will bring will come one day.
Like the mistletoe, we thrive in the dark winter of this weary, sin-sick world, and we thrive with the promise of a greater springtime yet to come. Think about that the next time you see one (and before you lay a sloppy kiss on your consenting loved one).
~ Matthew