A year has rolled by, twelve months, nearly 365 days. Whatever you thought and expected around this time last year, it most likely did not unfold exactly as you envisioned – you may have been disappointed or perhaps delighted. Whatever happened, good or bad, it somehow doesn’t change the fact that we await the end of the year with anticipation: “Come on, let something new begin!”. Maybe for the same reason, we look forward to our birthdays, wishing that a certain period ends and a new beginning arrives with that end. This is the essence of birthdays – something new begins, a new person arrives, bringing change for everyone else, another one comes to the world with a mission.
We believe the greatest Gift to this world comes as a tiny baby, swaddled and sleeping in a stable, among quietly ruminating animals somewhere in a small town in Judea, today's Israel. We know the birth story and remind ourselves of its beauty each year. But we also know how it unfolds: just 33 years after that day, the little Baby is the grown-up Lord Jesus. Now He hangs on rough timber, losing the last drops of blood from His body, and with His final strength, He looks up to the heavens: “My God, My God! Why have You forsaken Me?” (Gospel of Mark, ch. 15, v. 34b) No mother gives birth to her child thinking that one day it will grow up only to be hurt or killed. No child comes into this world just to die.
Jesus Christ comes with a mission that is far from easy. In fact, He comes to accomplish what no other person could – He voluntarily comes to be the final and only sacrifice that will cleanse us from sin, suffering, and weakness. Jesus is born to die, to suffer, to be humiliated, rejected, and mocked.
How then does the angel tell the shepherds: “Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you great joy, intended for all people. For today in the city of David a Savior is born to you, who is Christ the Lord” (Gospel of Luke, ch. 2, v. 10b-11); the bold text is ours) For whom is this joy? For the rest, for us. His pain, sorrow, humiliation, and sacrifice bring our joy, our freedom and peace, healing, future, and hope.
His Birthday is just the beginning of the plan for redemption, of His mission on this earth, the beginning of the pain but also of the great victory for us. God is already the victor; He doesn’t need to prove Himself to His adversaries but sacrifices Himself for us, out of love, so that we, too, become victors. The prophet Isaiah writes about the Messiah: “He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities. The punishment that brought us peace was on Him, and by His wounds, we are healed.” (Isaiah, ch. 53, v. 5)
We rejoice and give thanks for this inexplicable love, but Jesus leaves us a message, leaves each of us a mission similar to His: “Love as I love.” Now, when His Birthday comes and we celebrate the new beginning and the new year, it is time for each of us to embark on this mission – it is not always easy to love others, to live for them and their well-being. It will not always seem fair for you to bleed on the wood while others look up at you with mockery. You will not always want to go hungry so that another can eat, for you to cry so that someone else can rejoice, for you to humble yourself so that another can be honored.
Remember one thing, however: this gives meaning to everything. Living like Jesus is the only way to live meaningfully and fulfillingly, and it is the only reason that brings us joy on birthdays – here comes to the world another person-gift as a participant in God’s beautiful plan. Live like a gift for the Birthday!
Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year!
*The Bible quotes are from the Bible, New Translation from the Original Languages © Bulgarian Bible Society 2013.
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