Yesterday was my father-in-law’s birthday. It never really occurred to me to think about birthdays in the Bible until just the other day when we were preparing for his birthday. It also came to mind because this week we celebrate on the church calendar the Annunciation of the Lord (when Mary finds out she is pregnant with the to-be baby Jesus). The final thing that made me think about birthday celebrations was the fact that I singed some birthday cards for members of the church the other day also.
Since birthday’s were on my mind, it got me to thinking about whether people either before or during Jesus’ time celebrated birthdays. If they did, what did they look like? If they didn’t, why not? If they did, why was there never mention of Peter, James and John throwing a surprise party for Jesus in Capernaum?
Without going down too deep a theological hole and cracking opening too many books or searching too many websites, I found out rather quickly that Jewish people did not celebrate birthdays. It might have something to do with the mentality that they were not like other religions, and others did. It might be that there were other markers and celebrations during a person’s life. Whatever the case, birthdays were not celebrated. So, sadly no, Jesus never got a surprise birthday party from the 12 disciples.
In fact, it wasn’t until around 336 AD that the first Christmas was celebrated. I also read that Christmas wasn’t always celebrated on December 25th either. Which hopefully we all know probably isn’t the day that Jesus was actually born.
Even though birthdays weren’t really a celebration back in Jesus’ time we now celebrate Jesus’ birthday as one of the biggest holy days of our faith. Perhaps we can, as maybe the Jewish people did (I’m guessing here) celebrate the whole life (of a person) and ministry of Jesus every chance we get instead of focusing on the ‘holy days’.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that Christmas is not one of the most wonderful holy celebrations and one of the most meaningful parts of our faith. Perhaps though, we could focus on his life as a whole and celebrate on a continual basis, like we do when we gather each time for worship.
Perhaps we should celebrate each other in the same way as well. Let’s not wait for “big” moments in people’s lives to let them know they are loved, appreciated, and valued. Let’s celebrate that and let them know as often as we have the opportunity to do so.
Blessings,
Pastor Brian
