Happy Rebirthday

How important is your birthday?  I know, that’s a complicated question.  Birthdays are a big deal when we’re young, but as we age, we generally pay less attention unless the birthday is divisible by five.  Then, if we’re blessed with great longevity, they get more interesting.  I mean, how many 100-year-old birthday parties have you been to?  It’s something to celebrate!

Our birthdays are important because they commemorate an amazing and beautiful event – new life.  It’s so easy to take life for granted.  We’re literally surrounded with people and other living beings.  We get so consumed with the cares and concerns of life that it’s easy to lose the wonder of life itself.  Just think about all the factors that come together to just have life at all.  Then, think of what it takes for human beings to be the most sophisticated form of life.  God is so creative.  It’s marvelous. 

So what makes it a greater celebration when we get closer to 100 years old?  The simple fact is, most of us don’t make it there.  As we age, our bodies wear out and eventually we die.  Deep down we all know that death is the great enemy.  We fear the unknown of death and use whatever means we can to delay it.  We may win some of those battles, but we won’t win the war.  Eventually, death takes us all. 

As Christians, we understand the cause of death to be the presence of sin in the world.  We trace it back to the birth of life itself in the Garden of Eden.  There, all the life of the world interacted in perfect interdependency.  Such selflessness would have extended life without end.   Just think of that for a moment.  Imagine a world without illness, injury or death.  Wonderful, isn’t it?  In fact, it’s truly beyond comprehension. 

From the very beginning of our existence, we have known the selfishness that hurled our world from perpetual life to the avoidance of death.  So, instead of limitless birthdays, we only get so many.  Life is not a given; it’s a gift.  If only we could be given another chance at life, a reset where we could go back to the beauty of the garden of Eden.  It would be like being born again, a re-birth of sorts, only without the constant threat of death.  It would be nice, wouldn’t it?

That’s what Easter is all about.

Jesus came to be the ultimate sacrifice for our sins, but that work was not complete until he also vanquished death.  He did that by being the first to rise from the dead and not die again.  That’s something worth celebrating.  Now, Jesus has a birthday, and that’s what we celebrate at Christmas.  What we’re talking about is His rebirthday.  That’s Easter.  Not only is it Jesus’ rebirthday, but it’s ours’ as well.  As the followers of Jesus, we have received the forgiveness offered through Jesus’ cross and the rebirth given to us in Jesus’ resurrection.  Paul even talks about it that way in Romans 6:5, “For if we have been united with him in the likeness of his death, we will certainly also be in the likeness of his resurrection.”

Easter is our rebirthday!  Jesus lives forever and so will we!  Just like Jesus, we will be raised from the dead, never to die again.  So, let’s celebrate Easter like it’s a million birthdays.  It’s the least we can do.  After all, eternity is a lot longer than that.  Happy rebirthday everyone!