HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO JESUS

CELEBRATING THE BIRTH DAY????

Well, Jesus himself never celebrated His birthday, neither did his parents.  During the incident of Herod ordering to kill all children below two years – Joseph was visited by the angel of God and ordered to flee to Egypt. After the death of King Herod Joseph was visited by the angel of God once again and asked to go back to Judea but as Joseph feared for the safety of his family the angel of God permitted him to move in to the province of Galilee – a city of Nazareth, where he lived till the age of thirty.

When Jesus was twelve years old, He visited the Temple at Jerusalem with His parents as an annual custom. After that till age of thirty when He came down to the banks of River Jordan to be baptized by John the Baptist – the Bible is silent about the details of His life. However it is understood that He remained subjected to His parents and shouldered all the responsibilities of the household as the eldest son; because Joseph had died in the mean time.

After baptism, Holy Spirit descended upon Jesus and led Him into the wilderness, where He fasted forty days and nights.  The tempter tempted Him there but He overcame him by the word of God and came up victoriously. After that He began the public ministry. During the ministry He never exalted Himself nor coveted any name or fame for Himself. He always exalted the Father who has sent Him. He lived a simple busy life doing the will of the Father. He chose twelve disciples and called them apostles, who were always with Him. There were seventy other disciples also who carried the gospel of Jesus. Not even once did they celebrate His birthday ever. Neither did they cut a birthday cake or kindled a Christmas candle.

During the three and half years of ministry, Jesus taught the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven to the disciples. He taught publicly in the seashores, in the synagogues, in the houses and in the temple. Many things He taught to the disciples in privately also. But never did mention anything about the celebration of the birthday. Rather at the last night when He was dinning with His disciples, He told them to celebrate “Lord’s supper” of breaking of bread and wine to remember His death till His coming. The Lord’s Supper or the breaking of bread was the only celebration instituted by the Lord Himself and later observed by His disciples after the ascension of the Lord.

After crucifixion, burial and resurrection – Jesus was with the disciples for forty days. During those days He taught many things to them about the Holy Spirit but not a single thing about the festivals. On the fortieth day He ascended in to Heaven.

Disciples waited for the promise of the Father on the upper room and on the fiftieth day or on the day of Pentecost, Holy Spirit descended upon them. They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and endued with the power from on high. Apostle Peter stood along with the other eleven Disciples and preached the first ever sermon of the New Testament Church. Church came into existence, as the gospel of the resurrected Jesus was preached and believed by many. Many miracles took place and daily many souls were added unto the church. A great revival broke out in the Jews capital Jerusalem and the age old Jewish religion was in jeopardy. The Jewish religious leaders felt threatened and began to breath fire against the Apostles and the newly born Church. The Jewish Sanhedrin passed orders to persecute the new believers of the Church. The believers and the Church was a completely new concept for people and many were not able to accept this.

A great persecution followed after the stoning of Stephen at Jerusalem and quickly spread throughout the Roman Empire. Believers and Apostles were scattered through out due to this persecution. Both Jewish leadership and Roman government officials became enemies of Gospel and the Church. During those days Saul of Tarsus became the champion persecutor. Later Lord Jesus met him on the way to Damascus and changed him into Saint Paul. But the persecution which had started never ceased. It began to grow day by day. Apostles and believers of Christ became martyrs for Gospel.  People were not free to confess or profess their faith on Jesus openly. Jews and Romans both hated the believers of Jesus and many apostles and believers became the martyrs for gospel. Roman people hated Christians and tried to wipe out them from the face of the earth.

Believers were less in number and they had to pay the price for their faith in Jesus. Many were cast before the hungry Lions, many burnt alive, some cut asunder, killed by gladiators, strangled to death, stoned, crucified and dragged by horses etc. and in many more cruel way they were killed.

They loved the Lord more than their lives. By giving out their lives they preserved their souls for eternal life. Real Christians never knew such religious celebrations; theirs was only celebration called “Lord’s supper” which was the remembrance of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ. By remembering the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ they were strengthened to face the persecution.

It was not until 313 A. D. when the Roman Emperor Constantine declared the “Edict of Tolerance” for the Christians, from then the persecution for Christians came down drastically. People were given freedom to profess and live their faith. In fact, after the “Edict of Tolerance” by the Emperor Constantine, Christianity became the national religion of the Roman Empire.  Church played a great role in the politics. Church began to lose the chastity of faith and doctrine of Christ. Many pagan rituals sniped into the Church. The Church later named as “Roman Catholic”.   ‘Catholic’ means   ‘Universal’ and it began from Rome so it became Roman Catholic. Church leaders were given great importance in the politics. They were called Papas or POPE, meaning “Father”.

Pope became the supreme leader of the Church whom they claimed as the representative of Christ on earth.

Earlier the Romans were pagans and worshippers of many gods and goddesses. They were worshiping Sun, Moon and many planets like Saturn as gods. Their worshipping place was called Ziggurats. Once they were converted into Catholicism, their ziggurats were turned into Cathedrals. They brought in the pagan idols into the so called Church. Their pagan rituals became Christian rituals which has nothing to do with Christ or Bible.

                                                .....................TO BE CONTINUED...............