Born to Die

Hospitals all over the world are full of doctors and nurses working to help babies live, and parents who are hoping and praying that their babies take just one more breath. Infants are born sick, too early, full of disease and/or injury, multiple medical problems, and with low chances of survival in too many cases. While healthy babies are born every day, every minute even, many babies are not healthy. These infants, with their sweet little feet and soft fuzzy heads and dimples on their hands, are balancing between life and death. They are at risk of not only failure to thrive, but failure to live.

Medical professionals work endlessly to help these babies survive, because these children were born to live. Born to have full lives, with friends and family and futures. Born to be a younger brother, to be a first grandchild, to take piano lessons, to love to play basketball, to excel in school, to be funny and clever, to find love, and to have babies of their own. Their parents have plans and hopes for these new little lives - plans that include living and enjoying life. These babies, even those so sick they won't get to, were born to live.

Now, look back to 2000+ years ago, to another baby and another set of parents. This baby was born healthy. Ten fingers, ten toes, a lusty cry and no trouble feeding (I hope!). His parents must have had high hopes for his life, similar to those of parents today: love, laughter, and life. 

However, this baby was not born to live. As healthy as he was, as ready to live as he was, this baby was born to die.

A child and a king, full of hope and promise and fulfillment of promise. And while so many other babies are born to live but have to fight to do so, Jesus was born healthy but born to die. A perfect child, the kind any parent would wish for, the kind so many parents yearn to have, was sacrificed so that we could live. As parents fill the hospitals and pray their child's heart will beat just one more time, Jesus' Father willingly sent his healthy, whole, perfect son to Earth to die. To die for us so that we can live.

A baby changes everything.