I like to watch the TV show AFV: America’s Funniest Home Videos. It’s dumb, I know, but I get a kick out seeing the funny things that happen in the lives of other people. One recurring theme is a couple trying to announce their pregnancy in a clever and unique way. Some people put a bread roll in their kitchen oven and record their mother trying to figure out why it’s there. Eventually, usually with many hints, the “bun in the oven” connection is made followed by exuberant celebration on the part of the grandmother-to-be.

There are many ways to announce an impending birth, and it’s almost always followed by rejoicing. But the joy is typically limited to close friends and family. I am amused seeing the joy on the faces of the celebrants, but I don’t really celebrate these strangers’ pregnancy. Babies are born every day. Unless I know the mother or father, it doesn’t really affect my life.

There is one dazzling exception.

“Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people…’” (Luke‬ ‭2‬:‭9‬-‭10‬, ‭CSB‬‬)

When Jesus was born, it was “good news of great joy…for all the people.” Not just for the parents. Not just for those shepherds hearing the message from the angel. Not just for the other people in Bethlehem in 1 A.D. Not even just for the people alive on earth during Jesus’s lifetime. Jesus’s birth is good news of great joy for all people living, dead, and not yet born. It’s great news for me and great news for you.

Why? Why should I care about the birth of some baby born to strangers in a faraway land two millennia ago?

Because that baby solved my biggest problem. He solved death. I don’t have to be afraid of death anymore. “Fear not!” the angel said. Indeed.

Dear God, thank you so much for making sure I got this message, the good news of great joy. Thank you for sending Jesus to save me. Teach me how to properly celebrate this birth. It matters more than any other birth announcement that ever was.