Several years ago there was a newspaper advertisement by the Institute of Life Insurance which read, “Five most memorable days in a man’s life.”  The point of that was to convince people that insurance helps to underwrite and secure such days.  According to the ad, the five most memorable days are: the day a man is married; the day he becomes a father; the day he buys his first home; the day he gets the job of his choice; and the day he can afford to retire.

Today is a good day to ask yourself,  “What have been most memorable days in my life?”  As I reflected upon that advertisement, it occurred to me that Jesus never experienced any one of those days.  He never married.  He never became a father.  He never had the thrill of moving into His new home.  While He did with His life as He chose to do, He was certainly not a business or a professional success.  He never knew the joy of retirement since He died at 33.  What a striking paradox -- the Man who lived the most memorable life somehow failed to experience a single one of the days our society considers to be the most memorable.[1]

Does that say to you what it says to me?  I really need to look at what gives me meaning.

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1. Rodney E. Wilmoth, St. Paul United Methodist Church of Omaha, January 8, 1989.