Born to Die

Linkin Park scored MTV’s Best Rock Video in 2003 for Somewhere I Belong: “When this began/ I had nothing to say/ And I’d get lost in the nothingness inside of me/ I was confused/ And I let it all out to find that I’m/ Not the only person with these things in mind/ Inside of me . . . I want to find something I’ve wanted all along/ Somewhere I belong.”
This song expresses the cry of the human heart for acceptance. We each want to be loved, valued and to belong. Christmas is a time of family, of sharing, of belonging, but, sadly, for the many who don’t “belong”—part of the fragmented society in which we live—it’s the loneliest time of the year.
Christmas is the time when we remember the baby Jesus. He, while on earth, had no place where He belonged—born in obscurity, rejected by His own people, deserted in time of need, then executed as a common criminal—yet He was not a lost, confused or empty individual. He came with a purpose.

the arrival of the Saviour
1 What did an angel tell Joseph about Mary’s child?
Matthew 1:21-23 “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins. . . . ‘The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel’—which means, ‘God with us.’”

the life of the Saviour
2 When a Jewish scholar said that he would follow Jesus, what did Jesus say about where He Himself belonged on earth?
Matthew 8:20 “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.”

3 Jesus went about healing people of diseases and forgiving their sins, but what was the attitude of the religious leaders toward Him for this?
Matthew 12:14 “The Pharisees went out and plotted how they might kill Jesus.”
As Jesus’ popularity increased, they wanted to arrest Jesus—but away from the crowds who flocked to hear and be healed by Him. For 30 pieces of silver Judas, one of Jesus’ disciples, betrayed Jesus while He was alone with His disciples (see Mark 14:1-11; 43-50).

4 How did Jesus’ close friends respond when he was arrested?
Matthew 26:56 “Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.”

5 After Jesus’ arrest, how did Peter, one of Jesus’ closest friends, react when accused of being one of His followers?
Matthew 26:69-75 “He began to call down curses on himself and he swore to them, ‘I don’t know the man!’” (v 74).

6 What did Jesus say would happen to Him?
Matthew 17:22, 23 “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and on the third day he will be raised to life.”

the mission of the Saviour
7 For what reason did Jesus say He came to our world?
John 12:23-33 “‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. . . . Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. . . .
“Now is the time for judgment on this world; now the prince of this world [Satan] will be driven out. But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself.’ He said this to show the kind of death he was going to die.”
After being flogged, Jesus was nailed to a cross and left to die. The Roman whip consisted of several strands of leather tipped with bone or lead. Many died during flogging.

8 Why did Jesus die?
Romans 5:6-8 “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

the desire of the Saviour
9 What do we receive through the death of Jesus?
Ephesians 1:7 “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace.”

10 What do we become when we believe and accept Jesus as Saviour—of what place do we become “citizens”?
John 1:12; Philippians 3:20 “Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” “But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.”

Paul says those who accept Jesus “are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow-citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household” (Ephesians 2:19). To anyone, as expressed by Linkin Park, who feel “lost in the nothingness inside,” confused and despairing, Jesus offers somewhere—someone—where you can belong.

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