Every person knows that someday he will die. Death is a unique phenomenon: it is completely obvious and completely closed to those who have not yet experienced it. God speaks with a person, and that person remains alive. On the basis of this Gospel passage, one can say that a person who speaks with God, not somehow but face to face, receives both life and death: life full of His presence, the light of revelation for all, and death as the fulfillment of the promise, as the possibility of a full and final encounter.

In the story of the birth of Jesus Christ in the manger, with the cave, the shepherds, and the angels, there is nothing sentimental or sweetly touching. But there is much that is majestic and solemn. We should not be embarrassed by the modest setting of a village stable and the poverty of the guests: this is a true messianic feast.

Everything here points to Jesus’ distant ancestor and the most famous anointed king, that is, in Greek, Christ, David: his native city Bethlehem, the occupation of the shepherds, for David himself was a shepherd for his father, and the striking parallels with the One who will also be Shepherd for His Father. He too is born to be King, Anointed One, Christ; He too, as the “least of the brothers,” will by a miracle, by God’s power, defeat the Enemy and “remove disgrace from Israel” (compare 1 Sam. 17 or Ps. 151). The evangelist, knowing the whole subsequent story, was able to discern glory in the ordinary and poor life of a family overtaken by childbirth at night in a stable. We too know this story, but do we know how to truly see?

What does it mean to 'dedicate oneself to God,' and why is it needed? Judging by the description of the Nazirite vow in today's chapter, for the ancient Israelites it meant promising God not to defile oneself and to refrain from sin for a certain period of time, aided by abstaining from wine, although of course the symbolism of wine here is much deeper; let us also not forget the uncut hair - see the story of the Nazirite Samson in Judges. In other words, such a vow is a time of the greatest possible holiness for a person, whose source and goal is likeness to God.

We can see this goal not only in descriptions of the lives of people such as the prophet Samuel and John the Baptist, who were also Nazirites, but also in the evangelist's words about the Last Supper, when the Lord solemnly pronounces a vow: 'From now on I will not drink of this fruit of the vine until the day when I drink new wine with you in My Father's Kingdom' (Matt 26:29), dedicating Himself for all who will be called to sanctification by the truth (John 17:19).