"On the eighth day after his birthday Jesus was circumcised and named, in keeping with Jewish law. So the church marks this octave day, previously called the Feast of the Circumcision and also, in the Roman church, the Feast of Mary. It reminds us of the Jewishness of Jesus. But also on this day we celebrate with the wider culture the beginning of a new calendar year. (Julius Caesar in A.D. 46 first designated January 1 as the start of the new year.) It is fitting that we begin a new secular year by meditating on the names given to the Christ child: Jesus (the Lord saves) and Immanuel (God with us)...The Word who spoke the world into being is assigned a linguistic configuration of sounds and symbols within that world. He is named Jesus, as the angel had instructed. The Word becomes flesh. The divine takes on the human. The ineffable is named. This is the mystery of the incarnation. Yet the marvel goes even deeper. "He was made man that we might become god," wrote St. Athanasius in the fourth century. A great exchange! He becomes like us that we might become like him. In these remaining days of Christmastide we contemplate this deep mystery.
"Jesus, you are the Word. You are with God and you are God. You were in the beginning with God and all things came into being through you. In you is life and this life is the light of all people. The darkness cannot overcome your light. At your name, Jesus, I bend my knee this day and confess with my tongue that you are Lord, to the glory of God the Father. O God, send the Spirit of your Son into my heart so that I may cry, "Abba! Father!" Amen.
Read Luke 2:21-40 and John 1:1-18.
What do you admire about Anna and Simeon?
Grace + truth. What do these look like in your life? How do you experience grace + truth in your relationship with Jesus?
Taken from Living the Christian Year by Bobby Gross. Can be purchased at InterVarsity Press.
No comments:
Post a Comment