So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. [John 1:14 (NLT)]
If we were living in England or any of its colonies between 1155 and 1752, today would be New Year’s Eve. Back then, the British Isles used the Julian calendar. Named after Julius Caesar, the calendar year originally began January 1. After the fall of the Roman Empire, however, the new year’s onset gradually changed to the first day of spring. While starting a new year in the dead of winter seemed counter-intuitive, beginning it on March 25, the date of both the spring equinox and the Christian Feast of the Annunciation of Christ’s Birth, seemed a more logical way to start the year.
The Julian calendar, however, miscalculated the adjustments needed for leap years as well as the date of the spring equinox. Wanting Christians to celebrate Easter on the correct date, Pope Gregory instituted a new liturgical calendar with a better way of calculating leap years in 1582. Called the Gregorian calendar, January 1 was set as the beginning of the year. While March 25 no longer marked the equinox, it remained the date of the Annunciation. Although much of Roman Catholic Europe adopted Gregory’s calendar, Protestant England resisted and continued to follow the Julian calendar until finally adopting the Gregorian one in 1752.
While no longer New Year’s Day, for those in liturgical churches, tomorrow (March 25) is known as the Annunciation of our Lord. Commemorating the angel Gabriel’s visit to the Virgin Mary, it is a celebration as much Protestant as it is Roman Catholic. The Annunciation was celebrated as far back as the fourth or fifth century and its March date was set in the seventh.
Let’s not forget that the story of Jesus didn’t begin in Bethlehem; it began in Nazareth nine months prior to that night. It was when Mary became pregnant that God became incarnate—a human being made of flesh and blood. Granted, He was only two cells fused together at first. Nevertheless, that zygote had everything in it to become the man Jesus. It divided again and again, the embryo grew, the cells began to differentiate, and the fetus developed everything needed to live outside His mother. Since sin-filled man was incapable of going to God, on that day, our perfect God came to us. Fully God and fully man—that baby boy forming in Mary’s womb was the promised Messiah and savior of mankind!
While Jesus’ incarnation is the core of our Christianity, it is difficult to understand and, for some people, impossible to believe. Nevertheless, the God who spoke the world into creation, created night and day, scattered the stars through the sky, filled the oceans with water, and populated the earth with living plants and animals could certainly manage to plant a fetus in a womb without going through the ordinary steps. When Mary assented to God’s will, Jesus was conceived through the power of the Holy Spirit!
Of course, since we really don’t know when Jesus’ birth took place, we don’t know the date of His conception. Nevertheless, having grown up in a liturgical church, I find a richness and strength in remembering and celebrating events in the life of Christ (even if the dates are wrong). Luke’s gospel account of Gabriel’s visit to Mary seems more appropriate in this spring season of new beginnings and fresh starts than in winter, a time of dormancy. On what I hope to be a beautiful spring day for you, please take the time to read the account of this blessed miracle found in Luke 1:28-36. Remember to thank God for His entry into the world as a man so that He could save humanity.
Jesus Christ became Incarnate for one purpose, to make a way back to God that man might stand before Him as He was created to do, the friend and lover of God Himself. [Oswald Chambers]
The next morning, while Jesus and the disciples walked from Bethany to Jerusalem for yet another confrontation with Judea’s religious leaders, the disciples saw the tree Jesus cursed the previous day. The disciples had witnessed Jesus cast out demons and still a storm with a just a word but, when they saw the withered and dead fig tree, they were amazed. Normally, trees die slowly from the top down but this tree instantly withered from the roots up. With dead roots, no amount of water or fertilizer would revive it. Having witnessed the tree go from abundance to ruin with just a word from the Lord, rather than asking Jesus to explain cursing the tree, the disciples focused on the speed with which the fig died.
Mark tells of a time when a hungry Jesus cursed a fig tree and caused it to wither and die simply because it had no figs. As the only destructive miracle done by the Lord, His action is difficult to understand, especially since we’re told “it was too early in the season for fruit.” The same power that brought Lazarus back to life and turned water into wine easily could have given the tree ripe figs, so why did Jesus kill the fruitless tree?
Jesus offered fishing advice to the disciples twice after they’d spent a night of fishing with absolutely nothing to show for it and, twice, after doing as He directed, they ended up with a miraculous catch of fish. The first time, their catch was so heavy that their nets began to tear and the two boats hauling it in nearly sunk from the weight! The second time, unable to pull the net into their boat, the men had to get out and drag it into shore!
After using Peter’s boat as a preaching platform, Jesus told him to take the boat out to deeper water and let down his nets. Fishing was a way of life in Galilee and Peter, Andrew, James, and John probably started fishing with their fathers when they were just youngsters. Can you imagine their reaction to this inexperienced carpenter’s son from Nazareth telling them how to fish? Didn’t the rabbi know that net fishing was done at night when the fish were more active and less likely to see the linen nets? Having fished all night, the men were tired. By that time, they’d cleaned their nets and hung them to dry; they were ready to go home, eat, and get some sleep. Experience told them that if they’d caught nothing that night, they certainly weren’t going to catch anything in the light of day! Nevertheless, even though Peter balked at Jesus’ unusual command, he and his partners reloaded their gear, took out their boats, and let down their nets.
I began my prayer with, “Lord, you’ve got to…” but got no further. “God doesn’t ‘got to’ do anything!” said a still small voice and the Spirit’s point was well taken. By beginning with an impertinent demand like a selfish petulant child in a toy store, I showed chutzpah of the worst kind and began again.
Devotions of the Heart 