The 8th Day

From Chris Guillebeau here.


Today is New Year's Day. It just occurred to me that New Year's Day is also the 8th Day of Christmas.

On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.

-- Luke 2:21 (NIV)

It is the day of Jesus' circumcision, though I wonder if anyone in the world actually celebrates this!

But truly, this verse speaks to me in a way it never had until a few minutes ago. He was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. It is a verse that confirms the angel's prophecy, and a verse that testifies to Mary's faithfulness; "I am the Lord's servant. Be it unto me as you have spoken."

We recall that, when it was time to name John the Baptist, Jesus' cousin, something dramatic happened;

On the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to name him after his father Zechariah, but his mother spoke up and said, "No! He is to be called John."

They said to her, "There is no one among your relatives who has that name."

Then they made signs to his father, to find out what he would like to name the child. He asked for a writing tablet, and to everyone's astonishment he wrote, "His name is John." Immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue was loosed, and he began to speak, praising God. The neighbours were all filled with awe, and throughout the hill country of Judea people were talking about all these things. Everyone who heard this wondered about it, asking, "What then is this child going to be?" For the Lord's hand was with him.

-- Luke 1:59-66 (NIV)


And so the 8th Day is a day to remember God's faithfulness, to remember God's awesome power, to remember that in Him the impossible can happen.

If not for the grace of God, that photograph at the beginning of this entry would be nothing more than a page out of a self-help book; then again, given the nature of self-help books, it may even constitute an entire volume!

I can imagine that many people would have told Jesus he couldn't, and many who say he can't today. And I can imagine that he must have at least thought those words, if not said them aloud; "Watch me!"

And I believe those words ring true today as they did 2000 years ago.


So here's to all of you, to all of us; for all those times we think we can't. By the grace of God we can, and we will.

Praise Him.