It’s a new year – 2013. We put out new calendars for the next twelve months. Many of us are scratching out “2012” when we write the date and replacing it with “2013” as we try to get used to the new number. Old habits die hard. Last year had some interesting dates in it. 12-12-12, of course, was a special day, the likes of which we will not see for 89 years when 01-01-01 rolls around again in 2101. I wrote 12-12-12 as many times as I could that day. 12-21-12 was fun to write, too. Even for those who don’t enjoy math, there was fun with numbers in 2012. For more fun with numbers we might note that the new year is the first year since 1987 to have four different digits.
One of the things people don’t do so often is write “A.D.” after the date. It has become common in recent years to write “C.E.” to designate the year instead of “A.D.” in an effort to be more inclusive of other religions and cultures. But I still prefer “A.D.” not because it brings back thoughts of Latin class in high school, which I thoroughly enjoyed because of a delightful elderly teacher, or because Pope Benedict XVI is encouraging the use of Latin at the Vatican and throughout the church today, but because the two letters “A.D.” are a subtle witness to the centrality of Jesus Christ to all of human history.
“A.D.” stands for “anno Domini” which is the Latin for “the year of the Lord.” The calendar now in use throughout the world is one that is based on the central event of all of human history which is the coming of Jesus Christ into the world. This calendar was developed based on the belief that Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem in the year 1 (there is no year zero) and that the history of the world hinges on that event. The use of the letters “C.E.” for “common era” is an attempt to soften that assertion by not referencing the Lord directly but it still uses a calendar that numbers the years as either before Christ or after Christ.
Just as the coming of Jesus Christ into the world was the most important event in all of human history, so his coming into our lives is the most important event in our personal biographies. Besides looking back over 2012 in these early days of 2013 we might look back over the whole of our lives. There were undoubtedly many important dates where things changed. For some it was a marriage where the woman changed her last name and, if she was a bit retro, got the title “Mrs.” For others it was a certain job or becoming a parent or meeting someone who became a life long friend. But the coming of Jesus into our lives has to be #1.
For some of us who were baptized as infants and raised in the faith it may be that the sense of change is minimal. For others, such as the Apostle Paul in New Testament times, it is crystal clear. In fact, the change in Paul’s life after his Damascus Road experience was so great that he changed his given name from Saul to Paul. Jesus made all the difference. John Newton (1725-1807) wrote a hymn about his experience of Christ in which he said “Amazing grace! How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now am found; was blind but now I see.” Jesus made all the difference.
At the center of each of their lives was Jesus Christ, the savior of the world. Because of him the world is different and so our calendar is numbered in relation to his coming into the world. And because of him our lives can be different, filled with that “amazing grace” he brings as well as a “peace that passes all understanding” and “a joy that no man takes from you.” (John 1:14, Philippians 4:7 and John 16:22 respectively). In 2013 he is still at the center of everything.
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