Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 3:23-29; St Luke 2:21
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Dear children of our heavenly Father, graciously adopted as co-heirs with Christ, this is a festival day, not because the Nativity of our Lord was observed only a week ago, or because a new civil year begins, but because the Holy Child was circumcised on the eighth day and given the name of names. These are the two aspects of this feast - the purpose, meaning and fulfillment of circumcision, and the reception of the name, Jesus - upon which we ought to preach on this day.
First, circumcision, as you know, was the physical sign God gave to His people to make the covenant He made to be Abraham’s God. Circumcision, or περιτομη, literally means to “cut around.” It is etymologically related to the Old Testament term for “cutting” a covenant. Traditionally a covenant is a promise made between two parties. Such as for employment, for mortgages, even for marriage. But theologically, God “cuts” a covenant with Abraham which is one-sided, that is, God swears by Himself as Abraham is completely passive in the arrangement.
God said to Abram, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But Abram said, “O LORD God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought Him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over agains the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land” (Gen 15:7-10, 18). The Lord passes through the animals alone. Abraham sleeps. This serves as a reminder that God is faithful to keep His promises and bring about salvation without the help or strivings of man.
As a mark of the covenant God required that all men, at eight days old have their foreskins removed. Admittedly this appears to be an odd way to mark His covenant, but then, it is true, the Lord’s ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts. He seals His covenant with Abraham by male circumcision. He redeems His Church by the bloody death of His Son. The Gospel in all its articles is at odds with the wisdom of the world.
But consider this: the mark of circumcision was permanent. It could not be undone. In the same way the Lord God could not revoke His promise of salvation. Further, it is a covenant and promise regarding the Seed of Abraham. Its usually translated offspring, but the word is σπερμα, seed. This, then, is a logical spot. Right? The males of Israel bore on their bodies a constant reminder of the promised Seed, the Savior, the Blessed One, not only of Abraham, but, as it stands written, the sperma of the woman who will crush the skull of the Accuser of God’s people.
Circumcision also required the shedding of blood; a foreshadowing of the blood of the Son of Man, the Seed of Abraham, which would be shed upon the Cross, as this Son is fully cut-off from His Father to finally fulfill the covenant and bring about the promised salvation.
It is no coincidence, either, that circumcision was to take place on the eighth day, for the Lord God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them in six days and rested on the seventh from all the work He had done. The eighth day, then, which Luther believed was the day of the fall into sin, marked the first day of the new week, and the day of eternal condemnation on account of one man’s disobedience. But, on account of the obedience of one Man, Jesus Christ, who finished His work of salvation on the sixth day, rested on the seventh, and was raised to new life again on the eighth day, He undoes the curse of the Fall and reconciles man to God once more. The eighth day has become the everlasting day, the day of new life.
For this reason the ancient Church, and most historic churches today, including our own congregation, use an eight sided baptismal font. This represents both the eighth day upon which circumcision took place and the fact that in the flood, Noah and his family, eight souls in all, were rescued through water by the ark. St Paul makes the connection between baptism and circumcision when he writes, In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead (Col 2:11-12).
All of this is brought to bear upon this brief scene recorded only by the Evangelist St Luke. This one verse is filled with pages of Old Testament meaning and significance. For here, in Bethlehem, the Christ Child first submits Himself to the perfect will of His Father. As you heard Sunday, When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law. Here the God of Abraham shed His blood for the first time. But a few drops, but a portend of a greater bloodshed yet to come. Foreshadowing the blood running from His brow in the garden, the blood streaming down His face from the cruel crown of thorns, the blood pouring out His back from the scourging, and finally, the blood which stains the wood of the Cross in His noble death.
This is why He came: to spill His blood. And His circumcision portrays as much. It displays His active and passive obedience to the will of the Father to submit Himself to the punishments of the Law to redeem us who were held captive under the Law.
But there is more. For the second part of this great feast is the Name given to the Child. He was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. During the annunciation the angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary that this Child, miraculously conceived in her, would be named Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.
Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, Yeshua, which means, “The Lord saves,” or “YHWH is salvation.” This name tells us what this Child will do: He will be the Savior of all the nations. He is the Seed of Abraham and Abraham’s God, who enacts this one-sided covenant with His people to take their place under the Law. Already on the eighth day of Jesus’ life His destiny of atonement is revealed in His circumcision and name.
And what is this name? It is the Name above all names. The name Jesus. The name by which you know God and He reveals Himself to you in His fullness, majesty, and mercy. The Old Testament reading for this Feast already hints at the its fulfillment in the New; the triple Lord, which is really the divine Name, YHWH, corresponds to the Triune Name of God given by the Son at the end of St Matthew’s Gospel. And St Paul already made the connection between circumcision and baptism for us!
In Holy Baptism, you, dear people loved by God, not only share the death and resurrection of Jesus and share in the circumcision of your flesh and your hearts, in which you daily live by the mortifying of the Old Adam, the daily cutting that old man off and drowning him anew, you are also named with the Name above all names! In baptism you are clothed with Christ, you have put Him on, you are dressed up in the righteousness of your Brother in the flesh. That’s why St Paul remarks to the Galatians that through Baptism there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female. Circumcision was only for Jewish boys, but baptism is for everyone! What a great and glorious and excellent thing Baptism is which delivers us from the jaws of the devil and makes us God’s own, suppresses and takes away sin, and then daily strengthens the new man.
So, dear Christians, as we stand on the threshold of another calendar year should we stand all day long at the grave of joys gone by? For through Holy Baptism a great stream of joy has been conducted in your heart, which does not drain away, but streams forward with life until its waves carry you into the sea of blessed eternity. You may not know what this year holds, but you know what the final future holds: JESUS.
Should you be reminded this passing year that the flowers of your youth fall more and more. Then take heart and know that you stand planted by God in the water of your Baptism as a palm tree which becomes greener and greener and whose leaves never wither. Yes, your Baptism makes death like a short winter’s nap, out of which an eternal spring - an eternal youth - follows.
You, dear ones, who have and hold God’s Word in faith, let your watchword for entering the new year be this: “I am baptized! I have been joined to Christ’s death and resurrection. His Name is upon me and His circumcision under the Law avails for me!”
Although the world may laugh at this comfort and the enthusiasts be vexed at your confidence, nevertheless, abandon any other dearly held pledges and speak only the throughout the entire year to come, in all terrors of conscience and necessity, through sin and death: “I am baptized! I am baptized!” And you shall prevail. In every time of need, you will find comfort in your Baptism. On account of it Satan will flee from your faith and confession, terrified at your Jesus, and in death you will see heaven opened and will finally come into the joy of your Lord to celebrate the great year of jubilee, a never ending year of praise, all eternity with the angels forever and ever. Into this new year and always: JESUS.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Dear children of our heavenly Father, graciously adopted as co-heirs with Christ, this is a festival day, not because the Nativity of our Lord was observed only a week ago, or because a new civil year begins, but because the Holy Child was circumcised on the eighth day and given the name of names. These are the two aspects of this feast - the purpose, meaning and fulfillment of circumcision, and the reception of the name, Jesus - upon which we ought to preach on this day.
First, circumcision, as you know, was the physical sign God gave to His people to make the covenant He made to be Abraham’s God. Circumcision, or περιτομη, literally means to “cut around.” It is etymologically related to the Old Testament term for “cutting” a covenant. Traditionally a covenant is a promise made between two parties. Such as for employment, for mortgages, even for marriage. But theologically, God “cuts” a covenant with Abraham which is one-sided, that is, God swears by Himself as Abraham is completely passive in the arrangement.
God said to Abram, “I am the LORD who brought you out from Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to possess.” But Abram said, “O LORD God, how am I to know that I shall possess it?” He said to him, “Bring me a heifer three years old, a female goat three years old, a ram three years old, a turtledove, and a young pigeon.” And he brought Him all these, cut them in half, and laid each half over agains the other. But he did not cut the birds in half.
When the sun had gone down and it was dark, behold, a smoking fire pot and a flaming torch passed between these pieces. On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your offspring I give this land” (Gen 15:7-10, 18). The Lord passes through the animals alone. Abraham sleeps. This serves as a reminder that God is faithful to keep His promises and bring about salvation without the help or strivings of man.
As a mark of the covenant God required that all men, at eight days old have their foreskins removed. Admittedly this appears to be an odd way to mark His covenant, but then, it is true, the Lord’s ways are not our ways, nor His thoughts our thoughts. He seals His covenant with Abraham by male circumcision. He redeems His Church by the bloody death of His Son. The Gospel in all its articles is at odds with the wisdom of the world.
But consider this: the mark of circumcision was permanent. It could not be undone. In the same way the Lord God could not revoke His promise of salvation. Further, it is a covenant and promise regarding the Seed of Abraham. Its usually translated offspring, but the word is σπερμα, seed. This, then, is a logical spot. Right? The males of Israel bore on their bodies a constant reminder of the promised Seed, the Savior, the Blessed One, not only of Abraham, but, as it stands written, the sperma of the woman who will crush the skull of the Accuser of God’s people.
Circumcision also required the shedding of blood; a foreshadowing of the blood of the Son of Man, the Seed of Abraham, which would be shed upon the Cross, as this Son is fully cut-off from His Father to finally fulfill the covenant and bring about the promised salvation.
It is no coincidence, either, that circumcision was to take place on the eighth day, for the Lord God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them in six days and rested on the seventh from all the work He had done. The eighth day, then, which Luther believed was the day of the fall into sin, marked the first day of the new week, and the day of eternal condemnation on account of one man’s disobedience. But, on account of the obedience of one Man, Jesus Christ, who finished His work of salvation on the sixth day, rested on the seventh, and was raised to new life again on the eighth day, He undoes the curse of the Fall and reconciles man to God once more. The eighth day has become the everlasting day, the day of new life.
For this reason the ancient Church, and most historic churches today, including our own congregation, use an eight sided baptismal font. This represents both the eighth day upon which circumcision took place and the fact that in the flood, Noah and his family, eight souls in all, were rescued through water by the ark. St Paul makes the connection between baptism and circumcision when he writes, In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised Him from the dead (Col 2:11-12).
All of this is brought to bear upon this brief scene recorded only by the Evangelist St Luke. This one verse is filled with pages of Old Testament meaning and significance. For here, in Bethlehem, the Christ Child first submits Himself to the perfect will of His Father. As you heard Sunday, When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law. Here the God of Abraham shed His blood for the first time. But a few drops, but a portend of a greater bloodshed yet to come. Foreshadowing the blood running from His brow in the garden, the blood streaming down His face from the cruel crown of thorns, the blood pouring out His back from the scourging, and finally, the blood which stains the wood of the Cross in His noble death.
This is why He came: to spill His blood. And His circumcision portrays as much. It displays His active and passive obedience to the will of the Father to submit Himself to the punishments of the Law to redeem us who were held captive under the Law.
But there is more. For the second part of this great feast is the Name given to the Child. He was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. During the annunciation the angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary that this Child, miraculously conceived in her, would be named Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.
Jesus is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Joshua, Yeshua, which means, “The Lord saves,” or “YHWH is salvation.” This name tells us what this Child will do: He will be the Savior of all the nations. He is the Seed of Abraham and Abraham’s God, who enacts this one-sided covenant with His people to take their place under the Law. Already on the eighth day of Jesus’ life His destiny of atonement is revealed in His circumcision and name.
And what is this name? It is the Name above all names. The name Jesus. The name by which you know God and He reveals Himself to you in His fullness, majesty, and mercy. The Old Testament reading for this Feast already hints at the its fulfillment in the New; the triple Lord, which is really the divine Name, YHWH, corresponds to the Triune Name of God given by the Son at the end of St Matthew’s Gospel. And St Paul already made the connection between circumcision and baptism for us!
In Holy Baptism, you, dear people loved by God, not only share the death and resurrection of Jesus and share in the circumcision of your flesh and your hearts, in which you daily live by the mortifying of the Old Adam, the daily cutting that old man off and drowning him anew, you are also named with the Name above all names! In baptism you are clothed with Christ, you have put Him on, you are dressed up in the righteousness of your Brother in the flesh. That’s why St Paul remarks to the Galatians that through Baptism there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female. Circumcision was only for Jewish boys, but baptism is for everyone! What a great and glorious and excellent thing Baptism is which delivers us from the jaws of the devil and makes us God’s own, suppresses and takes away sin, and then daily strengthens the new man.
So, dear Christians, as we stand on the threshold of another calendar year should we stand all day long at the grave of joys gone by? For through Holy Baptism a great stream of joy has been conducted in your heart, which does not drain away, but streams forward with life until its waves carry you into the sea of blessed eternity. You may not know what this year holds, but you know what the final future holds: JESUS.
Should you be reminded this passing year that the flowers of your youth fall more and more. Then take heart and know that you stand planted by God in the water of your Baptism as a palm tree which becomes greener and greener and whose leaves never wither. Yes, your Baptism makes death like a short winter’s nap, out of which an eternal spring - an eternal youth - follows.
You, dear ones, who have and hold God’s Word in faith, let your watchword for entering the new year be this: “I am baptized! I have been joined to Christ’s death and resurrection. His Name is upon me and His circumcision under the Law avails for me!”
Although the world may laugh at this comfort and the enthusiasts be vexed at your confidence, nevertheless, abandon any other dearly held pledges and speak only the throughout the entire year to come, in all terrors of conscience and necessity, through sin and death: “I am baptized! I am baptized!” And you shall prevail. In every time of need, you will find comfort in your Baptism. On account of it Satan will flee from your faith and confession, terrified at your Jesus, and in death you will see heaven opened and will finally come into the joy of your Lord to celebrate the great year of jubilee, a never ending year of praise, all eternity with the angels forever and ever. Into this new year and always: JESUS.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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