The Circumcision and Naming of Jesus – New Year’s Day 2006

Texts: Luke 2:21; Numbers 6:22-27; Romans 1:1-7

Jesus: The Name That Blesses

Today is the day we celebrate the naming of Christ. He was named “Jesus” or “Yeshua” as it is in Hebrew which means “the Lord saves.” Recently I overheard in the news that a court in the US has allowed a man to change his name to “Jesus Christ.” Even in Jesus’ day there were many boys who were called “Jesus,” and it is also a popular name in Spanish. But what makes our Lord Jesus unique is that He alone is what that name expresses: The Lord who saves. The others can at most express a trust in the Lord to save. Jesus alone is the Lord who is able to save mankind from God’s wrath by making His life a sacrifice for sins.

On this day Jesus was named we recall our own Baptisms when we were given the name “Jesus” as well. In Baptism we were clothed with Christ (Galatians 3:27). Now when God looks at us he no longer sees us and our sins but His own perfect Son, Jesus our Lord. God gives us Jesus’ name in order to bless us and this is the theme of today’s message: Jesus, the name that blesses.

Let us first turn to our Old Testament reading. Here the Lord speaks to Moses:
Tell Aaron and his sons, “This is how you are to bless the Israelites. Say to them: ‘The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn His face toward you and give you peace.’” So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them. (Num. 6:22-27)

With this benediction we normally conclude our worship services, God gave Israel His name “the LORD” or “Jehovah” and with that name they were blessed. With the coming of the Christ the name of God became more specific. The “LORD” of the Old Testament now reveals Himself as “Jesus,” and we confess “Jesus is LORD.”

Before we move on we need to understand why God wishes to bless us. The false gods of other religions promise to bless their subjects as a reward for some sacrifice or good actions. Not so the true God. Because God created us perfectly in His image and expects us to be perfect as He is, it is impossible for us to ever put God into our debt by “being good.” Rather, we are forever in His debt because everything we have we received from Him, and because of our sin.

In spite of our sins, God still loves us and wants to bless us. This He does freely for all who put their trust in Christ to save them; not because they have deserved it, but solely out of His fatherly goodness and grace for the sake of Christ. Today we witnessed that grace of God being freely poured out on Sen as he was welcomed into God’s family.

On this eighth day of Christmas when Jesus was named, we are also told in our Gospel reading that Jesus was circumcised according to the Jewish custom. This practice involves the cutting off of the foreskin which symbolizes sin and rebellion against God (Colossians 2:13). God gave this custom to Abraham and his descendents because of Abraham’s faithfulness. By circumcision Jewish believers received the forgiveness of sins, justification, and were incorporated into God’s holy people. These benefits accrued to those who received the sign of circumcision through their faith in God’s promise, which is fulfilled in Christ.

While Jesus was without sin and did not need to be circumcised (after all, He is God), He submits to this operation in order to take our place under the Law as our sin-bearer. Next week we jump forward 30 years to the next significant event in Jesus’ life, His Baptism. There, too, He submits Himself to the Law, not for any sins he had committed, but in order to take our sins and carry them to the cross.

Jesus’ circumcision involves the shedding of His blood for the first time. We receive the benefits of His circumcision in Holy Baptism as the Apostle Paul says it beautifully:
For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, and you have been given fullness in Christ, Who is the head over every power and authority. In Him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men [as in the case of the Jewish rite] but with the circumcision done by Christ, having been buried with Him in Baptism and raised with Him through your faith in the power of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your sins and in the un-circumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins… (Colossians 2:9-13)

The other item of importance we should take note of in the narrative of Jesus’ circumcision is the timing: Jesus was eight days old. In Biblical understanding, the “eighth day” symbolizes the end of time and is the beginning of the new age of God’s eternal kingdom. Babies were circumcised on the eighth day as a demonstration that inclusion in Israel included the hope of eternal life in Heaven. It was also on Monday, the “eighth day” that Jesus rose victorious from the dead and received a glorified body.

Commenting on circumcision, Luther makes the following observation:
Circumcision was deferred to the eighth day because in the resurrection, which is signified by the eighth day, we shall be perfectly circumcised [by God], in order that we may be free from every sin of the world.

In an allegorical sense the eighth day signifies the future life; for Christ rested in the tomb on the Sabbath, that is during the entire seventh day, but rose again on the day which follows the Sabbath, which is the eighth day and the beginning of a new week, and after it no other day is counted. For through His death Christ brought to a close the weeks of time and on the eighth day entered into a different kind of life, in which days are no longer counted but there is one eternal day and there is no longer any night (Revelation 21:25).

The eighth day is the eternal day and the beginning of a new life. The beginning of our earthly life is perceived and noted, but there is no end. On the “eighth day” the true circumcision will be carried out. At that time not only the foreskin of the heart will be circumcised—which happens to us who believe in Christ—but the entire body down to its very essence will be cleansed from all depravity, ignorance, lust, sin and filth. (Luther’s Commentary on Genesis 17:10-11)

Consequently our bodies will then become immortal and live forever in true righteousness, holiness and blessedness. Sen, today in your Baptism you received the name of Jesus and with it an awesome gift: The gift of immortality, of eternal life. But it is a gift you cannot unwrap yet. For that you have to wait until you enter the eighth day—the day when Jesus will call your name and bring you into His everlasting kingdom.

The gift of immortality is a great and precious blessing we have received in our Baptisms. But this is not all. With the name of Jesus we also have protection from the Devil and his demons who wish to spoil our joy and lead us to despair and destruction. By His name we receive forgiveness of our sins. By His name we are made spiritually alive, reconciled with God, our heavenly Father, and we receive the gift of the Holy Spirit to be with us forever. In Jesus’ name we receive victory over death and a new resurrection body.

With Jesus’ name we have received more blessings than we can count, more blessings than we can ever be aware of in this life. But there is one more blessing Jesus wants us to have, and it is quite an unusual one. Paul describes is like this in our Epistle reading: “Through [Jesus] and for His name’s sake, we received grace and apostleship to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith.” (Romans 1:5)

Paul mentions two things we received: The first is grace, which is God’s undeserved favour in having called us to be His people through Baptism. This we have already heard about at length. The second thing we received is apostleship. Apostleship means to be a messenger. A messenger of what? A messenger of the Gospel, “to call people from among all the Gentiles (which means “nations” or “peoples”) to the obedience that comes from faith.”

The call we received in Baptism is a call to tell others of the blessings we have received from God. And the wonderful thing with God’s blessings is that we simply cannot run out of them. In fact, the more we share His blessings, the more we are blessed. The reason is that we are not the source of the blessings but God is. As bearers of His name God gives us the privilege of being the channels of His blessings for all the peoples of the world.

Through Jesus’ name we have all been blessed. For His name’s sake we received grace and apostleship. And now may your hearts and minds be kept safe and at peace by the name which the Father has given you, the name at which all knees shall bow, on earth, in heaven, and in hell—the name of Jesus. Amen.