The Circumcision and Name of JESUS 2023
January 1, 2023
Luke 2:21
Doubtless you’ve heard the myth—and it is most certainly a myth—that the Christian holy days were borrowed from older pagan festivals. You do find this kind of thing in Latin America, where Roman Catholic missionaries renamed local deities as Mary or one of the saints, so the people continued to worship the same statues but with new names. It’s called christopaganism. But that all happened much later. I’m talking about the origins of Christianity.
Jesus probably was born on December 25, or a day close to it. But today, January 1, was a day the early Christians resisted celebrating. That’s because New Year’s Day was “kept with great riot and licence by the pagans” [OCDD p356]. When you start learning about the practices of the early Christians, you immediately discover they were at great pains to distinguish themselves from the pagans. This is already present in the NT. In Acts 19, there’s a riot in Ephesus because Christians were preaching against pagan worship. Then in 1 Cor. 10 there is a great dispute in Corinth because some people eat meat sacrificed to idols, which is forbidden to Christians.
So far from there being a blending of Christianity with paganism, the disciples of Jesus from the beginning distanced themselves as much as possible from anything that appeared pagan. Did you know the disciples of Jesus were once called atheists? Today that word means “not believing in god,” but the Romans called the Christians atheists because they did not worship the pagan deities. Martyrs were given the opportunity to live if they would say, “Away with the atheists,” which was a renunciation of Christ and His Church. The first Christians drew sharp lines between themselves and the world.
Today is the eighth day of Christmas, the day on which Mary’s Son was circumcised and given the name JESUS. But since it was (and still is) New Year’s Day, Christians were hesitant to observe the day at all because of its association with paganism. And when they did, a second service of the day was appointed, entitled Ad prohibendum ab idolis - loosely, “On the Prohibition against Idolatry.”
The Christian Christmas isn’t pagan. Ancient pagan people definitely saw some symbolism in evergreen things, the stuff that doesn’t die in the winter, but the Christmas tree has its origins in sixteenth-century Germany. Isn’t Lutheranism great?
You know what else is great? Joseph and Mary. First they obeyed God’s Word about their marriage and the birth of Jesus. And today, we see they are obeying the Law perfectly.
The Law that came through Moses required baby boys to be circumcised on the eighth day, that is, one week from birth. From infancy, Jesus is keeping the Law perfectly. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “I did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it.”
We are lawbreakers. That started with our first parents, but we have added to it. We have lived as if God did not matter and as if we ourselves mattered most. Even seemingly good things we do are done out of our self-interest.
Christ’s law-keeping is to redeem us from our law-breaking. St. Paul says in Galatians, “When the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons” [4:4f]. Jesus is obedient for the remission of our disobedience. In Romans Paul puts it this way: “As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous” [5:19]. Through Christ’s obedience we are made righteous.
The account of the circumcision is part of the entire Scriptural narrative that Jesus keeps the whole law to its completion, culminating in His saying, “It is finished.”
The other part of today’s Gospel is the naming of Jesus. Today we give names before the baby leaves the hospital. In Judaism, the name for the boy was given at the circumcision. Usually the parents pick the name. But Gabriel the heavenly emissary told Joseph to name the Child Jesus.
The Name itself is a marvelous little two-word sermon. Jesus means Yahweh saves. We say in English Jesus, but in Hebrew it would sound like this: Yahshua. Yah is short for Yahweh, the sacred name of God. (Some of the children in our church have it in their names: Isaiah; Elijah.) So we have Yah, then shua. Shua is a verb meaning “to save.” Yah-shua, “Yahweh saves.”
To utter the name of Jesus is to call upon Him for rescue, for help: “Yahweh, save me!”
One of the great prayerbooks was written by Johann Gerhard, a seventeenth-century pastor. He starts his meditation on the name of Jesus this way:
O blessed Jesus, be Thou indeed a Jesus to me; for Thy holy name’s sake have compassion upon me! My life condemns me, but the name of Jesus will save me. [Sacred Meditations]
It’s not a magical incantation. To believe in a name is to trust in the person. People put names of politicians in their yards, and chant the names of rappers or football clubs. But these all will fail us. We should adorn every wall with the name of Jesus. He is your salvation.
In today’s Gospel, the Name and the circumcision are joined together. Why don’t we circumcise anymore as a religious ceremony? Circumcision was an outward thing for boys only, but Jesus institutes Baptism as a greater thing for both boys and girls. This is explained in Colossians:
In [Christ] you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses. [2:11-13]
Circumcision joined Jewish boys to the old covenant; Baptism brings boys and girls into union with Christ, the forgiveness of sins, and the hope of the resurrection.
At baptism our own name is spoken, but God’s name is put on us.
And what is more, our name is written in the list of the citizens of the coming kingdom. Jesus says, “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels” [Rev. 3:5].
Your name is written in heaven, and the name of JESUS is written, as it were, on you. A Christian is a person who calls on the Name. Listen to how Paul opens his first letter to the Corinthians: “To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord” [1:2]. Christianity is defined here not by intellectual belief but by corporate prayer.
You bear this name of JESUS, and that means the world will hate you. Do not fear. Jesus says it’s a blessing:
Blessed are you when men hate you,
And when they exclude you,
And revile you, and cast out your name as evil,
For the Son of Man’s sake. [Lk. 6:22]
Calling on the Name is how we worship, but that name also characterizes and is the impulse for everything else we do. God’s Word says, “Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him” [Col. 3:17]. Bearing the name of Jesus means we also flee from everything evil. The Apostle says, “Let everyone who names the name of Christ depart from iniquity” [2 Tim. 2:19].
The things we do in our own name are full of pride and foolishness. Let this new year be an end to all that; let all our undertakings be in the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus you were baptized. In His name you believe. In His name will you die. In His name will you rise again. And in His blessed name you will stand at the judgment.
I mentioned earlier Gerhard’s meditation on the Name of Jesus. I’m going to speak the ending as a prayer; pray it in your heart along with me:
[Lord Jesus,] Those who trust in their own righteousness and holiness seek salvation in themselves, but I, who find in me nothing worthy of eternal life, flee to Thee as my Saviour. Save me, for I am condemned; have mercy upon me, for I am a sinner; justify me, for I am unrighteous; acquit me, for I am under accusation of sin. Thou, O Lord, art the Truth (John 14:6); Thy name is holy and true; therefore let Thy name be true in respect to me; be Thou my Jesus and my Saviour! Be Thou my Jesus in the present life; be Thou my Jesus in death; be Thou my Jesus in the last judgment; be Thou my Jesus in eternal life.
+INJ+