The Circumcision and Name of Our Lord

Richard Davenport Jan. 1, 2023 - The Circumcision and Naming of Jesus Galatians 3:23-29 The circumcision and naming of Jesus is kind of an odd feast day. It certainly doesn't get the kind of billing that Christmas does and that was only a few days ago. It feels a bit like an addendum, an add on to Christmas that requires only a brief acknowledgement before moving on with the rest of Jesus' life. After all, it's only later in life that we get the really good stuff, his ministry, his death and resurrection, and all of that. Still, we have this brief line that Luke the Evangelist felt needed inclusion in the story of Jesus' life. Luke gives us a lot more of Jesus' infancy than anyone else, so it's not really surprising he would add some of these details. But it does feel a little strange to dedicate a whole Sunday to it. So what's the big deal? To answer that we have to go all the way back to Abraham. Good old Abraham was given the promise that he would have a son in his old age and through that son he would be the father of many nations. More than that, the savior would be one of his descendants. To confirm this special promise, God directs Abraham to be circumcised and that all of his male children will be circumcised. It's not a suggestion either. God commands it be done to any male who desires to be a part of the nation of Israel. Any male who is not circumcised is considered an outsider and not a part of the promise. Not something most Israelite men are looking forward to, but at least those who are born Israelites are too young to remember it. That promise to Abraham is what circumcision is all about. It wasn't something done lightly. As a man, you bore the mark that you were part of that promise too. Whether it would be one of your descendants specifically, or a descendant of some other branch of the family, somewhere among your people, your extended family, the savior of the world would appear. Not only did that give you a lot to look forward to, but also made you especially motivated to stay ready. You wouldn't be looking far and wide for the savior. He'd be right there. Right in your neighborhood. Obviously as an 8 day old boy you wouldn't really think so, but in the grand scheme of things I suppose it could be a lot worse. Seems like a lot of trouble though. I mean, God is pretty specific about how the whole process is supposed to work. You have a son. You wait 8 days and then on that day you circumcise him. No more, no less. The timing of it all was very intentional. The account of creation in Genesis tells us how God created the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th. It was into this creation that Adam and Eve brought sin. Sin brought dysfunction and death. This creation is broken beyond repair. We have some ability to make things better here and there, to help others and make life not so difficult for people around us, but we can't really fix anything. All of the problems of sin have been there all along and will continue to be despite anything we do about it. Even before Jesus, Israelites were already thinking about a new creation, a world free from sin. If God created this world in 7 days and this world is broken, then you'd need a new creation, a re-creation. That means God has more to do. God's new work wouldn't be found in those original 7 days. It must be a new day for a new creation, an 8th day. You find the number 8 scattered about in the Bible in some pretty significant places, but one of the most important is right here. A baby is circumcised on the 8th day. We know now there are medical reasons not to do something like circumcision before a child is 8 days old, but God had that already figured out way back in the days of Abraham. A child is born, but he only becomes a child of the promise on the 8th day. The 8th day, the day of re-creation, we might also say a day of rebirth for that tiny child. A new birth for a new family. St. Paul talks about us being adopted into God's family through baptism. Jesus makes the reference to rebirth in baptism. These aren't new ideas. This has all been around since God made a covenant with Abraham many centuries ago. Through circumcision, you are explicitly made a child of the promise of God's salvation. Baptism too, explicitly makes you a child of the promise of God's salvation. Where circumcision looked ahead to what the savior would do, baptism looks back at what he did. So circumcision tells us about baptism, but it still feels like a pretty big ordeal. Why go to all the trouble of enforcing this command over hundreds of years? Why the need to be so strict about making every Israelite male go through with this? The answer is that God is trying to impress on his people something extremely important. Circumcision and baptism are about much more than the momentary act. They are about who you have now become. It's this that continues to trip us up, even today. This is what we constantly need to be reminded of. In circumcision in the Old Testament, or baptism in the New Testament, God is claiming you as his child. You are reborn. You are adopted into his family. You are given his name. In your baptism, as the water is poured over your head, the Triune God is signing his name to your adoption certificate. He binds himself to the promise that he makes in baptism. You are a part of the family, with all of the benefits and privileges that come with the name of the Triune God. So then what? What do we do with this great gift we've been given? Generally the answer is, not much. After baptism we live our lives as we always did and give little thought to what it means to be a part of God's family. You see it periodically when you're out in public, at the grocery store or something like that. There's mom with the shopping cart, along with two young kids running around yelling and causing chaos. Now, the 8th Commandment tells us we should put the best construction on everything. Everybody has rough days. You don't get a day off as a parent and even if you feel rotten, your kids feel rotten, everything's rotten, sometimes you still to do the basic stuff that needs doing to keep the family going. Still, it's hard not to be a little judgmental. "What kind of terrible parent are you that you let your kids run around like that?" The simple fact is that everything a child does is a reflection of the parents. We learn from our parents. It's how we're wired. How a child behaves, what a child considers important, how a child treats others is all learned, to some extent, from parents. So, if a child behaves badly, the question naturally arises, "Are his parents like that too?" As a child of God, you represent him everywhere you go and in everything you do. Rarely does that come to mind, however. More often, we do the things we want to do and look for what will benefit us, regardless of how that reflects on us, much less how it reflects on God. We tarnish God's good name everywhere we go. People see our bad behavior, our apathy toward others in need, how we turn a blind eye to the suffering of others, how we refuse to forgive those who have wronged us, how we're eager to look down on those around us regardless of whether we've done anything to justify it. People see us acting this way and assume we act like that because that's how God taught us to act. It may not be any more true than watching the rowdy kids at the grocery store and assuming they learned it from mom and dad, but that doesn't change peoples' perception. Those outside the church see us and, "If that's how God taught them to act, why would I want to be associated with them at all?" Our bad behavior drives away those God would dearly love to bring into his family, and for that, we should all be ashamed. It's here that St. Paul's words take on new meaning. As St. Paul puts it, you are all sons of God. Of course, this isn't St. Paul trying to denigrate women by making this a male vs. female thing. Instead, he is making it clear that you are the heir of everything that comes from being a part of God's household. All of the benefits of God's family name are yours. You aren't just some second cousin, twice removed. You are an heir. God adopted you and made you his own. He cannot and will not cast you out without going back on his promise made to you in baptism. You may leave his house, seeking your own fortune. You can live however you want, in spite of God's warnings about the consequences those actions will bring. You can do all of that if you choose. But, if you come to your senses and realize what terrible things you've brought down on yourself, then just like the prodigal son, you can always come home. Your Father will greet you with open arms and welcome you back. You're part of the family and you always were. It doesn't really matter what your ethnicity is, how old you are, what your social or economic status is, or whether you're male or female. If you're baptized, you're a part of the family. God the Father adopts you. Jesus, God the Son, dies to give you your inheritance. He dies to redeem you, to pay to buy you out of slavery to sin so you can be a member of the family. God the Holy Spirit opens the door and ushers you into your new home and calls you back every time you leave. Why is Jesus circumcised? It's the same reason he's baptized. Not because he needs it, but because you do. God brings new life, new creation, through baptism and that new birth is found in Christ. Forgiveness is yours and new life is yours because of the promise God made to you in your baptism. We aren't very good at listening to our Heavenly Father. We are disobedient and willful. We run away from him on a regular basis. But he is always calling us back. The door to his house is always open. We can always return, because we're part of the family.