The Eve of the Crcumcision and Name of Jesus - December 31, 2009

The Church Season of Christmas,
New Year’s Day,
The Eve of the Circumcision and Name of Jesus,
Our Savior Lutheran Church, Midland, MI (December 31, 2009)

“By Christ’s Precious Blood”

Readings:
Psalm 8
Numbers 6:22-27
Romans 1:1-7
Luke 2:21

Sermon Form: Deductive

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Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, Amen

The text for today is as recorded in the Gospel Lesson from the 2nd chapter of St. Luke.

Luke 2:21 (NIV)

21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit

On the eighth day of Christmas, Christ shed His blood for me. In no way is that how we remember that song. But, today the church calendar year celebrates “The Eve of the Circumcision of Our and the Name of Jesus.” Rather odd for us in this to hear in this modern day world. Quite frankly probably not even on the radar for the things that we would normally think about tonight. But certainly these are very important things to consider. Why? Well, when God came to earth and was incarnate of the virgin Mary and became man, this man was Jesus. And it was Jesus who even as an infant subjected Himself fully to the Law. The act of being circumcised only continued Jesus Christ’s submission to the Law, which His incarnation had begun.

Jesus truly appeared in flesh, and submitted Himself to the Law. The blood which flowed through the real veins of Christ is the precious blood of God. In the act of the circumcision of our Lord, we are confronted with the painful, literally, painful implications of our Gospel lesson. In the circumcision of Christ, the first drops of the precious blood of God flowed. It was the first time His blood was shed for us, yet it would not be the last time.

Martin Luther said of this eighth day, “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 without the alternations of night.” (LW 3:141)

While tonight may not be the beginning of a new week, it is the beginning of a new year. Tonight we sit here with expectations of things which we will do this coming year. We will make our list of things to do, such as; we will lose weight and exercise more. We will pay off all our debt while at the same time saving more money. We will get a better job and get more education. We will quit smoking and quit drinking. Take trips and read books to help us relax while at the same time we fix up and remodel our homes. We will straighten out our attitudes, and energize our motivation and our state of mind, take on new hobbies, we will read the entire bible in a year, and attend bible study every week. We will write more letters, become more active in the community, and listen to or play more music. We will call or visit with all of the family members and friends who we’ve been ignoring because of some incident, or stray words that resulted in a battle torn relationship. We will apologize without the expectation of a word of forgiveness. AND, we’ll get all these goals organized so we can get them all done. THEN, we tell ourselves, yes then we will have our precious carefree lives back.

All these are great goals. All these goals are admirable goals. And quite frankly, many of these things I mentioned are achievable goals. If we did all of these things, meaning every single one without lapsing or failure, it would signify a new life for us. But, we realize that we can not do all of these things perfectly. If we think we can do it all and lead a perfect life, then “we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.”(1 John 1:8) But that infant in Bethlehem did lead a perfect life and after only eight days he was faced with the first task of not only meeting the law but, setting it aside for our sake. And He did just that for you and me.

So then, since God has done everything for us, we can we forget about all of those goals, forget about this life, can we hide in our homes, not speak to anyone, not offer any New Year’s greetings, and repeat to ourselves the words from Ecclesiastes, “Utterly Meaningless, everything is meaningless.”(Eccl. 1:2) No that is not the right answer, as Paul tells us we do not continue to sin so that grace may abound.(Rom 6:1). To the contrary, as a fruit of our faith we look forward, seeing each New Year, each new day, each new person we meet, as another opportunity to share the good news of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Indeed it is also our duty as Christians to help our fellow people, to insure that they do not suffer, to see that they have food, clothing, and a warm house. Yes that is our duty too, not because we will gain something for it, but because we are rejoicing in what we have already been given.

It is hard to know what those folks up in New York City are out in Times Square rejoicing for. Maybe it is in the hope of a new beginning, maybe that past illness and challenges may be overcome in the new year. Maybe they are there just for a good time, to just eat, drink, and be merry knowing that tomorrow we will all die. Yet there is a greater celebration that is all but forgotten, and that is that the Son of God, became incarnate and came to save us from our sins. Can you imagine if everyone of those people watching the ball drop were thinking about Christ descending to earth to give us eternal salvation? Well that would be a sight indeed.

But we do have that sight here tonight, for that child is here who shed His blood for us. Jesus Christ did live every bit of the law for us, in His circumcision every drop of Christ’s blood was spent to purchase us. Every drop of His human blood that fell from His human body fell as a payment for our sins. On the eighth day of His human life, Jesus met the requirements of the law which He continued to do until His death on the cross when He uttered, “It is finished.”(Jn 19:30) We may or may not conquer every challenge that awaits us in this new year. Everyone celebrating tonight might not have their mind fixed upon Jesus Christ, in fact most will not. But, we as Christians continue to move forward knowing that on the eighth day, after His birth Christ shed His blood for us. On the eighth the day after the Palm Sunday Sabbath, Jesus rose again from the dead and so He conquered death too. Whether people gather tonight in a large crowd in a large city, or a small room alone, there will be much rejoicing and reflection the things of the world. Know that Jesus Christ still comes to a world who doesn’t know of His love, love beyond the hopes and fears of all the years. Indeed it is Jesus Christ who shed His blood for you, for the forgiveness of sins. And it is Jesus Christ who is “our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter for the stormy blast, and our eternal home.”(LSB#733)

The Grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God
and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

AMEN
+SDG+