The Name and Circumcision of Jesus

When eight days had passed, before His circumcision, His name was then called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. -Luke 2:21

Adam did not receive a name until he had been created on the 6th day and placed into the Garden of Eden. Adam was named after he already was.

And then the LORD God - knowing that she would forever serve in communion with her husband as a picture of the faithfulness and love of Christ and His bride, The Church – He created “Eve,” the mother of all the living, and placed her together with Adam in the Garden of Eden.

Together this first couple was tempted to sin and together they fell, bringing death and the final judgment to all who followed, to all who are born of a woman.

But the free gift is not like the transgression. The gift is not like that which came through the one who sinned. Jerusalem's iniquity has been removed. She has received of the LORD'S hand Double for all her sins. Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace now reigns through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Of His fullness we have all received, and grace upon grace.

Christ Jesus, the 2nd Adam, however, received a Name before He was conceived in His mother’s womb and also had His Name attached to circumcision on the 8th day after His birth.

In this way He was named according to the very work He is to do among men, namely save them from their sins. He was marked in the flesh according to the Law of Moses – A Law given by the LORD God Himself.

Do you think it strange that God would name a person before they are conceived? This is He who of old established the heavens and the earth, not without purpose, but so that the sons of men together with you may thank and praise, serve and obey Him on account of His all surpassing grace and glory, worked out in every detail of creation from the beginning to this day.

Do you think it strange that God would command circumcision in the first place? That is precisely the point. Circumcision for God’s ancient people, Israel, made them distinct from all the other nations and peoples. It must be this way, because the Most Holy God, since the fall into sin, calls out a people from the world by His own Word and promise, a people to be His very own, not like all the nations and people who chase after idols and false gods, who worship created things and themselves in vain.

This name is for you. It is not a name like every name, but the Name at which every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth. Yes, there are knees under the earth soon to be raised up from the dead, because it is the Name of the crucified and risen Jesus that avails before God the Father and all of creation through the Holy Spirit. It is the Name placed upon you in Holy Baptism and delivered to you in Holy Supper.

The LORD God does not give you His name without also giving you His substance. His substance is holiness and righteousness, both inwardly and outwardly. It is the forgiveness of sins and everlasting life, delivered to you in bodily form through the Word and promise of God. The washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit was poured out upon your body and soul lavishly, fully, and completely through Jesus Christ your Savior.

This circumcision is for you, too. It is not a circumcision of the flesh, not a circumcision made of hands, but circumcision of the Holy Spirit, also delivered to you in Holy baptism. Through this circumcision you now flee those things you once embraced: Idolatry and covetousness; adultery and murder; theft and slander. He was circumcised on the 8th Day for you, and He was raised up from the dead on the 8th Day for you, not as a spectacle, but as your atoning sacrifice for sin.

It is not as though you are without temptation and sin, but in these you have a defender, a helper, and advocate Who will not fail you, but Who promises to lift you up and carry you by His Word and supper to which you flee daily and richly for grace, pardon, and strength. Not by New Year, but by everlasting resolution.

The rest of the world, who knows neither you nor the Name you have been given, looks to itself and its own devices to wheedle through one day to the next in service to itself and all sorts of vanity. You, however, having received the Name and substance of God through Christ and His circumcision not made wit hands, cry out together: Our help is in the Name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.

The LORD God has given you His Law to discipline your flesh, to show you the way you should live and walk before Him. This also exposes your sin. The Law never would be satisfied in the lives of His people or in you, but is only satisfied and fulfilled in the Life of Christ, who is God in the flesh, in whom the Law is most surely written and fulfilled and completed. Hence, even in showing you your sins, the Law also describes that One who is your Savior, the One who lives in perfect faith toward God and in perfect love toward both God and man: The Son of God, Christ Jesus.

Trusting in Him, you are circumcised, cut off bodily from the rest of the world, so that where Adam once was tempted and fell, you are now tempted yet saved, not by your works, but by the grace of God in Christ Jesus, who was cut off for your transgressions and then raised up for your justification, so that what He has accomplished in His body may be delivered to your body and soul through Holy Baptism, Holy Supper, and Holy Absolution.

With His Name, through the forgiveness of all your sins, He has cleansed and purified your heart. He has also cleansed and purified your lips and your life in the flesh, so that you are able by His grace to sing, to pray, and to keep the Feast at all times and in all places, to the glory of His Name, because you belong to Him. You are in Christ Jesus. That is your identity. That is your sonship, be you boy or girl. That is your salvation of body and soul, here in time and hereafter in eternity.

If you are in doubt as to what is meet, right, and salutary in how to conduct yourself in this life, you may with joy cling to your Lord Jesus Christ and listen to Him, Whose obedience on your behalf falls perfectly within the will of God the Father.

As the Holy Spirit teaches, You are generation called out from the world, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; you once were NOT A PEOPLE, but now you are THE PEOPLE OF GOD; you had NOT RECEIVED MERCY, but now you have RECEIVED MERCY.

You are aliens and strangers here, so then abstain from the fleshly lusts that wage war against your soul. You are NOT your own.

Act as those who are free, but do not use your freedom as a covering for evil. Use your freedom instead as bond slaves of God because He has given you His Name and circumcision.

For you have been called for this purpose – live godly lives in this world, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps. HE COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously.

He Himself bore your sins in His body on the cross, so that you might die to sin and live to righteousness. By His circumcision you are healed. For you were continually straying like sheep, but now by the Holy Spirit and Gospel of Christ Jesus you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls. He is here to keep you in His tender care and mercy. He is faithful to His Name, Word, and promises of old.

Meanwhile, Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation, even as you bear His Name and are called out from the world through His circumcision and resurrection from the dead.

+ + +

Christmas: The Big Perspective

For my eyes have seen Your Salvation. -Luke 2:30

To say the Holy Gospel appointed for this day has a lot in it would be an understatement. Its length is over 400 words. Included among those words are the following subjects:

The days of purification according to the Law of Moses.
The Presentation
The Sacrifices prescribed by the LORD God for dedication.
The Temple (Herod’s Temple)
The devout man Simeon.
The Holy Spirit.
The revelation to Simeon that he would not die before He saw the Christ.
The Nunc Dimittis (Latin for “now you dismiss”).
The potent and poignant address from Simeon to Mary.
The devout prophetess, Anna of the tribe of Asher.
The “very moment” Anna spoke out concerning this child.
The Redemption of Jerusalem
The devout father and mother Joseph and Mary.
The Child Jesus, Who continued to grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom, with the grace of God upon Him.

It is this Christ Jesus who is at the heart and center of this Gospel and all that is preached and administered to you in this place and on this day.

But let us take things up a notch in the way of “a lot.” Yes, there is a lot in this Gospel text. From a wide angle lens perspective consider this:

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.

For some time and space perspective – because time and space are created for you in the beginning, consider this, O you who of late have been looking at the skies to see a rare convergence of planets: By all appearances you are fairly well just sitting there, but do you have any idea how fast you are moving right now? How fast are you moving right now?

Just by virtue of the earth spinning on its axis, and by virtue of living near the 41st parallel (the 90th parallel is The North Pole, and the 0th parallel is the equator), you are moving fast enough to get from here to Elkhart in one second. “One thousand one.” 18-1/2 miles just like that.

Because you live on God’s created planet earth which is place in a solar system within a galaxy within a universe, you are moving fast enough to go from here to Buffalo, New York in one second. “One-thousand-one” 375 miles.

It may seem arcane, or odd, that I would bring this up, but the LORD God would have you know that the same creation you inhabit - which at its first was formless and void – has taken its shape and now has you in it because God speaks His Word and through it sustains all things.

And that is not all. Believe me, that is not all.

It is this same creation that came about in and through the same Christ Jesus that Simeon holds in his arms, and whose father and mother bring Him to the temple at the appointed time, the fulness of time – a time when the nations were largely at peace and a common language extended over a wide range of lands, when there was no broadcast media, film, photography, audio recording, internet, Facebook, YouTube, and so many selfish distractions - so that He may be dedicated to God in His Holy Temple for your sake, out of God’s everlasting love, so that He may be your Temple in His very flesh, so that you make take refuge in Him and He shall cover you with His blood and righteousness.

You see, the same Spirit of God that hovered over the waters before there was light has also caused the four Holy Gospels to be written. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John - St. John, Apostle and Evangelist, whom the Church recognizes this day, and whose Gospel ends by saying:

Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.

But it is the Holy Gospel of St. Luke, placed into your hearing this day, that begins by saying (and all this is formed by your Father in heaven out of the cosmos by the Holy Spirit from the beginning for you to hear this day as you move at 375 miles per second):

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile an account of the things accomplished among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word, it seemed fitting for me as well, having investigated everything carefully from the beginning, to write it out for you in consecutive order, so that you may know the exact truth about the things you have been taught.

St. Luke’s investigation is not in vain. No other of the Gospels has these passages or references to Simeon, Anna, and all the things listed at the beginning of this message.

So think of it. That whole formless and void “ball of wax” in the beginning has been shaped and formed in such a way that you now are in it, moving more quickly than your reason and senses are able to perceive. The same spirit of God has seen to it that the Gospel of Christ Jesus, by Whom and through Whom all things were created and are sustained, has reached your ears. Through this Gospel His everlasting righteousness is applied to you not only in this body and life, but in the life of the world to come.

I will rejoice greatly in the LORD,
My soul will exult in my God;
For He has clothed me with garments of salvation,
He has wrapped me with a robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with a garland,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

“Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, according to Your word,” says Simeon.

He does not use the word “Kyrie” when he says LORD. He uses the word “despota.” He refers to a master into whose hands all authority is placed, included the authority to cause death and life; to forgive and retain sins. And that is precisely Who this Christ Child is, for He alone can release the prisoners of sin and death and the devil. He alone, though His innocent suffering and death and His resurrection from the dead can satisfy the wrath of God and reconcile all flesh to the Father.

Also, Simeon does not use the word “logos” when he says, “according to your word,” but the word “rhema,” which refers to things that have been spoken and written by God through the prophets. To hold the Christ Jesus in his arms and to look at Him with his own eyes, is a confirmation of, is in accord with, agrees with, and is proof of all he had studied and learned from the Holy Scriptures by the grace of God, for he was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.

The same holds for you who are baptized into Christ Jesus and abide in him. You do not cast the Sacred Scriptures aside, but having been saved by your Father in heaven through Christ Jesus, you hold the Scriptures sacred and gladly hear and learn them, for these are they which testify of Christ Jesus.

So then, it is He who made the heavens and the earth who has come down to save you. His right hand and His holy arm are bared and shown before all the nations as this one Child is lifted up, first in Simeon’s arms, and soon upon the Cross, as the sacrifice that delivers you for all time and eternity from the terrors of your sin and death, and from a creation that for a short time is subject to futility.

Consider how small you are and how great is the creation into which God has placed you – not by accident, but at just the right time according to his purposes for you. Then consider how He places three simple words in the middle of this Gospel: “Depart in peace.”

The immensity of the entire creation, both the heavens and the earth, this day come down to these three words, “Depart in peace,” given by the Holy Spirit, the paraclete, for Simeon to speak while Holding the Christ Child in his arms. These three words are also given to you to hear and to sing aloud with joy, having received that very same Christ Child into your body for the forgiveness of your sins and everlasting life. The words “depart in peace” are spoken to you each time you depart from this altar of the Sacrament of Christ’s precious body and blood. That is what your pastors, Christ’s called and ordained servants of the Word, say to you after you have received the body and blood of your Savior, Christ Jesus. “Depart in peace.”

It is interesting to note more precisely what Simeon says, as opposed to the Nunc Dimittis you sing in nearly all instances of Divine Service. You sing and pray by song, “LORD, now lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace.” The sense of it is that you are asking the LORD to do this, to let you depart in peace.

Yet here is more literally what Simeon, who lives and is counted with you among the saints who abide in Christ Jesus, says. Here is what he says: “Now You send Your servant away, O LORD, according to Your word, in peace.” “Now You send Your servant away, O LORD, according to Your word, in peace.”

Now, whether these words are spoken as a way of asking God to act, or stating that He is already acting, the net effect is the same, because God in Christ Jesus has reconciled you to Himself, brought you to Himself, joined His flesh to yours, married you as His bride. “You are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” He has answered and acted out of His everlasting love from all eternity to let you depart in peace; to dismiss you in peace. To turn you lose from your bondage so that you may love and serve both God and neighbor out of the abundance of His mercies.

For this Christ Jesus is your Peace, and there is no other. Not only the Law of Moses with all the demands for sacrifice, but the whole law of God has been taken up and delivered for you through this Christ Jesus. Where you have failed and been unfaithful, he has gained the victory out of an everlasting love and faithfulness to the Father for you, even as the Father, out of His everlasting love for you gave His only begotten Son into death and raised Him up.

This is a peace for people of every age, no matter what age they are. From the prophetess Anna at 84-years old, widowed and seemingly alone, to the man Simeon, to the infant as yet unborn, for the Word of God who was in the beginning took upon Himself your nature from the very point of conception in the womb. This is a peace the world cannot give.

You were conceived and born into this creation at a time not of your choosing. Your were conceived and born with a condition you could in no way escape apart from the grace of God, as one who could not, would not, and did not recognize or come to your Creator.

It was necessary for Him who was given in the fulness of time to seek you out, and now that He has sought you out and brought you into His kingdom, you may depart in peace, whether it be from this altar of His Holy body and blood week after week, day after day, or whether it be from this life into the bosom of the Father, where He will bear you up just as he has, with His outstretched arm, born up His own people from age to age as He calls them by His Gospel.

There is peace and life — for you and for the many — in this forgiveness because it is a forgiveness that resides in the heart of Christ, and flows from His heart to all the members of His Body. His Body bears with you, and in love His Body shares your burdens as His own. His Body forgives you all of your sins, whatever your trespasses may be.

It is all the blessed good work of this little One who has opened the womb of His Mother, who was brought up to Jerusalem and presented to the Lord: not only in the Temple, but once-for-all upon the Cross.

This One is your Peace.

Though you have not been righteous and devout.
Though you have not kept the Law.
Though you have not been faithful in praying and singing and confessing His Word.
Though you have not fasted, and have not been in the Temple as you ought.
Though you have not honored your parents or cherished your spouse or cared for your children or loved your neighbor.

This little One, the Babe, the Son of Mary is your Peace.

He has performed everything in fulfillment of the Law.

He has grown in wisdom and stature for you, and He is strong.

The grace of God is upon Him, and His grace is upon you. In Him you see not death, but the Lord’s Christ, whose Body bears all your sins and bestows forgiveness.

Take His Body now into your arms, bless God, depart in peace, and live.

+ + +

Christmas Adjectives

The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. -John 1:14

Christmas Eve. Christmas Day. The twelve days of Christmas.

When it comes to depicting and experiencing Christmas think of all the words. Think of all the music. Think of all the decorations. Think of all the movies and plays and works of art. Think of all the gifts. The plans. The dinner feasts. The family and guests and greeting cards.

To say there is a lot there would be the understatement of the year, and those are just a few things about Christmas off the top of my head.

How would you describe it? There are some four-thousand-eight-hundred adjectives in the English language. As most of you know, an adjective is a word - a part of speech – we use to describe something, like the word “big,” or “small,” or “short,” or “tall.”

Given all the ways to depict and to experience Christmas, which single adjective would you choose to best describe it? Yes, I know. It would be impossible to pick just one. That is part of the magnitude of it all. But you could give it a try for now.

For starters, how about the word “Silent?” The most famous Christmas carol of all time – you sang it just a short time ago - depicts Christmas as a silent night. That word fits extremely well with the idea of being in a little town like Bethlehem in the dead of night with no business transactions taking place and only a starlit sky, doesn’t it?

Some of you will pause in silence as Christmas unfolds this year. What is there about silence that goes so well with Christmas? You know, but you just can’t find the words, can you? That’s okay. In fact silence means you don’t think or say them. That kind of silence happens a lot in your life, too, not just at Christmas but throughout the days and years, because the weights and burdens of life so overwhelm. At times there just are no words.

Besides all those weights and burdens that cause you at times to be silent, the arrival of the Holy Son of God as He is born of the Virgin Mary invites all mortal flesh to keep silence, because the One Who will judge the world at the Last Day has come to save it by His tender mercies from of old. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him. They will be silent.

Or how about the opposite of silent: “Noisy.” Hark, the Herald Angels Sing.  Do you think they sang a lullaby? I think not. Singing of the fact that God is now reconciling all fallen flesh to Himself through the flesh and blood of His only begotten Son is the most sublime of subjects to sing about, and the sound must reach every corner of the earth. It must reach into every nook and cranny like those Christmas church bells that ring throughout the land. No city noise ordinances will stop it. Everyone needs to hear it, and everyone is going to hear it! 

Let it be sung loudly: “Peace on earth” because the One Who made the earth and the heavens loves them. “Goodwill toward men,” not because He is pleased with their behavior, but because He has invested Himself completely in their creation and their salvation, a salvation that requires the shedding of blood, a salvation worked out lavishly without any merit, earning, or working on the part of you or anyone else, but by works of love in and through the crucified and risen LORD Jesus Christ.

Truly Christmas is something to make noise about.

Or how about the word “slow” to describe Christmas? Yes, that may seem like an odd choice of adjectives, but think about it. How long had it been since God declared that the Seed of the woman would crush the serpent’s head. Even as He is born there are still some 33 years to go before He fulfills all righteousness for you and is put to death upon the Cross for you to be raised up in glory for you.

How long had it been? What had all happened since the First Promise of the Seed? You can read about it all in the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, First Samuel, Second Samuel, . . . need I go on? You get the point: While your Father in Heaven is eternally quick to forgive sin and iniquity, for that to happen in real time exceeds the experience of any man’s life span. It took generation after generation. It took a long time.

Or how about instead of the word “slow” you choose the word “sudden” or “quick?”

When all was still, and it was midnight, Your Almighty Word, O LORD, descended from the royal throne.

The average length of time for a woman to be in labor is twelve to twenty-four hours. For the Virgin Mary those hours could not have come at a more inconvenient time. They also came suddenly. Not unexpectedly, but suddenly. Birth pangs. The child is making an entrance. Nothing will stop it, and it will be soon.

You see, God is not slow in working out your salvation, though it may seem like it. In truth however, it was finished before it started. Yes, it took a long time as you look at history, but in the heart of God it all happens at once, for He is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, not bound by time as you know it, but coming soon and suddenly to save you.

The word “peaceful” does extremely well to describe Christmas, even as peace on earth between God and man are bound up in the infant born of Mary.

But so does the word “violent,” because the beatings, the crown, the nails, and the spear necessary to take away your sin are anything but peaceful. They in fact embody the holy wrath of God against sin, but they cannot be separated from the one born of Mary. Moreover, violence follows where the Gospel is preached, because the world and the devil are that way when it comes to Truth. Violent.

Then there is the word “Joyous,” because nothing can take away your salvation as rendered eternally in the works of Christ Jesus done for you and delivered to you in your baptism and His supper and His preaching.

At the same time “Solemn,” or “Reverent” describe Christmas, too, don’t they? because this is not child’s play, but life and death in contention against one another for all time, for you, for and your household and for generations to follow.

Those are only a few choice adjectives to describe Christmas, and all of those adjectives work, don’t they? And that is fairly well the point:

The One who made all the languages with all of their adjectives undertakes to have a Word with you in person.

The One by Whom the heavens and the earth were made has taken upon Himself frail flesh to suffer and to die for you upon a cross.

The One Who made you; the One who knit you together in your mother’s womb sees to it that He will be knit together is His mother’s womb so that His being knit together would become your being knit together in His perfect righteousness, not just as some amorphous, enormous, impersonal, organizing principle, but as your Tender Shepherd Who lays down His life for you and takes it up again, knowing every single hair on your head, and every single fear and worry that has struck you and hounded you in life. Every enemy, even death and the devil, both of which are so formidable that you would never even begin to defeat them.

The Word became flesh. That is Christmas. That is why it is so big that all the adjectives put together cannot begin to comprehend its breadth and depth. What eye hath not seen nor ear heard. Yet it is that breadth and depth your Father is heaven wants you to have, and so He has delivered it to you.

First by seeing to it that from the foundation of the world His salvation for you would be put into place. Then acted out – not like a movie or play, but in real life. Real flesh and blood life just like the life that is coursing through your veins right now.

Second, by making a way for all He has done to be placed into your body through His preaching of repentance, His baptism of you, and His feeding of you from the feed trough known as The Sacrament of the Altar.

Third by using those ways, as He is right here and right now, to deliver to you all that has been in His heart not just as a thought, but substantively by His Holy Spirit Who is keeping you together with all Christians in the one true faith, preparing you to be raised up bodily at the Last Day.

The point is this, really: Everything good for you is comprehended in the birth of Christ Jesus, because it is all laid out for you to receive by God Himself, the Maker of the heavens and the earth. It is laid out in love. It is laid out lavishly. It is laid out gladly. It is given with the smile of perfect love and grace because His face does shine upon you. Not because of your works, but because He is love. He always has been. He always will be.

For that reason there is indeed no single adjective that will express all that Christmas means. There does not have to be when everything that Christmas means and everything that Christmas is, is this night, and at every Divine Service throughout the year, delivered into your mortal mouth, namely the true and living body and blood of Christ Jesus, born of the Virgin Mary and crucified under Pontius Pilate, given for you now and unto eternity.

+      +      +