Merry 8th day of Christmas! And happy Jesus’ circumcision day! Today is the Feast of the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus.
Luke takes care to record Jesus’ circumcision in 2:21. The shedding of blood on Jesus’ 8th day can rightly be viewed as a foreshadowing of the cross. His circumcision confirms that Jesus is a true son of Abraham — indeed, THE son of Abraham. Why did cicumcision take place on the 8th day, the start of a new week? The number eight in the Bible is linked with the new creation. Circumcision marked Israel out as God’s special priestly people. But this special priestly role for Israel was always designed to be temporary, only lasting until the Messiah comes. Then the blessings of the covenant would flow out to all nations. Circumcision on the eighth day was a pointer to a new creation that would come through the shedding of blood.
When Jesus is circumcised, he becomes a member of God’s old covenant people. He identifies with Israel so he can be Israel. He will fulfill Israel’s mission and purpose in himself. Whereas throughout history Israel has failed, Jesus will be the faithful and true Israelite — and in doing so, will form a new Israel. The new and true Israel is defined by union and communion with Jesus.
But in order for the new Israel and new creation to become realities, the curse of death, brought into the world through Adam’s sin, must be eradicated. In Colossians 2:11, Paul describes the crucifixion of Jesus in terms of circumcision. Just as Jesus is the ultimate Israelite, so his death on the cross is the ultimate circumcision. His circumcision on the 8th day of his life pointed ahead to his death in the thirty-third year of his life. His circumcision has rightly been called “a little Calvary.” Just as the swaddling cloths in which he was wrapped in his infancy foreshadow the burial cloths in which he will be wrapped at his death (Luke 2:7, 23:53), so the blood-letting on his eight day foreshadows a greater shedding of blood to come. In his death, he accomplishes the forgiveness of our trespasses, cancelling the record of debts that stood against us. Jesus’ death is clearly a substitutionary sacrifice, as he bears the death penalty and curse our sins deserved. He took our record of debts and nailed it to the cross. As he died, he cried out “It is finished,” meaning all our debts have been paid for, the the record of our wrongs cancelled, the death sentence hanging over us annulled. The glory of the gospel is found in the gory, bloody death of Jesus, as he bore our sins and suffered the wrath and curse we justly deserve.
Paul’s language in Colossians 2:11-12 is dense and complex, but the central point is clear: We are united to Christ in his death, burial, and resurrection, and thus have put off the body of the flesh (the old cursed creation) and entered into new life (the promised new creation). Jesus’ death is the end of the old; his resurrection inaugurates the new. This is not just a redemptive-historical point, as Jesus establishes his new creation; it is also an existential and experiential point for believers, as our union with Christ means the old man is dead and buried and a new man has come to life. All who are united to Christ have put away the old creation, dominated by flesh and death, and now share in his resurrection life.
A subpoint in these verses in sacramental: The Gentile believers in Colossae (like those in Galatia) were bein g pressured by a Jewish party to submit to circumcision as the sign of the covenant. But Paul says they do not need to be circumcised because they have been baptized: “In him, you were circumcised…having been buried with him in baptism.” Baptism is the badge of the new Israel, the sign membership in the new priestly people. The baptismal font at my church has eight sides, as most tradtional fonts do, because baptism is the washing of the new creation (cf. Titus 3:5).
Luke 2:21 seems to indicate that Jesus was officially named on the day of his circumcision. It is likely this was the Jewish practice at the time, and it is fitting, His name Jesus means he will be another Joshua, and will give us victory over our sins, bringing us in to the promised land of the new creation (cf. Matthew 1:21; Colossians 2:15).
Even on his eighth day, Luke presents Jesus to us as the Keeper and Fulfiller of the Law. He keeps the law perfectly for us, so he can be the perfect sacrifice for us when the time comes. He was born under the law, and upheld the law, so he could redeem us from the curse of our lawbreaking. Even in his infancy, his body is bearing the weight of the cross. Ultimately, he will not just give his foreskin for us; he will give his whole body for us.
It’s rather serendipitous that every New Year’s Day in our secualr calendar corresponds to Jesus’s circumcision day. The new year can thus remind us that we are new creatures in Christ, caqlled to live new lives in the power of his resurrection.
Leave it to the Lutherans to put the good news of Jesus’ circumcision into a hymn. Sebastian Besnault’s “The Ancient Law Departs,” set to a tune by Bach (POTSDAM) is a wonderful summary of the theoligical richness of Chrst’s circumcision. He fulfills the law to free us from the curse of the law. He makes a covenant of love with his people when he receives the sign of the Abrahamaic covenant. Already on his eighth day, we read of him undergoing the painful shedding of blood — the sinless one being prepared as a spotless sacrifice for sinners. Here are the lyrics:
1 The ancient Law departs,
And all its fears remove,
For Jesus makes with faithful hearts
A covenant of love.
2 The Light of Light divine,
True brightness undefiled,
He bears for us the pain of sin,
A holy, spotless child.
3 His infant body now
Begins the cross to feel;
Those precious drops of blood that flow
For death the victim seal.
4 Today the name is Thine
At which we bend the knee.
They call Thee Jesus, child divine;
Our Jesus deign to be.
5 All praise, eternal Son,
For Thy redeeming love,
With Father, Spirit, ever one
In glorious might above.
Here is the hymn played on piano:
Another hymn, also by Besnault, “O Happy Day, When First Was Poured,” and also put to a tune harmoinied by Bach, further captures the theological meaning of Jesus’ circumcision. The lyrics are beautiful:
O happy day, when first was poured
The blood of our redeeming Lord!
O happy day, when first began
His sufferings for sinful man!
Just entered on this world of woe,
His blood already learned to flow;
His future death was thus expressed,
And thus His early love confessed.
From Heaven descending to fulfill
The mandates of His Father’s will,
E’en now behold the Victim lie,
The Lamb of God, prepared to die!
Lord, circumcise our hearts, we pray,
Our fleshly natures purge away;
Thy name, Thy likeness may they bear:
Yea, stamp Thy holy image there!
O Lord, the virgin born, to Thee
Eternal praise and glory be,
Whom with the Father we adore,
And Holy Ghost forevermore.
This hymn can be found here:
This hymn captures the true meaning of Jesus’ circumcision: it’s the first shedding of his blood, the beginnings of his suffering on our behalf, a foreshadowing of what is to come, a sign that he will be the bleeding sacrfice. This has consequences for us: When our hearts are circumcised in uion with him, the old sinful ways are purged out of our lives and we begin to be molded and shaped into the likeness of Christ in daily life.
Today, do not just celebrate a new year — celebrate the new life Jesus gives. Do not just say good-bye to a passing year, say good-bye to the old Adam and all his ways. Do not just feast and rejoice because a new year has dawned — feast and rejoice in the new creation Jesus has inaugurated!
TPC Pastor's Page 