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S. Eve of the Circumcision and Name of Jesus.25

‘And at the end of 8 days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.’

I don’t think we understand what a big deal it was for Jesus to be circumcised at all, most of us. But really this is an old and interesting problem…

In Romans 4:9-12 Paul clears up a widespread misunderstanding among the Jews of his day as to the point of circumcision 😉 The Jews thought it was a magic act that made the circumcised justified, righteous in God’s sight, by the mere performance of the physical act. Paul says [Christian Bale Batman voice] “NO!”that’s not the case…

Paul points out that FAITH! (not circumcision!) was counted to Abraham as justification, God’s declaring us righteous and holy. And how was that faith counted to Abraham as justification? Before or after he was circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised that God declared Abraham justified, righteous and holy in his sight, simply through believing the promise of his Savior.

Faith alone saves us!—the non-rejection of the Jesus Christ as God and Savior. And that saving faith was bestowed on Abraham before he was circumcised, which mean circumcision didn’t give him salvation or anything he didn’t have already by FAITH ALONE! Paul says, “Abraham received the sign of circumcision as a seal of the justification, the righteousness that he had BY FAITH WHILE HE WAS STILL UNCIRCUMCISED!!!

And the purpose was to make Abraham the father of all who believe without being circumcised, so that justification would be reckoned to them as well, and to make him the father also of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

Circumcision is like a ceramic paint protector on your car. It protects the paint from damage. It isn’t the paint. Circumcision protects our faith, guards it from damage. For Christians Paul says in Colossians that Baptism now takes over that sealing and protective role. Lutherans misunderstand this just as the Jews of Paul’s day.

The first baptism I did at Our Savior in 2000, a few weeks after being installed as pastor, I used Luther’s rite of Baptism as in the Book of Concord. And a member of the congregation who had been a member of the CTCR, the Sanhedrin of the Missouri Synod came out hot.

“Who wrote that horrible order of baptism?!” “Uh, Luther…” I said with a wry grin. This didn’t stop him, “Well, Luther could make mistakes,” he ranted. “OK, I said. What is the mistake?” He said, “Acting like the child already has faith before being baptized.” “But the child already does have faith from hearing the word in his mother’s womb as the unborn John did. We confess that in the Large Catechism, top of pg. 444 in Tappert… ‘we bring the child with the conviction and hope that it believes already and to create faith’.” He promised to look it up but harrumphed and stormed off angry. He never did actually admit to being wrong, you know, but that’s OK. Being Pastor, getting the Word rite is my calling, not his. 😉

Baptism does not create faith or justify us. Faith comes by hearing, hearing the Word of God, St. Paul says in Romans 10. Period. Mic drop. Baptism simply seals and protects that NT faith as circumcision did the OT faith in the Christ.

But the misunderstanding that circumcision does not save, but seals and protects the faith that does save by not rejecting the Word, Christ Jesus, is even older. It goes back to Moses’ wife Zipporah, in Exodus 4. Zipporah’s father Jethro, a.k.a ‘Reuel’ was the priest of Yahweh leader of the Midianite clan. Midian was a son of Abraham by his 2nd wife Keturah. The Midianites had been worshiping Yahweh on Mt. Sinai (which they called Mt. Horeb) time out of mind. It was at Horeb Moses first got acquainted with Yahweh, interestingly enough.

But the Midianites had never gotten the command to circumcise, and, as Paul says, like us NT Christians, they didn’t need it! In his wisdom he doesn’t reveal to us, God didn’t see a need for the Midianites to have circumcision. They were fine without out, as we are. So Zipporah had refused to circumcise her son with Moses (as uncircumcised herself she won’t be a 2nd class citizen in Heaven and good for her on that, I say!).

But God met Moses on the way to Egypt with murderous intent. Zipporah reluctantly circumcises her son herself, with a flint knife (!) and throws the foreskin at Moses’ feet a little angry and says “You are a bridegroom of blood to me!”

We learn in Exodus 18 that Zipporah and her sons went back to Jethro after this and re-united years later in the desert. But we also learn that Moses married a Cushite woman so whether the reunion was temporary or not is ambiguous.

The point is that Zipporah wanted her sons to be Midianites, to worship Yahweh their way not the Israelite way, though she consents to the circumcision thing to spare Moses’ life, she is loyal to the way of worship of Yahweh she got from her fathers. And Moses seems fine with that, never questioning that his father-in-law Jethro is a true priest of Yahweh.

So what does circumcision DO, exactly? Well it was the last verse in the epistle reading that tells you what it does: “it made him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the justified of God.”

Circumcision identifies you as a priest, a bearer of the word’s sin for Christ to take away. So by being circumcised Jesus identified as THE SIN-BEARER, receiving the world’s sin Israel has born on himself the True, Eternal Lamb of God who Alone can’t take it away for all, forever…

Baptism unites us with Jesus in his death and unites us in his resurrection. Which is why St. Paul warns NT believers that if they are circumcised, they are throwing their faith away for a legalistic practice and are strangers to Christ. The circumcised Israelites are sin-bearers, like Frodo is the ring-bearer. They are bearing the sins of the world till the Messiah comes and throws the ring, er… dies the death the Law demands to take away that sin of the world 😉

So we celebrate the Circumcision of Jesus as a major festival because it is only if he becomes ULTIMATE SIN-BEARER that his death can take away the sin of the world. And on the 8th day of his incarnate life, Jesus does this which shows the whole point and purpose of his life is to save us from our sins—which is what the Name “Jesus” means: “Yah, the LORD, saves”.

And so by faith alone, the non-rejection of Jesus sealed to us by Baptism and the Holy Supper we are indeed the Saved of the LORD and have the merriest of Christmases as the Peace surpassing all understanding guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.