Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

And at the end of the eighth day, when He was circumcised, He was called Jesus, the name given Him by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. [Luke 2.21]

I.

Yesterday, at the Divine Service for the Sunday after Christmas, your attention was drawn to the events that followed the birth of your Lord Jesus Christ in Bethlehem. In particular, you heard of the circumcision of the baby Jesus on the evening ending the 8th day, or in our more familiar way of speaking, the circumcision in the evening, one week after His birth. And then you also heard of the events in the Temple when Jesus was presented as the first-born Son of Joseph and Mary, on the 40th day after His birth. This presentation was the responsibility of the every set of parents, presenting their first-born, if the first-born was a male, and then having he released back to the family by their sacrificial offering of cattle, or, if they were poor, of a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. For the Old Testament ceremonial Law declared: "Every male who is first to open the womb shall be called holy to the Lord – shall belong to the Lord. And so it was that Jesus, too, on the appointed day, was circumcised, and officially given His name.

Today the practice of circumcision, long popular in Western culture, is under strong attack. And those who defend it often argue that it really doesn’t hurt an infant. Forget that defense! It hurts the kid a lot! And that hurt is part of God’s intention in establishing a covenant by circumcision. Jesus undergoes the pain of circumcision, under to the Law.

Why so? Because He is submitting to the Law in your stead? Yes, that’s true, but there’s more going on here. Jesus is not only put under the Law, but He also is put under the pain of obedience. As the author to the Hebrews puts it, "Though he were a Son [that is, God’s Son], yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered" (Heb. 5.8).

Everything that Jesus suffers, from this first infant cut, when He is officially called "Jesus," "Savior," until He receives in His dead, crucified body the spear of the soldier, when the Centurion declares, "Truly, He was the Son of God," Jesus obeys, for you! This obedience is not a piece of cake for Him because He is God! This obedience is costly, and painful! It is the obedience to God the Father than even the best-behaved of His chosen people cannot render! Jesus renders it, for you! It is blood-bought obedience, from start to finish!

And it avails for you! The Father sees this, His obedient Son, His blood-covered obedient Son, and He lays His anger by, concerning you! This was the mystery of the ages! This was God’s sole and ultimate purpose in all His dealings with the children of men. This was God’s purpose in sending forth His Son, and you begin to see that purpose at work when the week-old holy infant is circumcised, for you.

II.

But there is more afoot in this particular event on the evening of the 8th day. He is given His name, and it is the name that was given to Him before He was conceived in the womb. Before the evening of the 8th Night of His birth – as this is now the 8th Night of our just celebrated Christmas – His name was a matter of holy conversation, but on that evening the named is given, it is stamped on Him, forever.

It was the Name that was given to his earthly foster-father by the angel, the then unbelieving Joseph after hearing from his fiancée, Mary. The angel said: "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a Son, and you shall call His name "Jesus" – which means "Savior" – for He will save His people from their sins."

And St. Matthew, who records this event for us, adds, "all this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call His name "Immanuel" (which means, "God is with us").’ When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: He took his wife, and He did not know her all the way to she had given birth to a son. And he called His name ‘Jesus.’"

Jesus – Savior – who saves by being also Immanuel—Being God down-to-earth with us! That is His name, for that is His purpose. This same name has been given to you! For that is why Jesus cames – He takes what is His, and gives it to you, and He takes what is yours, and gives it to Himself, takes it on His shoulders, and then He fulfills His proper name – Jesus – Savior – the Saving One – my Savior – Your Savior == for ever! That is the significance of this night, this 8th night, this one-week after Christmas Eve. It is worth your being here, on this 8th night. It si worth your hearing it. It is worth your thankful meditation on this holy night.

III.

But wait, there is more! Permit this extended metaphor, this personal, public report – which I am loathe to do in a sermon, but it seems to important to pass by.

The report involves a son, who had a mother – not unusual! But this particular mother had a habit – a bad habit, besmirching her otherwise generally saintly behavior. This mother would insisted on sewing pre-printed labels into everything she ever gave to this particular son – in this way, she put his name on everything. She sewed it until his clothing: His coats, his hats, his gloves, his shirts, his slacks, and most horrid of all of this among these other indignities, into his underwear. He was very active in cub scouts and boy scouts as a child, and he had an especially active scout troop, and the favor activity, at least once a month, and often more, was troop campouts. And this mother would make sure that every possible thing that she packed for every campout had her son’s name sewn into it.

And of course, it would happen, more than once, that some fellow scout would spot the label on the underwear and would grab it, and play keep-away, until the most brave, or reckless, of the scouts would bound out the door, into the night, into the outhouse, and, then, "in the hole it goes." And the underwear would suffer an ignominious demise. It happened often over the years, not only to her son, but also to others scouts who had a similarly evil mother.

It was horrid, but it didn’t end then. For, just about the time that this particular scout was 14, they invented this despicable invention – the Magic Marker!

And because the son would occasionally be known to use his scout knife to cut out the sewn-on labels -- the needle-fashioned identification -- the mother began to use the Magic Marker, which made the labeling easier to spot, with big fat lettering, more obvious than a little pre-printed label – and it was permanent – inside and outside of the garment! The clothing was branded! Branded for the life of the shirt or jacket or slacks or underwear!

When Jesus is given the name of Jesus – He is branded, permanently, with that name – Savior! And when you enter – as an infant, a child, an adolescent, or an adult, into the New Testament corollary to circumcision, which is Holy Baptism, you are branded, with the name of Jesus, indelibly, permanently, for life, for death, for eternity.

And so it is that you are hear tonight! And so it is that you are equipped to enter into a new calendar year – with the fullness of salvation nearer to you than when you first believed. You have been branded – marked with the strokes of God’s Magic Market in the water of holy baptism. For on this night many centuries ago, Jesus was branded – given the name of Jesus – Savior! And now you are branded with that same name – the Savior’s beloved child, the Savior’s chosen child, the Savior branded child – forever!