Shepherd of the Springs
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod

At the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Therefore, what was problematic for them was the fact that those of a true blood relationship to Abraham had been reduced over the previous 800 years to a remnant from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. In addition, for most of the previous 350 years, what you could only loosely call a nation was under the dominion of other powers from Alexander and the Greeks, to the Ptolemies in Egypt, to the outer reaches of the Roman Empire. My goodness they thought, surely there must be more to this covenant! There certainly is! But, their thinking and their prayers to God to deliver on his promises were limited to images of past national greatness - as in the glory days of David and Solomon. Thus when they thought about the problems of this fallen world to be overcome by a promised Messiah, their vision was limited to those forces and powers that would prevent such a reestablishment of those previous days of national glory. In other words, they thought about temporal blessings from God overcoming the political and economic obstacles in their world that they believed were hindering such worldly success, power and material well-being. This vision of the good life and what is needed to achieve it is not much different from many today is it - even among those who consider themselves religious, right?

But the blessing that God has put into place to be executed by his incarnate Son, is to remedy the problem of sin in your life . . . and in mine - that prevents a happy forever fellowship with our Creator. The problem to be overcome is the guilt of that gap between what you are and what you ought to be, not principally that gap that is there in your environment. The Lord is more interested in where we end up that where we are right now. The conditions of our world are continually moving on us - somewhere between just OK and just not OK. But one thing is a constant: We are all dead in our trespasses. Our fallen, sinful condition must be atoned for and overcome. The baby Jesus has come among us to do just that. And it begins with his identification with us and with Abraham’s seed. So, 8 days after His birth, the Christ child - a Son of Abraham, Son of Isaac, Son of Israel . . . son of Man - is presented by Mary and Joseph to be circumcised and receive his designated name, Jesus. He is named as He will do - He will save his people, He will save us from our sins. Here at last is the chosen seed of Abraham who will execute the conditions of the covenant so that the blessing might be extended to all nations . . . so that God might be gracious to sinners . . . so that God might gracious to you, and make you a citizen of his everlasting New Israel. This will be a permanent land and citizenry that will be filled not simply with milk and honey - it will be filled with righteousness and everything back in place that will make for paradise restored. As we look in on this event which installs this child into the covenant promise, and commissions him by his naming to be the chosen seed by which God will get His holy mission accomplished . . . we need to sharpen our awareness and appreciation of just what he has come into the world to do. First of all, we must make it clear, as He later will: He has not come to bring back the glory days of David and Solomon to the Jews and He has not come to make your temporal lives a continual Club Med.

This son of Abraham, this baby Jesus, soon to be of Nazareth, is now circumcised, and by that He not only bears the sign of the God’s covenant with Abraham and his descendants; He also bears the covenant itself. That is to say, He is the blessing that was promised. To live with God’s blessing, the Children of Abraham and Israel were told that they had to be faithful to the terms of the Covenant of Law as given by Moses. They failed. Indeed, after a gazillion chances, they failed. Jesus has come into the world to be that child of Abraham who would fulfill that Law that neither they nor we can fulfill. Moreover, where Isaac could not qualify as the proper sin offering, Jesus is circumcised and named to be God’s designated son of Abraham would be the perfect sacrifice for sin, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, the Favor of God, the Child of God by which you become forgiven and righteous - gaining favor with God and becoming his child. In this babe, His circumcision and naming, we may behold that final seed of Abraham by which we, in our baptism, have become children of the promise, sons and daughters of Abraham by faith, and sons and daughters of God by adoption.

Can this babe, this baby Jesus do all this? You bet. In the weeks and months to come, see him grow in wisdom and stature and favor with God. See him teach the Bible teachers as a kid in the temple. See him live the life we have all been called to live, but are not able. See the righteousness of God who lives and serves the Father for you. See your Savior suffer and die for your sins and be raised for your justification. See the promise made to Abraham fulfilled by the chosen Son that makes each of us sons and daughters of the Lord most high. Let us realize that all of this is entailed in the name Jesus. He is as he is named. Savior. He is named as he has been given a sacred vocation, a holy calling from God. To be the Savior from sin. Yours . . . and yours . . . and mine. As we now get ready to behold the outworking of the name of Jesus as we follow the unfolding of his vocation, let our response be as that of Mary in her response to hearing of the advent of this child and his name. Let it be, according to your word. That would do Abraham, the father of faith, proud. Of course it would!

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. A-men.