In Christ

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

As we review the year coming to a close – how have we used it? “Is there one commandment we have not transgressed? Is there one day in which we have not sinned?” Is there one gift for which we have been perfectly thankful and used always and only as God intended? Is there one day where our mouths have poured forth only prayer and praise? “Is there one rescue from trouble for which we have offered the proper praise to God” (Walther)? Is there one sermon we have heard (or preached) that we have fully applied and taken to heart? Is there one neighbor whose needs we have seen to completely and joyfully?

As this year comes to a close, we can only cry out, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” And for those good things we have done, we can only say, “We are but unprofitable servants; we have only done what was our duty.”

You enter the new year with repentance, and deep thankfulness that despite your unworthiness, God continues to show you His mercy, and still wishes to make use of you in His kingdom. In His infinite mercy, God has kept the consequences of sin from being visited upon you in full measure, and has continued His providence in providing for your needs. Let this be your resolution, that you will pray fervently to God in the new year for the healing of your souls. “The most necessary thing for a truly happy and blessed beginning to a new year is that we do not carry forward the sins of the old year” (Walther).

Our secular new year coincides with the commemoration of the naming of Jesus, done for Jewish boys on the eighth day from birth. That we remember the naming of Jesus at the new year is fitting, for our new year, and each new day, should begin in the name of Jesus. “Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Col. 3.17).

The name Jesus unfolds the meaning of the name prophesied for the Messiah in Isaiah, “Immanuel”: “God is with us.” Jesus means “The LORD is salvation.” In other words, God came to be with us in order to give us His salvation. Matthew 1.21 explains, “For He will save His people from their sins.”

That saving work begins already as an eight-day old infant. On the day Jesus was named, He was also circumcised. It is such a strange, crude thing to have as a religious ritual. The cutting of a man’s sexual organ? Why does God command that?

What is the purpose of the man’s sexual organ? Procreation. The begetting of children. But since the fall, the children of Adam have been conceived in sin. Man’s generation is sinful and deadly. Circumcision was, for the people of God, a perpetual witness to the fallen-ness of man’s begetting. Circumcision was a perpetual witness to original sin.

Luther says that the male organ is the only body part that serves no purpose to the neighbor. If God had commanded the hand or tongue or some other part to be excised, it might be said that man could be purified by his work for his neighbor. But the flesh of the foreskin serves no need of the neighbor, and yet is intimately connected to the generation of man. And this most tender of man's flesh is intimately connected to a source of great sin, also.

Only One could change that. Only One could wipe out our debt of sin – the God-Man, Jesus, who made atonement for us with His blood. On the eighth day, He allowed Himself to be circumcised – He who was, as the Christmas carol puts it, “Born to give us second birth.”

The One whose eternal generation was from the Father, takes on a human generation without a human father in the womb of the blessed virgin Mary. He is born that we might be reborn, without the guilt of sin.

The Circumcision is a graphic reminder that God truly became one of us, truly took on our nature, our flesh and bone. In the cutting of His foreskin, we see that it was no spirit or angel who came to Bethlehem, but a fleshy Word. The Word truly was made flesh and tabernacled among us. This is why it is fitting to genuflect at the phrase “and was made man” in the Creed.

Not only was the Word literally, tangibly made flesh, taking on our human nature, although without sin, He also who knew no sin was made to be sin for us. Thus He suffers the indignity of circumcision – not for Himself, but for us. Like with His baptism, He does it to fulfill all righteousness, identify Himself with us poor sinners, and shed His blood for our forgiveness.

Thus also the Christ suffers and dies at the hands of sinful men. Thus also the LORD who saves accomplishes not His own salvation, but your salvation by dying your death and being buried into your tomb. Thus also the Lord of Life brings life and light to your dark sphere by rising to secure your life from the pit.

So our prayer on this glad night is that all that Jesus did for us, beginning in His circumcision, would be applied to us, and actually change us: “Grant us the true circumcision of the Spirit, that our hearts may be made pure from all sins.” It was in your baptism that this work began in you. St. Paul writes, “In [Christ] you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the powerful working of God, who raised him from the dead” [Col. 2.11f].

Note those words: “In Christ”. The circumcision of your heart has been accomplished by the One who was circumcised in your flesh. He has taken off the flesh of death and sin, and has restored you to new life again. He has shattered your heart of stone and replaced it with a heart of holy and pure flesh, beating with His life. And He has put His Name upon you.

The LORD who saves has taken up His Name so that He might give it to you. He has made you who once were not a people to be His holy nation and royal priesthood. He has made you who once were dead to be alive with His Spirit. He has made you who once were lost, unknown, and unloved to be His chosen, beloved people who are called by His Name. He has put His Name upon you, engraving it upon your forehead and your heart with a watery chisel. And He continues to trace that imprint in every Divine Service, clearing away the dust and debris and making the engraving stand out clear and bold. The Lord's Name is upon you – you are His!

No matter what the past year has done to you, and no matter what the new year has in store for you, rejoice and be glad! For in Jesus, all your sins are brought to an end, like the year coming to a close. He is your new year, He is your new birth, He is your new life. He has had mercy upon you in this year now closing, and His mercy will extend before you and around you in this new year dawning. Therefore, leave your sins in the darkness of the past, and look forward to the light of a new day and a new year. Therefore let us live in Jesus the obedient One, and do all things as people washed in His blood and named with His name.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.