Beginning with Bloodshed

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

Today is the beginning of a new year. With all the hopes and dreams and possibilities this day brings, no doubt you would like to put away the past year, with all the news of bloodshed, disaster, and violence. Some good news would be nice. A positive message to start the year off right. Something to give hope and joy. Not a message about bloodshed.

But bloodshed is how the Church starts the new year. In today's Gospel lesson, Luke records two things – that the Christ-child was circumcised, and that He was given the name Jesus. According to the Law of Moses, the Son of Man was brought to the temple and had done what was prescribed. On this day the shedding of His blood for you began. And so, it is only right that this new year begin with bloodshed.

Why circumcision?

For the ancient people of God, circumcision was a theological matter, and not a medical or social thing. It had nothing to do with hygiene, but everything to do with the command and promise of God. The Lord instituted circumcision for Abraham and his descendants, as a sign in the flesh of His covenant with His people, that the Lord would be their God, and they would forever be His people.

In this flesh, in a seemingly lowly and foolish member, God chose to execute His covenant with Abraham, because by this flesh of a man are all generations begotten. Therefore, the circumcision in the flesh points to the root of sin – actual sin which is inherited from our first father, Adam. As Luther writes, the circumcision of that which makes a man at once condemns the passing on of inborn sin, and yet preserves the human race and begets the whole Christian Church according to the flesh.

According to this command, having received this sign in their flesh by the shedding of blood, the children of Abraham were to walk according to all that the Lord gave in command and promise. However, despite the circumcision of their flesh, the children of Abraham retained the sin of mankind in their hearts. They often walked astray and followed after the lusts and desires of their own hearts and flesh, rather than following the Word of the Lord which was spoken to their father for all generations.

So, according to this same command, the Son of Mary was brought to the temple on His eighth day, and He was marked with the same bloody sign of the covenant. However, unlike all of the sons of Abraham before Him, this Son received circumcision not as a sign of a promise made, but of a promise kept. His shedding of blood, begun on this day in the temple, accomplished the promise that the Lord would send a savior into the world, the promised son of Abraham who would save His people from their sins.

Having done what the Law demanded, the Christ-child continued to live according to the covenant executed in His flesh, not only in flesh, but in spirit. He walked according to the Law of His Father. He kept the Law of Moses perfectly, fulfilling it entirely. In this, He showed Himself to be the true Son of God. He became the “end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4). The Christ did not come to abolish the Law, but to fulfill it, that its curse might be removed by the shedding of His blood, which began with this bloody sign performed in the temple.

At the same time, as He was circumcised in His flesh, the Child was given the name Jesus. Today, you give a child a name that is meant to be cute or creative or traditional or family-related. Then, it was the custom that the first-born receive a variant of his father’s name. But this Child received a name that was above all those superficial concerns and motives.

His name was to be called Jesus. This is the name that was given to Mary and Joseph by the angel Gabriel when the Child who would be born of Mary was conceived. Just as Jesus was conceived miraculously, without any say-so from Mary or Joseph, so also His name was given. His Father in heaven ordained that His name be Jesus, “for He shall save His people from their sins.”

The name Jesus means “The LORD saves”. The angel explained this to Joseph when he commended Mary to Joseph. So, you see, Jesus does according to who He is. He is the Lord come into the flesh “for us men and for our salvation” as we will shortly confess. He is the salvation of the world, even as a tiny, eight-day-old baby. The salvation of the world, the God who saves, is not just some abstraction, but flesh and blood, cradled in the arms of Mary and Joseph, struck by Moses’ knife.

By His perfect submission to the Law, by His full keeping of it, Jesus does what you could never do. He saves you from your sins. He redeems you, and all humanity, from the pit of destruction, from the wrath of God. He gives His perfect obedience to you, and He bears the suffering, pain, and death of your failure to keep the Law.

So, therefore, the circumcision of Jesus is also your circumcision. Where formerly the shedding of blood to mark the covenant between God and man occurred in the loins of the males, now it resides in the body of Jesus Christ. You no longer need circumcision in the flesh. You need the circumcision of the heart. That is, you need Jesus. His circumcision, His perfection, His fulfillment of the Law for you.

In Galatians, St. Paul describes your adoption as sons of God in Jesus. He writes, “For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” (Gal. 3:26) The blood of Jesus does what no amount of your blood, what no blood of any man born of the flesh could do. He unites God and man together. He bridges the divide and seals your adoption as children of God in His flesh and blood. “And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise” (Galatians 3:29). It is not the circumcision made with hands, but the cutting off of your old sinful heart that effects the covenant and the promise in the blood of Jesus poured out for you.

Therefore, through your baptism into Christ Jesus, His circumcision counts for you, whether male or female, young or old, and that bloody sign gives you all the rights of a son of God. It gives you access to the Father, to cry out “Our Father, who art in heaven!” It gives you the promise that He will never leave you nor forsake you.

So, you see, the name of Jesus explains His entire life, including His circumcision. This bloody sign executed on the eighth day begins the new creation through the shedding of blood. This bloody sign shows you how your salvation is accomplished: by blood, by suffering, and by death. This bloody sign makes Jesus’ name true - He is the LORD who saves His people from their sins.

Just as in circumcision His foreskin was cut off, in Jesus crucifixion your sin and death were cut off from you, so that you might receive the true circumcision of the heart. By this you know that you have new life.

In place of the old covenant of circumcision, Jesus gives a new covenant and promise. He takes bread and says, “This is My Body.” He takes wine and says, “This cup is the new covenant in My Blood which is shed for you for the remission of sins.” At this altar, you receive Jesus, the whole Jesus, the true Body and Blood of the One who is your life and salvation. And in this meal, the LORD comes to save His child - He comes to save you. He comes to give you everything that is His, everything that He has earned by the shedding of His blood. You are heirs of forgiveness, life, and salvation through the blood of Jesus.

Therefore, it is a good thing that the new year begins with bloodshed. We begin this year with the blood of Jesus on our tongues. And we go forth with the name of Jesus on our foreheads, on our hearts, and on our lips. Be covered in His precious blood, and ever show forth the Lord’s death until He comes again.

Sing praise to the God of Israel!

        Sing praise for His visitation!

Redeeming His people from their sin,

        Accomplishing their salvation,

Upraising a mighty horn within

        The house of His servant David! (LSB 936.1).

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.