Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America

Festival of the Circumcision of our Lord

Posted on January 1, 2020 by Pastor Dulas under Devotions
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Scripture: St. Luke 2:21 (NKJV)
 
2:21 And when eight days were completed for the circumcision of the Child, His name was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb.
 
Devotion
 
This single short verse ushers in the fullness of Jesus’ earthly life of perfection under the Old Covenant Law of Israel. It is a life that must be flawlessly executed if He is to be the true blameless, without blemish or stain, Lamb of God—who is to be sacrificed for the sins of the world. These are the first acts of submissive obedience by Jesus Christ as He is officially, ceremoniously, sacrificially, sacramentally brought under all the provisions of the Mosaic Levitical Covenant established between God and the children of Abraham. We sometimes forget that Jesus lived His entire earthly life as a devout Jew, obeying every law and statute of the Old Testament.
 
Within that reality, circumcision on the eighth day showed incorporation into Israel (the children of Abraham by faith through grace), and included the eschatological (end times) hope of life in the age to come. We see this historic continuity materialize throughout the New Testament and the Early Church, where the Sacrament of Holy Baptism is performed on the eighth day because Saint Paul frames it in this context in Colossians 2:11-12. Every Jewish male child entered Israel and the hope of the new heavens and earth in his circumcision. In Christ’s circumcision the entire world enters into this hope as part of the fulfillment of all that must be accomplished for the world’s salvation.
 
We pray: Almighty Heavenly Father, we give You thanks that You have graciously invited Your Elect to be joined to You by grace through faith, and sealed us by Your chosen means of grace, presented in simple earthly items and acts. Amen.
 
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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