The Festival of the Circumcision and Name of Jesus
Posted on January 1, 2025 by under
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 Festival is not all about the Lord’s first shedding of blood, but about our Lord placing Himself under the Law. He places Himself under the same Law to which we are subject. He does Himself what He has commanded His people to do. He obeys what He Himself demands.
In doing so, He fulfills perfectly all the requirements of this command. He is born perfectly and without sin, therefore, all those who by faith dwell in the Christ are without sin on account of Him. He is circumcised, therefore, we who cling to Him in faith are circumcised. He suffers and dies on the cross, therefore, we too have died to sin and shame. He is raised again from the dead so that we too, in the waters of Holy Baptism, are raised again as a new creation. He has fulfilled the Law perfectly for us, therefore, by faith we have put on the righteousness of the Christ.
He has subjected Himself to the Law, and has fulfilled it perfectly, so that all those who dwell in the Christ by the waters of Holy Baptism are now perfect in the eyes of God. We are perfect, holy, and without sin because our Lord subjected Himself to the Law.
Collect: O Merciful and Eternal God, heavenly Father, Who didst cause Thy Son to endure circumcision and to be made subject to the Law that we might be redeemed from the curse of the Law, we beseech Thee, grant us grace to become partakers of this redemption and thus obtain eternal salvation; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy beloved Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Sunday within the Octave of the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord
Almighty and Everlasting God, direct our actions according to Thy good pleasure, that in the Name of Thy beloved Son, we may be made to abound in good works; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord
Grant, we beseech Thee, Almighty God, that the new Birth of Thine Only-Begotten Son in the flesh may set us free who are held in the old bondage under the yoke of sin; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
