It’s a safe bet you’ve never once thought to yourself: “Woah. Hold on. Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day. Now that really hits me where I live.”
At that point, Jesus was a baby. And it’s true, babies are amazing. I saw Stephen and Kaycee McAdam’s baby for the first time in months, and she looked up at me with a sleepy, yet arrestingly sweet gaze. I would have given her my car if she could have asked. Although she might have said, “No thank you,” to the road-worn minivan.
So it’s true, babies are amazing, but we don’t really know what to do with Jesus as a baby. He couldn’t say anything profound yet. His circumcision and naming in Luke’s Gospel seem fairly mundane, like filler backstory before the main events. There doesn’t seem to be much there.
However, like a lot of events in the Bible, there’s more there than first meets the eye. Eight days after we celebrate his birth, our Anglican Church calendar directs us to reflect on Jesus’ circumcision and naming, and that’s what we’ll do this Sunday, January 2 {at *one* combined service at 10am}. Come ready to worship our Lord, and reflect on the surprising significance of this ritual in Jesus’ life, and its consequential significance in ours as well.
Almighty God, your blessed Son fulfilled the covenant of circumcision for our sake, and was given the Name that is above every name: Give us grace faithfully to bear his Name, and to worship him with pure hearts according to the New Covenant; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
In Jesus’ name,
Eric
