It always feels like the season of Christmas is so short. Advent, the season before Christmas lasts 4 weeks, Epiphany, the season after Christmas lasts for 7 weeks, but the season of Christmas is just two weeks long. 2 weeks just doesn’t seem like it is long enough. There are so many good hymns that are written for the Christmas season, but there never seems to be enough time to sing them all. The First Sunday after Christmas always kind of feels like someone pulled the needle off the record too soon.
It always feels like the season of Christmas is so short, but maybe that is because we don’t fully understand the Christmas story. The Christmas story is about more than a pregnant virgin’s journey from Nazareth to Bethlehem, it’s about more than a baby placed in a manger because there was no room for Him in the inns, it’s about more than an angelic chorus, evangelizing shepherds, and a ponderous mother. Those events are not the conclusion of the Christmas story, they are the beginning.
In Luke 2:21 we read, “21On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived.” This simple verse can easily be overlooked. In comparison to the 20 verses that proceed it, we might be tempted to treat the 21st verse as a footnote. The first 20 verses of chapter 2 tell us about a decree that Casar Augustus issued, a song the angels sang, and the virgin birth of the word made flesh. The first 20 verses are action packed, content rich, and heart-warming. Whereas verse 21 is about …circumcision.
Alison and Paige, I bet you never forget on which Sunday of the church year the two of you joined Messiah. Paige, you will forever be able to tell people, “I was baptized on circumcision Sunday!”. Just make sure you tell them it was the circumcision of Jesus that we focused on. Otherwise, people might get the wrong idea. Also don’t call it circumcision Sunday, that’s not a thing, better to just say the first Sunday in Christmas.
Circumcision seems like it is one of those details that falls into the category of “too much information”; it doesn’t seem like something we should be talking about the on the first Sunday after Christmas. But, as we shall see, it is information the Lord shares with us to remind us that the story of Christmas continues beyond Christmas Eve.
A week and a day had passed since the excitement of arriving in the little town of Bethlehem and the anxiety of finding a place for Mary to give birth to her firstborn Son. During that time, it is likely that Joseph had secured more suitable housing for his wife and her newborn. The eighth day was a special day for a newborn son. On the eighth day, all male Israelite children were to be circumcised. Today, circumcision is optional. Those who exercise the option do so for health and hygiene reasons. However, the Israelites had a more important reason to observe the practice of circumcision. Circumcision was commanded by God in Genesis 17 when he directed Abraham “10 Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. 12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised.” (It was also at this time that God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Saria’s name to Sarah. Remember that for later when we talk about Joseph giving his adopted Son the name Jesus.) Anyways on that very day Abraham, who was 99 years old – old enough to remember his circumcision- and every male in his household were circumcised. God described circumcision as a covenant, a legal and binding agreement signed in the flesh that marked Abraham and his descendants as the people of God. Circumcision was in that way like Baptism. Through both circumcision and baptism God is claiming people to be His own. So, Paige maybe it isn’t as weird as it sounds to be baptized on Circumcision Sunday, I mean the first Sunday in Christmas.
Talking about circumcision wasn’t at all awkward for the descendants of Abraham. They were proud to be circumcised. They scornfully called the Gentiles “the uncircumcised”, meaning, the Gentiles were people separated from God, excluded from citizenship in Israel, and without promise or hope.[1] The Israelites were proud to be circumcised because it marked them as the people of God. But in their pride many of them had overlooked the deep truths God sought to teach His chosen people through the practice of circumcision.
Circumcision was a painfully bloody reminder of sin. Not so much the sins that we are guilty of on a daily basis, but rather sin itself. Not so much the sinful things we do, but rather the sinners that we are. With the practice of circumcision God was drawing attention to original sin, the kind of sin we inherit from our parents. It was not an earlobe that was clipped or a nose that was pierced, it was the part of the sinful flesh that was responsible for reproduction of sinful children that was cut away. Circumcision was another reminder that blood must be shed before the sinful descendants of Adam to be brought into the family of God.
But circumcision was not just a reminder of sin, it was also a reminder of the Savior. Circumcision was primarily a covenant of grace between God and Abraham; it connected Abraham and all his descendants with the promise of Salvation. From Abraham and his offspring would come the Redeemer who would make it possible for sinners to become saints, for the sons and daughters of men to become the children of God.
So what does circumcision have to do with the Christmas story? Well, as I said before, in many ways this is where the Christmas story, or the story of Christ begins. Already on the eighth day of His earthly existence, Jesus is actively and passively engaged in the plan of our salvation.
I say He is actively engaged in our salvation because with His circumcision you see Him giving substance to the words of Galatians 4:4-5 where Saint Paul writes, “4 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law. 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.” I have often thought of Jesus' baptism as His active submission to be born under the law to redeem those under the law. And we do mark Jesus’ baptism as the beginning of His three-year ministry. But being submerged in water was easy compared to what He submitted himself to after only eight days as a son of man. As true God, Jesus was, is, and ever shall be above the Law. Yet He submitted to the rite of circumcision, He endured that painful and bloody rite not because He needed to but because He wanted to. Later Jesus would explain to His disciples, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.”[2] When He endured the rite of circumcision, Jesus was obeying the covenant agreement God the Father Had established with Abraham and was identifying Himself with sinners. Already, at just eight days old, Jesus was keeping the law perfectly in our place as our substitute. He is eight days old and He is already actively engaged in your salvation.
However, the active obedience of Christ alone was not sufficient for our salvation. It was not enough for Him to keep The Law perfectly in our place. A punishment was also required in order to pay for the laws we had already broken. That punishment would require permission because as true God no one could force Jesus to do anything. As Jesus once told the Pharisees, “18 No one takes it [my life] from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again.”[3] And as He said to Pontius Pilate, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.”[4] In order that He be punished for our sins, Jesus had to give His permission. We call this giving of permission the passive obedience of Christ.
I typically focus on the blood that was shed from pierced hands and feet when I think of the passive obedience that was required to pay for our sins. However, already on the eighth day of his earthly existence, the blood of our Savior flowed. Which is why, on that day, Joseph named Him Jesus. The name Jesus is more than a sound to be uttered, it is a description of Who He is. It is a name that gives substance to the words of Hebrews 9:22 where we are told, “22 … without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” The name “Jesus” means, “Yahweh saves” and, with the shedding of His blood, that is exactly what Jesus did. From the blade of a Rabbis to the nails of a Roman, Jesus allowed his blood to be shed for the payment of our sins. Already at just eight days old, Jesus is passively engaged in your salvation.
My friends, as we have just seen from the circumcision of Jesus, the Christmas story is not over. It has just begun! So, perhaps I should stop whining and complaining about the shortness of the Christmas season. Perhaps, my time would be better spent learning more about the Christmas story. Perhaps I shouldn’t allow myself to be so attached to the season that celebrates His birth that I forget about the rest of the year that celebrates our Savior’s active obedience under the law and His passive obedience that allowed the shedding of His blood. Perhaps we should think of every Sunday as a part of the Christmas story and be just as excited about the Sunday after Christmas as we were about Christmas Eve.
Maybe that should be our New Year’s resolution. Maybe we should be resolved not to become seasonal worshipers. Maybe 2025 should be the year we resolve to be in worship every Sunday. Maybe we could skip a Sunday morning hunt to hear more about the Christmas story. Maybe when we go on vacation we can be sure to find a church that faithfully tells the Christmas story. Maybe when family and friends come to visit we can bring them to hear the Christmas story. Maybe we tell the kids coach, our family has a prior commitment to hear the Christmas story on Sunday morning. The Christmas story does not end in the little town of Bethlehem. Therefore, with the coming of a new year, let us be resolved to hear as much of that story as we can. May God bless us to that end. Amen.
[1] Ephesians 2:11-12
[2] Matthew 5:17
[3] John 10:18
[4] John 19:11