Sermon for the Feast of the Circumcision and Name of Jesus

                                                                                  Circumcision and Name of Jesus
                                                                                   Lk 2:21
                                                                                   1/1/17

When I was growing up in the Lutheran church, we had “Confirmation class” in seventh and eighth grade. Now it may surprise you to hear that I hated doing catechesis in eighth grade. This wasn’t because I didn’t find the material interesting. No, from first grade on I had always been very interested in the Bible and the Church. I enjoyed the first year of catechesis and was probably a handful for my pastor as I asked questions that he didn’t normally field in Confirmation class.

However, the second year in eighth grade was miserable. And that was because we did the exact same thing for the second year in a row. I was bored out of my mind and hated going to Confirmation class. I already knew that I wanted to be a pastor, and I promised myself that I would never do this to anyone else.

That is part of the reason that at Good Shepherd we have two alternating years of catechesis. In one year we walk through the Small Catechism and focus directly on covering the doctrinal content. But in the other year, we focus instead on biblical readings that summarize the key events and themes in God’s plan of salvation. Along the way we cover the doctrinal content of the Small Catechism as it arises in individual biblical texts. And of course Learn by Heart teaches and reinforces the Small Catechism every year.

Once I was a pastor, I discovered that in addition to avoiding the repetition I had hated as a youth, this approach had another needed benefit. We live at a time when Christians have less basic knowledge about the content of Scripture than in the past. This is not something that is learned at home in the way it once was. People are less apt to view Sunday school as an important learning experience for their children. Now those are areas I certainly want to try to help improve, but at least the year of biblical readings guarantees that no one is going to finish catechesis at Good Shepherd without learning about the key texts of Scripture. 

And if I am being honest, I have found that every other year it provides another moment that I was always enjoy. Of course, we talk about Yahweh’s covenant with Abraham. In doing so, we read part of Genesis chapter 17 where God changes Abram’s name into Abraham, which means father of many. Next God’s says, “This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.” 

And then, I get to ask the seventh and eighth graders: “So what is circumcision?” Now his is guaranteed to produce a delightfully uncomfortable silence and to make the catechumens squirm. Because in most cases they either have an idea of what it is, or they know exactly what it is – but there is no way they want to say it out loud. After all, what middle school youth wants to say the word “penis” in front of their peers and an adult? And more than that, who wants to say this word at church?

Yet this sets before us a rather interesting – and I suppose strange – fact about the theology of the Old and New Testaments. A central and key factor – circumcision – is something that today we don’t really don’t talk about. After all it does seem kind of strange to be talking in church about cutting off part of the male organ – and note how I have slipped into euphemism here. Or, and this is probably a bigger reason, because circumcision is not something we think about at all. I mean in our world, it is something that is done to basically every male baby. It usually happens before we even take the baby home and it’s not something that we see done – I mean, I don’t want to see it done to my child. When nearly every baby is circumcised in this way, it’s just no big deal.

And yet, if we are to understand God’s Word and the event we are celebrating today, we have to recognize that for God’s people in both the Old and New Testament it was an incredibly big deal. As we just heard in the words from Genesis chapter 17, circumcision was the sign of the covenant. Commanded then by the Torah, it was a physical mark on a pretty important part of the man’s body that said that yes, he was part of the Yahweh’s covenant people.

It was a very obvious sign in the ancient Greco-Roman world that existed in Jesus’ day, because people of this culture were never circumcised. In fact they viewed circumcision as a bizarre and foolish mutilation of the body. What could be more stupid!

And so it is that in our text for today – the shortest text you will probably ever hear me preach on – Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to be circumcised. The account of Jesus’ circumcision on the eighth days is a single verse sandwiched between the Christmas gospel and the later visit to Jerusalem when they meet Simeon and Anna. It shows us that Mary and Joseph were faithful parents who obeyed God’s word. First, they brought Jesus to be circumcised in accordance with the Law. And at this event when a name was given, they called him “Jesus” – which means “Yahweh saves” - just as the angelic messenger had directed them.

Mary and Joseph are the instrument here by which God’s saving plan is fulfilled. Jesus is circumcised in accordance with the Law of Moses. He is circumcised as part of God’s people Israel – the nation God called is son. He is the descendant of King David whose royal descendants were also called God’s son. Jesus is in fact God’s Son, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity, yet as the incarnate One he has taken on the role of being Israel reduced to One. He has come to fulfill all that the Davidic king was meant to be. He has come to fulfill all that Israel was meant to be. As we will hear this coming Friday on the Feast of the Epiphany of the Lord, he came to be the true light to the nations.

Jesus submitted to every requirement of the Law in order to be the perfect sacrifice for the sin of all people. Writing to the church in Galatia, Paul said, “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” He came to redeem us – to free us from the curse that God’s law directs toward all who disobey his eternal will. Jesus did this by receiving God’s judgment against sin in our place. And then in his resurrection he began the life of the new creation.

At his circumcision the incarnate Lord receives the name “Jesus.” He is called “Yahweh saves” when he is circumcised and it is by being circumcised that he is Yahweh saving – God working out the salvation of all people.

This happens as Mary and Joseph are faithful in their vocations – their callings as parents. They weren’t always faithful. You aren’t either. And that is why Jesus is there being circumcised. He is there because Yahweh is saving through him. He is bringing forgiveness and salvation to all people. And that means that Jesus’ circumcision will bring about an end to circumcision itself. 

Jesus came to fulfill the saving purpose of Israel and the first covenant – the covenant made at Mt Sinai. In our epistle lesson Paul says that the Law of Moses played its role from the founding of the covenant at Mt Sinai until the coming of Christ. It restrained Israel from sin and kept them separate from the pagan nations as they looked for Yahweh’s Messiah.

But with the coming of Christ it no longer plays this role. Instead by the shedding of his blood on the cross Jesus has established a new covenant. This covenant includes all people – Jew and Gentile – alike. It includes you. Circumcision is not the sign that has been commanded for this covenant, and so circumcision itself is no longer a matter of spiritual and religious significance. When it comes to being part of God’s people it’s, “Do it. Don’t do it. Whatever.”

You don’t have to circumcise your son. You don’t have to avoid pork. You don’t have to worship on Saturday. The Law of Moses was filled with very specific commands about the way things were to be done. When you begin to look at things, it sounds like Jesus has freed you from having to do a great deal. He has, and in an even more significant way he has because he has freed you from having to do anything at all in order to be saved. You don’t have to do anything because you can’t do anything. Jesus has done it all and gives it to you freely as a gift – a gift received by faith.

But that doesn’t mean that you are free to do whatever you want. Paul told the Galatians, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” You are free in Christ to keep the law of love.

And that brings us back to our text. There we see that Mary and Joseph are fulfilling their vocation – the calling that God had given them as parents. They are serving God by serving Jesus as they bring him to be circumcised. You are free to follow their example. As parents that means you are free to serve your children by reading Bible stories with them and having family devotions – even when schedules make it hard to do, or not everyone is there. You are free to use the Small Catechism at home in precisely the way it was intended – in exactly the way it says at the beginning of each section: “As the head of the family should teach it in a simple way to his household.” You are free to bring them to Sunday school – even when that means coming to church a little earlier or staying a little later. 

You are to serve your neighbor in every vocation where God places you – to be the means God uses to care for your husband or wife, father and mother, employer and employee. We may not have the detailed kind of legislation that you find in the Law of Moses, but God has not left us without direction. He has provided descriptions in his Word of what this life looks like. Some of the most helpful are gathered together in the Table of Duties of the Small Catechism. Check them out this week. They are a great place to start.

We celebrate today the Feast of the Circumcision and Name of Jesus. Jesus was circumcised by faithful parents in what was really, the first event of Jesus’ mission. Jesus Christ came to be the Messiah – the Davidic king who was Israel reduced to One. He came to be what Israel was meant to be as God’s light to the nations in a fallen world. He is circumcised and receives the name Jesus because though him, “Yahweh saves” us.

Commemoration of David

Today we remember and give thanks for David.  David, the greatest of Israel’s kings, ruled from about 1010 to 970 B.C.  David was gifted musically. He helped to organize the music for the temple and was the author of 73 psalms. His public and private character displayed a mixture of faithfulness (for example, his defeat of the giant Goliath; 1 Samuel 17) and sin (as in his adultery with Uriah’s wife, followed by his murder of Uriah, 2 Samuel 11).  In 2 Samuel 7:12-16, God promised that He would establish David’s kingdom forever, as He promised that the Messiah would descend from David.   It was under David’s leadership that the people of Israel were united into a single nation with Jerusalem as its capital city. 

Collect of the Day:

God of majesty, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven, we give you thanks for David who, through the Psalter, gave your people hymns to sing with joy in our worship on earth so that we may glimpse your beauty.  Bring us to the fulfillment of that hope of perfection that will be ours as we stand before your unveiled glory; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Feast of the Holy Innocents

Today is the Feast of the Holy Innocents, Martyrs.  In the attempt to kill the infant Jesus, King Herod the Great murdered all the children in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or younger (Matthew 2:16-18).  Since they were killed because of Christ, the Church very early honored these babies as “the buds of the martyrs,” killed by the frost of hate as soon as they appeared.  The Holy Innocents remind us of the terrible cruelty which sin has brought into the world.  Their deaths point forward to the death and resurrection of the Innocent One, Jesus Christ through whom God has conquered sin and death.

Scripture reading:

Now when they had departed, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” And he rose and took the child and his mother by night and departed to Egypt and remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet, “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

Then Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men. Then was fulfilled what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah: “A voice was heard in Ramah, weeping and loud lamentation, Rachel weeping for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they are no more.” (Matthew 2:13-18)

Collect of the Day:

Almighty God, the martyred innocents of Bethlehem showed forth Your praise not by speaking but by dying.  Put to death in us all that is in conflict with Your will that our lives may bear witness to the faith we profess with our lips; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist

Today is the Feast of St. John, Apostle and Evangelist.  John and his brother James were among the first apostles called by Jesus.  He was present with our Lord at His transfiguration and in the Garden of Gethsemane.  From the cross, Jesus entrusted the care of His mother Mary to John.  He is the author of the Gospel that bears his name, as well as three epistles and the Book of Revelation.  According to tradition, John was banished to the island of Patmos (off the coast of Asia Minor) by the Roman emperor Domitian.  In his later work John is associated with Ephesus and he is believed to have been the only apostle who did not die a martyr’s death as he lived to a very old age and died at the end of the first century A.D. 

Scripture reading:

Peter turned and saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them, the one who also had leaned back against him during the supper and had said, “Lord, who is it that is going to betray you?” When Peter saw him, he said to Jesus, “Lord, what about this man?” Jesus said to him, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow me!” So the saying spread abroad among the brothers that this disciple was not to die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he was not to die, but, “If it is my will that he remain until I come, what is that to you?”

This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.  Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:20-25)

Collect of the Day:

Merciful Lord, cast the bright beams of Your light upon the Church that we, being instructed in the doctrine of your blessed apostle and evangelist John, may come to the light of everlasting life; for You live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Sermon for the Feast of the Nativity of our Lord - Christmas Day - Tit 3:4-7

                                                                                               Christmas Day
                                                                                                Titus 3:4-7
                                                                                                12/25/16

One hundred years ago, in 1916, the Marion Carnegie Library opened its doors. The Carnegie library is one of the gems of Marion, having been expended and renovated several times, most recently in 1997. The Carnegie library exists here because of the philanthropy of one man: Andrew Carnegie.

Andrew Carnegie immigrated from Scotland and lived as a teenager in the Pittsburgh area. Carnegie worked at a local telegraph company. Looking back he credited James Anderson with playing an important role in his life’s success. Anderson opened his personal library to workers every Saturday. Carnegie remembered how Anderson gave working boys the opportunity to gain the knowledge that helped them to improve themselves.

Carnegie’s experiences led him to believe that society should be a place where anyone who worked hard could improve their life. His efforts in the steel industry made him into one of the richest men in the world during the 1880’s. And then he began to give his money away in acts of philanthropy – a word that comes from the Greek word that means “love of man.”

Carnegie’s personal philosophy shaped one of the greatest programs of philanthropy in United States history. Carnegie believed that philanthropy should assisted the "industrious and ambitious; not those who need everything done for them, but those who, being most anxious and able to help themselves, deserve and will be benefited by help from others.” Convinced of the importance that access to books had in his own success, Carnegie began to give $10,000 grants to build libraries.

Carnegie had a formula that determined whether a community would receive the money. It had to provide the building site, and more importantly, it had to provide public funds to staff and operate the library. Carnegie wanted the library to be a matter of public concern and involvement, not the personal playground of a wealthy clique. And finally, it had to provide free service to all.

Between 1883 and 1929, 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built worldwide – 1,689 of them in the United States. Carnegie gave away $60,0000,000 of his personal wealth in order to build these libraries. To give you some perspective on how generous he was, in adjusted dollars that would be almost $1.7 billion dollars today.

In the epistle lesson for Christmas Day, Paul says that the goodness and lovingkindness of God our Savior has appeared. The Greek word in our text translated as “lovingkindness” is in fact philanthropia – the word that gives us the English word “philanthropy.” Like Andrew Carnegie, Christmas reveals a great and costly act of philanthropy by God – a love of man. In the baby born in Bethlehem we see a great gift. But unlike Carnegie, this gift did not have as its aim those who are most anxious and able to help themselves. Instead, God gave it because people were utterly unable to do anything at all. 

In the letter to Titus, Paul is writing to his co-worker in the Gospel. Paul tells Titus that his job on the island of Crete is to organize the newly founded churches there. He is to appoint pastors in every town. The apostle describes the characteristics of the men who are suitable candidates for this. And then in the rest of the letter, Paul reminds Titus about what these pastors need to teach.

Paul introduces our text this morning by writing, “Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.” The apostle describes how these new Christians are to live. They are to obey the rulers of society. They are ready to do good works. They are not to be malicious and quarrelsome, and instead they are to be gentle and caring toward others.

Now the Greco-Roman world had no shortage of philosophers who offered counsel and advice about how a person should live well. Much of it is very good – and in fact you would find some of it sounds like what is in the New Testament. But today – Christmas – is what makes Paul’s instruction different. He does not just tell the Christians to suck it up and do better. Instead, he grounds his instruction in what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. And on top of that, he tells us that our life in Christ is one that is led and moved by the Holy Spirit.

In the verse just before our text, Paul begins with his explanation of why Christians should live in this way. And he starts with what Christians used to be. He writes, “For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.”
If you are looking for a warm fuzzy about human potential … the Bible is definitely not the place you should look. Oh, it’s not that people aren’t capable of doing things. It’s just that Scripture tells us that since the Fall, everything they do is turned in on themselves and away from God. As we now exist in the world, our natural inclination is to do things that reject God’s will. Sin is the default setting of human beings.

Now as Paul describes, this produces a rather unpleasant setting in which to live. But far more importantly, it sets people in opposition to God. Sinners sin – that’s what they do. And when it comes to the holy God, sinners cannot live in fellowship with him. Instead sin provokes God wrath and judgment. It brings death. First it brings the physical kind because as Paul told the Romans, “The wages of sin is death.” But even more significantly it brings the eternal death of hell.

That is where things stood on Christmas Eve. But then Paul goes on to say, “But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

God revealed his kindness and love for man when Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem. God had always been known in the Old Testament as the God who abounds in steadfast loving kindness. But he took it to a whole new level when he sent his Son into the world at Christmas. The Father sent forth the Son into our world to carry out a mission. The Son took humanity into himself, without ceasing to be God. The One born in Bethlehem was true God and true man. And he did this in order to suffer and die for you.

In the previous chapter Paul had already used the language of “appearing.” He wrote, “For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people.” Jesus came to be the Savior – to be the One who brings salvation from sin and God’s wrath. And Paul goes on to say that he “gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.”

Jesus Christ came to save people who couldn’t do anything for themselves. Pauls says in our text that he saved us “he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy.” It was God’s mercy and love for us that led Jesus to the cross where he died as the sacrifice for your sins. There he received the judgment and wrath of God in your place. And by doing this he has redeemed you – he has won forgiveness for you so that you are a saint in God’s eyes because of Christ.

On Christmas, Mary gave birth to the new life of child. This new life had been conceived in her womb through the work of the Holy Spirit. But the Spirit was not done with his work. For on the third day, the Spirit entered into the tomb and gave new life to the body of Jesus. He transformed Jesus’ body so that it can never die again as he raised Jesus from the dead.

The continuing work of the Spirit now brings new life to us. He does it in Holy Baptism. Paul says in our text that God “saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

The Holy Spirit has given you new life. Jesus Christ was born at Christmas so that you could be born again. Nourished by the food of God’s Word and the Sacrament of the Altar, the new man created by the Spirit is being led by the Spirit to live in ways that look like Jesus.

This is great news! This is wonderful news! But sadly, it’s not the only news. Because while the new man has been created in you because of the baby born in Bethlehem, the old man created by the sin of Adam is still present too. The old man wants to sin – he wants to serve himself and disobey God. That’s the reason that Paul has to write the words of our text in the first place. That’s why Paul tells Titus to have the pastors on Crete remind the people about how they are to live as Christians. That’s why your pastor reminds you about how you are to live as Christians. 

As we think about this, we must always start with today. We start with Christmas. We start with the Gospel. For on Christmas the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared as he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy. He saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit. And so in faith we return to our baptism, for there the Spirit joined us to Christ’s saving death. And the Spirit who raised Jesus Christ from the dead also gave us new life so that we can live in faith toward God and love toward our neighbor.  

Now when the Spirit has this word of God spoken to us – a word that reminds us to obey authorities; to be ready for every good work; to speak evil of no one; to avoid quarreling and instead to be gentle and to show kindness toward all people – the new man in us know that this is exactly what he wants to do. And the Spirit uses this word to bash the old man. The Spirit uses it to suppress the old man, so that the new man in Christ directs what we actually do.

This is the life of the Christian who is forgiven because of Jesus and is an heir of eternal life. It is the life of a person who has been born again through the work of the Spirit in Holy Baptism. It is the life that has been made possible because “the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared” when Jesus Christ was born at Christmas.