After Eight Days
Luke 2:21
Circumcision and Name of Jesus 2023
At the end of eight days. It seems like such an irrelevant little phrase – at the end of eight days. Why not “after a few days” or “around a week later?” Of all the words in today’s reading these seem the least consequential. Circumcision is a big deal in Scripture. The name Jesus is life itself. There is no other name given under heaven by which you can be saved. But St. Luke recorded eight days and today is exactly 8 days after our Lord’s birth and what happened before and on that eighth day is the completion and fulfillment of everything you need for a blessed and happy new year.
Eight days takes us back to around 2000 BC, as far before the birth of Christ as we are after it. At that time God made a covenant with Abram. God chose Abram to father his people – the Hebrew people, whom we today would call the Jews. There was only one problem, Abram wasn’t a father and couldn’t father any children because his wife Sarai was barren. But, if there’s one thing we know from Scripture, God can (and does) bring life out of death. God chose Abram and promised that Sarai would have a son and through that son the world would be blessed. As part of that covenant promise God changed Abram’s name to Abraham and Sarai’s name to Sarah, and commanded Abraham to circumcise every male in his household, and any newborn son on the 8th day of his life. The very day God made that covenant Abraham circumcised himself and every male in his household. The next time Abraham knew his wife Sarah everything was different because there was the promise of a son and the sign of circumcision in his flesh.
Now you follow that promise through the barren women of the Old Testament and you’ll get quite a story. A son was born to Sarah and his name was Isaac which means laughter. Isaac’s wife Rebekah was barren and then she gave birth to Jacob and Esau, and Jacob’s name was changed to Israel after he wrestled with the Lord and held Him to His promises. Israel’s wife Rachel was barren until she gave birth to Joseph and you remember Joseph – he saved all of Israel from famine when he went down to Egypt. Years later it was Hannah who was barren and the Lord gave her a son Samuel – whose name means “His name is God.” Every birth to these barren women of an unexpected yet promised son gave God’s people hope – Isaac gave them a laughter and Jacob gave them confidence in the promises of God and Joseph showed them that God would save them and Samuel taught them God was with them. The birth of sons to barren women giving the sorrowful laughter, the discouraged hope, and the captives freedom. If you don’t see Christ in the Old Testament and foreshadows of Jesus born of the Virgin Mary you probably didn’t score well in reading comprehension on your Iowa Basics tests.
It is the opinion of some that the reason men in the Old Testament had multiple wives (even though that is contrary to God’s institution of marriage) was that they wanted to have as many children as possible in the hopes that the Savior would be born. In Stearns Country we make light of the old Roman Catholics for having a dozen children, but what better witness is there to God and to our faith? What greater witness than to desire many children, especially when children are despised in our land and considered a burden that gets in the way of pleasure and success.
Is it dangerous to have children? Yes. Is it going to cost you? Absolutely. Will they bring you pain and suffering? Most assuredly. Then why not follow the world and just make sex about the pleasure? Why not keep the children out of it? Because that’s not what God did. That’s not what God thought of you when in the garden He made His first created son out of the dust of the earth and fashioned His first daughter from the man’s rib. God considered you worth the pain, the suffering, and the love to create you and not just create you but redeem you at the cost of His only begotten Son – a Son born of a Virgin Mother, a son circumcised on the eighth day, fulfilling completely the promise to Abraham 2000 years before.
The Circumcision of Jesus fulfills God’s promise to Abraham, a greater Isaac, the true Israel, the greatest Joseph, not Samuel, but Immanuel is born for you. Now let’s take a look at that little number 8. I want to run some Biblical “eights” by you and while I do so ask yourself, “What is God teaching us with eight?” Eight people were saved on Noah’s ark. The Tabernacle had eight frames on its west wall, the wall closest to God’s presence in the Holy of Holies. Jesse had eight sons and the eighth, David, was chosen King. Josiah was 8 years old when he was made king. He was a good king who repented of Israel’s sins, kicked the false gods out of the land and restored Godly worship. Ezekiel the prophet was given a vision of the Temple when Israel was exile. The entrance to the room outside the most holy place had eight steps. Access to the Temple courtyard was from the North, South, and East and each entrance had 8 steps. Outside the North gate there were eight tables for the sacrifices. According to Saint Luke it was eight days after Jesus first spoke of His crucifixion that He was transfigured before Peter, James, and John. Thomas came to believe in Jesus’ resurrection eight days after Jesus rose – on the following Sunday evening.
What does this mean? Salvation and faith come in eights. It has been said that Jesus rose on the eighth day of the week. How do you get eight? There are seven days in creation, six in which God created and the seventh on which He rested. We know that we ruined God’s creation and now those seven days of the week are filled with sin, sorrow, and death. But Christ entered into God’s creation, taking on human flesh. Christ worked our salvation in seven days. On the sixth day He died and on the seventh He rested from His work in the tomb. On the first day of the next week –so if you’re counting – on the eighth day He rose again. The eighth day is the first day of the new creation. Jesus has saved you – that’s what His name means. He saved you by keeping God’s laws for you. Her saved you by shedding His blood for your sin. He is risen from the dead – that’s the beginning of forever for you – you’re forgiven, you’re alive, you’re free from your sins, free from death, free from Satan’s accusing finger. This risen Lord now sits at God’s right hand – it’s 2023 anno Domini – the year of our Lord. It’s not Biden’s year or cancer’s year or the year of the great recession or Russia’s year. Your brother and Lord Jesus has all things under His reign including you. He’s been on the throne for 2000 years and no one can unseat Him.
Every eighth day of 2023 you can hear this so you can believe this and live this. Christian’s don’t worship on the seventh day any more. We don’t observe the Sabbath on Saturday. We come on the eighth day. The day added on to the original seven days of creation. The day Christ rose. The day Thomas came to faith. Likely the day you were baptized into Christ, the day you made your confirmation confession that you believed, the day you first ate and continue to eat the living and risen body and blood of your Savior. There was a time when churches and baptismal fonts had eight sides. We know our beloved Redeemer church is one weird building, but yesterday I looked for eights in here. I found two – maybe you can find more. Look up. How appropriate that our beautiful cement ceiling has eight panels – pointing us to that eternal day. Look around – we have eight large panels of artwork depicting the Lord’s work among us. So, by accident or by the Spirit, there are even some eights at Redeemer, but the most important eight is the eighth day, the Lord’s day when your ruling Lord who shed His blood, whose name is Jesus, who Is your Savior comes to you with forgiveness for your sins. Be here every eighth day and the Lord will give you a great and blessed 2023, in the name of Jesus. Amen.