Today, the eighth day of Christmas, regarded secularly as New Year’s Day, is ecclesiastically the Feast of the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus. The remembrance of this day calls to mind that on the eighth day following his birth, Jesus was given his name, and the ritual cutting demanded by the ancient ceremonial law was performed upon his young tender skin. He who gave the Divine Law through Moses subjected himself to the same Law on our account. The sinless and completely innocent Son of God born of the blessed and ever Virgin Mary* was consecrated according to the custom of man so that he might fulfill all righteousness and bear our sin upon himself ransoming us from everlasting destruction. He who was named Jesus, which means savior, fulfilled the promise of God and has rescued us, bringing to us forgiveness, life and salvation. Oh what merry news this is indeed!Blessings+
Father Daniel
*On account of this personal union and communion of the natures, Mary, the most blessed Virgin, bore not a mere man, but, as the angel [Gabriel] testifies, such a man as is truly the Son of the most high God, who showed His divine majesty even in His mother’s womb, inasmuch as He was born of a virgin, with her virginity inviolate. Therefore she is truly the mother of God, and nevertheless remained a virgin.[1]
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[1]Formula of Concord, Solid Declaration, Article VIII paragraph 24.
Lutheran Church. Missouri Synod: Concordia Triglotta - English : The Symbolic Books of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. electronic ed. Milwaukee WI : Northwestern Publishing House, 1997, S. 1023
