[0:00] Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. In Judaism, there are some who believe that when baby Moses was born, he was born already buried in his newborn body, the mark of circumcision.
[0:23] And the reason some believe this is because, first, Holy Scripture never tells us exactly when or even if Moses was circumcised.
[0:34] So the idea here is that Moses was simply born that way, born already bearing the mark of circumcision. And second, according to the book of Exodus, the reason Moses' mother hides her newborn son from Pharaoh for three months is because she sees that he is beautiful, which could also be translated as, she sees that her son is good, or visibly special, or physically unique, as if Moses was born with some visible mark already showing that he was destined, destined for great things for all the children of Israel.
[1:18] And third, when Pharaoh's daughter also sees baby Moses, she immediately, immediately recognizes him as one of the Hebrew children.
[1:32] And how could she ever have known that unless she saw some visible mark, a mark that linked Moses to the Hebrew people, a visible mark like the mark of circumcision.
[1:46] Or whatever the case may be, whether baby Moses was born already bearing the mark of circumcision or not, this morning I wonder, I wonder what greater, greater things our Lord's circumcision has to show us.
[2:08] For today, on the eighth day after Christmas, on the eighth day after the celebration of our Lord's birth, we read, And when the eighth days after his birth were completed for the circumcision of the child, his name was called Jesus.
[2:28] Therefore, the very first thing that I believe our Lord's circumcision can show us today is exactly what kind of king that Jesus Christ truly is.
[2:42] For it is the fear of every nation that any newborn sovereign will one day prove to be a lawless tyrant, but not so for Jesus. No, not so for our newborn king.
[2:56] For at the tender age of only eight days old, Jesus already proves himself to be a king, who is by no means lawless, but who will in fact abide by his very own laws.
[3:09] For when the fullness of time had come, God set forth his son, born of a woman, born under the law, even the ceremonial law of circumcision, to redeem those who are under the law.
[3:28] Which leads me to the second thing that I believe our Lord's circumcision can show us this morning, and that is that it gives us a preview of what is to come.
[3:38] In other words, the shedding of Christ's blood in his circumcision foreshadows the shedding of Christ's blood on the cross. Only in regard to the former is Christ's blood shed to fulfill the legal requirements of the old covenant ceremonial law, while in the latter Christ's blood is shed in order to institute a new covenant of grace.
[4:06] Yet before that new covenant of grace could begin, all the legal requirements of the old covenant ceremonial law first needed to be fulfilled.
[4:17] For again, Jesus Christ is not a lawless tyrant. For Christ Jesus did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the prophets, but to fulfill.
[4:31] Which brings us to the third and final thing that I believe our Lord's circumcision can show us, and that is that what the old covenant ceremonial law could only accomplish symbolically, the new covenant of grace could actually do.
[4:49] For while in the old covenant, the law of circumcision certainly marked a man as a child of God, at least outwardly, in the new covenant, it is the grace of holy baptism that actually makes a man a child of God.
[5:08] Not only marks a man as a child of God, but makes him so. Which is why in Galatians chapter 3, St. Paul can say, For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ, for there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus, and if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
[5:40] Or rather, heirs according to the promise one. For there really is only one man, only one man who can call God his Father, and actually mean it.
[5:54] And that man is, of course, Jesus Christ. However, it is by our baptism into the body of Christ, that is, our incorporation into he who is the new and greater Israel, that we too can boldly call God our Father as well, and actually mean it.
[6:15] For Jesus Christ has come and done what no other Israelite could ever do. He has not only kept the law, but he has kept it perfectly, and without sin, for he has fulfilled it.
[6:33] Therefore, in review, what great things does Christ's circumcision teach us all this morning? Well, first, it teaches us that we do not have a lawless tyrant for a king.
[6:48] That Jesus Christ did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. And second, the shedding of Christ's blood at his circumcision foreshadows the shedding of Christ's blood on the cross.
[7:01] And third, the circumcision of Christ can teach us that what the old covenant's ceremonial law could only accomplish symbolically, the new covenant of grace can actually do.
[7:20] For in holy baptism, we are not just simply marked as God's chosen people, but we actually become God's chosen people via our baptism into God's chosen one.
[7:35] For today, the circumcision of Christ speaks far, far greater things than Moses' mark of circumcision could ever speak. After all, the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth, grace and truth came only through Jesus Christ.
[7:57] In the name of the Father, and of the Son, of the Holy Ghost. Amen.