Father, we thank you for Jesus. We thank you for Christmas. We thank you for the birth of the Savior.
Father, we confess before you that so much of what makes us happy depends upon circumstances
and that much of how we understand Christmas has been shaped by secularism and consumerism.
And so, Father, we ask that you help us to remember Jesus, his birth, and to celebrate it.
Celebrate it as much as we can with others.
And we are so grateful that both online and in person we are able to remember and celebrate his birth today.
Pour out the Holy Spirit upon us. Draw us close to Jesus.
And this we ask in the name of Jesus, your Son and our Savior. Amen.
Please be seated.
So, there's very technical things about the liturgical year.
If you are Lutheran or Anglican or Roman Catholic, you understand that the visit of the wise men isn't actually part of the Christmas story.
That's epiphany.
The circumcision of Jesus isn't part of the Christmas story.
That's on the octave day of Christmas.
Christmas.
And you can well imagine.
Some Anglicans and Roman Catholics and Lutherans can be very anal about all of this type of stuff.
But in our general culture, when we think of Christmas, we think of everything from the shepherds to the birth to the magi coming.
And we sort of, in our culture and in our imagination and much of our hymns, we think of all of them going together.
But one of the things that we leave out when we're thinking of that big story is the fact that you have this very, very tender moment in verse 20.
Well, let's just read it and listen to this very, very tender moment in Luke chapter 2, verses 19 and 20.
But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.
It's very tender.
I'm not saying that in a dismissive way at all.
It really is very, very tender.
The birth of a newborn child is almost always a cause for great celebration.
And the mom looking at the baby and it's just a wonderful moment.
And you could well imagine any mother, if there'd been all this talk about angels and all of that stuff and the message.
And, of course, Mary knew how the baby came to be.
And you can just well imagine her pondering them in her heart.
And then in verse 20, it says,
And the shepherds returned glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen as it had been told them.
It's all very good.
And then the next thing is they said, oh, by the way, eight days later, this poor little baby,
they took a knife to his private parts and cut off part of it.
That's usually not part of the whole Christmas story.
In fact, you don't normally have Christmas cards with that as part of it.
You'll see Christmas cards with the magi, with the shepherds, with the angels.
This part, they sort of skip out of the Christmas story.
And actually, it's interesting.
I bumped into a friend yesterday.
I hadn't seen him in about a month.
And he's Jewish, at least nominally.
And I wished him a belated Hanukkah.
And he wished me a Merry Christmas.
And then he asked me what I was going to preach on on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning.
It's always very interesting.
He's a secular Jewish fellow who always often asks me what I'm going to preach on.
So I said that, well, actually, I said by surprise, I'm going to speak on the concept of dwelling,
God dwelling with us on Christmas Eve.
And on Christmas morning, I'm talking about something that might interest you.
I'm talking about the circumcision of Jesus.
Jesus was Jewish.
He got circumcised.
And he went, oh, yeah, I guess.
But sort of had never thought of it, that Jesus was Jewish and he would have been circumcised.
But for many people, it's sort of an awkward thing.
The idea of circumcision is, frankly, for many in our culture, barbaric.
And it just seems like a horrible thing to do,
that you would go and willfully hurt a baby eight days after he is born.
But we're going to walk into it.
One of the things which is interesting, this thing which seems barbaric, is actually,
it's actually really, it really is interesting.
I watch a lot more Netflix and Amazon Prime than my wife does, mainly because if I exercise at home,
I usually have something on while I'm exercising.
So I watch more things on Netflix and Amazon Prime than my wife does.
And sometimes I'll watch something and I'm getting into it a little bit and I'll think,
this is exactly the sort of thing my wife would like to watch.
And sometimes I'll stop it right there to watch it from the beginning with her.
And other times I finish it because I actually, if it's a good movie or a good show,
I enjoy watching it a second time.
And the second thing is, I actually get almost as much pleasure, maybe even more,
knowing that Louise is going to like it and watching it with her.
And knowing that she's going to like it and just as I experience, in a sense,
her experiencing the movie is a good thing.
And one of the things I'll do, which is maybe Bada, she's a very good wife,
so she doesn't complain about me too much.
But one of the things I'll do, if it's a very, very well-crafted movie,
we just watched something the other day that I'd already seen.
And she sort of had dozed off because we were watching it late night.
And I said, no, well, let's start it off tomorrow.
And then the next day, as we started to watch it, I said,
just what happens right here is actually really important for the rest of the movie.
And there's many times in movies, and sometimes I'll sort of bugger,
like a third of the way, and I'll say, this is actually really important.
It's just something that comes up in the course of the story
that you can either easily just yawn over.
But in terms of if it's a very well-done story,
you'll end up seeing that actually something which happened at the beginning
or the third or the two-third mark
is really important to understand everything that went on.
It's really important to understanding how the movie makes sense,
the type of story that's being told.
And so here we have this thing, which for many of us in our culture,
and many Christians, they see it as something barbaric.
The idea that you take this beautiful little baby boy,
eight days old,
and then take a knife to his private part
and cut something off is just like I'm squeamish.
It's a very squeamish idea.
But this weird thing that seems barbaric
is actually a really important bit
to help bring together the whole big story of the Bible
and to help us to really enter into and appreciate
what it is that Jesus has done for us.
Because one of the things which is so wonderful about the Bible
is it doesn't just sort of give us doctrinal truths
like Jesus was the firstborn from the dead
or that he set aside his glory and didn't cling to being God
and they give these doctrinal things.
But much of how the Bible communicates its reality
is told in the form of story.
And there's this overarching story told with lots of different...
Sort of like if you ever read the novel World War Z.
And if you read the novel World War Z,
you have newspaper reports,
you have interviews,
you have actual stories,
you have eyewitness accounts strung over
all these different genres from the beginning to the end.
And it actually makes a very powerful story.
And that's a good way to understand what the Bible is.
You have laws,
you have sacrifices,
you have these weird wars,
you have Jesus,
you have all this crazy stuff in the book of Revelation.
And God,
the master storyteller,
is telling this one big story
by using all these different genres
spread out
because he's the same yesterday,
today and forever.
He can begin to tell a story
in the year 2000 BC
and end it in the year 33 BC
or 50 BC or 60
or when all the New Testament's written.
So this idea of circumcision
is one of those weird little things
that if I was watching it with Louise
and it first appears in the Bible,
I'd nudge her and say,
this is really important for the rest of the story.
So just before we get into why it's important,
we're going to watch a little movie
that just helps to bring the story of Jesus to life,
a mini movie,
and then we'll continue on.
And part of this shows a little bit of the angst
that Mary and Joseph experience.
One of the things which is
the story with Jesus being circumcised
actually touches on a human experience
which all of us know.
Maybe some of us are living it right now.
And if we aren't living it right now
or if it's never been true in our own life,
we know people for whom it's true.
I know of three or four different women
who lived when they were still
in their late teens and early 20s
that lived at home with their dad and mom
and brothers and sisters.
But the dad had done something so bad to them
that in each of these cases,
they went somewhere between two to four years
living in the same house with their father
without ever saying a word to him.
Like not once.
That actually requires profound self-discipline.
They treated him as if he was part
of the furniture in the house
because the dad had done something so bad
that they just refused
any type of conversation with them.
Many of us probably know friendships
where something has happened in the friendship.
Maybe a secret has been betrayed.
A confidence has been betrayed.
That leads to the cutting off
of the relationship,
that the friendship comes to an end,
maybe permanently.
We all know, of course, of marriages
where there can be a type of betrayal
that leads to a cutting off
of the other person
and ending of the relationship
completely and utterly.
And then, of course,
we have our normal types of things
with mortgages and financial arrangements.
If you stop making your mortgage payments
at some point in time,
the promises of what happens
if you stop making the payment
is exercised and they repossess the house.
I once...
It's a very, very funny story.
I mean, he's gone to be with Jesus.
But even if he was here,
he wouldn't mind it.
But there used to be a multi-multi-millionaire
who came to the church.
I've told you about him before.
He'd like to take me
to the most expensive restaurant in Ottawa
and tell me to order whatever I wanted on the menu.
It was also one of those remarkable times
where you get to see how that, you know,
the 1% of 1% of 1% of 1% lives
where he would look at the menu
and then he would just close it
and say to them,
I don't see anything on there I want.
This is what I want.
And he would just tell them.
And they wouldn't say,
get a hike, get what's on the menu.
They'd say, thank you, Mr. Blank.
We'll do that for you.
And that's, I guess, what it's like
when you have lots of zeros,
zeros, like a number
and then lots of zeros
in your bank account and your assets.
Anyway, one of the things which was so funny,
we came back, we'd walked somewhere
just to have a coffee this particular time.
When we came back, his car was gone.
And it turned out that he'd forgot
to be making the payments on his lease
and it had been repossessed while we were out,
which is a very, very funny thing.
But the point is,
we're all familiar with the fact
that commitments are made
and that part of making commitments
is that there's a sense,
an important sense,
that you have these things
that you need to do
to maintain the relationship,
to maintain the covenant.
And if you don't do it,
you get cut off.
It's a very, very common human experience.
So one of the things
which is quite remarkable
about the Christian story
is that we discover
right at the very, very beginning,
in fact, at the very, very, very beginning
of the Christian story,
we see that it's understood
that God has made human beings
to be in a relationship with him,
a relationship where we are at peace with him,
comfortable with him,
in joy, in a sense, with him,
and that it's human beings
that break this relationship.
And even in the breaking of the relationship,
which brings death and sin
and suffering into the world,
God, even there,
makes a promise
that he is going to make it right
because human beings
can no longer make it right.
And it's not very much longer
in the story after that
with this constant promise
that there's going to be,
in a sense, a line
that God will, in a sense,
orchestrate in the human race
and it's out of this particular line
that a savior and redemption
is going to happen.
It's a little bit like
if you read The Lord of the Rings
and you imagine what it was like
at the beginning of The Lord of the Rings
long before Aragon comes onto the stage
because when you meet Aragon
and you figure out who he is,
he's the son of,
the son of,
and you can see
that there's this sense
of destiny with Aragorn
that long, long ago
there was going to be
this particular person
that was going to set
the evil right.
The same type of thing
is there in the biblical story.
And so we get this
turning point in the story
when Abraham arrives
and Abraham is sort of
an odd choice of God.
He worshipped the moon.
He worshipped the moon
and God calls him
to stop worshipping the moon
and come to this land
that he is going to give him.
And the way this covenant
or commitment
that God makes with Abraham,
that he's going to make
a relationship with Abraham,
it's not done sort of
in the way a lawyer
would write up a contract.
In the Bible,
it's told in the form of a story
and it goes between
chapter 12 of Genesis
and chapter 17 of Genesis.
And over those six chapters,
this idea of a covenant
that God is going to make
with Abraham
that's going to bless
the entire world
and ultimately lead to redemption
is told in the form of a story
in a variety of incidents.
And first we get the promise
that God makes to Abraham
that from his seed
that there will be
this blessing
that will bless
the entire world,
all the people
who have lived
and are living
and will live.
And then in chapter 15,
we get this very,
very odd story
of Abraham,
God speaking once again
about this covenant.
And in the ancient world,
so if you make
a mortgage nowadays,
they just say,
you know,
you don't look at
the fine print too bad,
but basically
there's all these things
if you stop making
the payments,
they're going to do
this, this, this, this to you
and they come after you
and they make sure
they can get as much
of their money back
as they possibly can.
That's how it works.
And in a sense,
God is going to make
a covenant with Abraham
and the bank
doesn't usually,
I mean,
if you're really rich,
I guess you can negotiate
these things with the bank,
but basically you just,
you pick the best rates.
They said all the terms
and all the penalties
are on you.
That's how it works.
All of the penalties
are on you.
And so God,
in chapter 15,
he makes his covenant
with Abraham
and back in those days
what they would do
is they would,
they would take an animal
and they'd kill the animal
and they'd cut the animal
in half
and they'd put maybe
a couple of animals
as part of the sacrifice
and the person
who was the weak person
in the contract
or in the covenant,
he or she would have
to walk between
all of the killed,
the animals
that had been cut in half.
And it was enacting,
they wouldn't write it down
on paper,
it was enacting,
this is what's going
to happen to you
if you don't keep
the terms of the covenant.
You see these animals
killed,
cut in half
that you're walking between,
you don't keep up
the covenant,
this is your fate.
And one of the things
which is so remarkable here,
it's the beginning
of one of these themes
that comes throughout
the entire rest of the Bible
and culminates in Jesus,
is that you'd expect now
in the story
for Abraham
to get up
and walk between
these animals
because God is vastly
more powerful.
But what happens?
No, God puts Abraham
into a deep sleep.
And it's obvious
in the language
that he's put him
into a sleep
that in a sense
he's come into God's presence.
And who walks
between the animals?
It's God,
not Abraham.
God walks
between the animals.
Does it symbolically
in terms of some smoke
and with a torch.
In other words,
God says,
if you fail
to keep the terms
of this relationship,
I'm going to be the one
who pays the price.
And it's only after that
in chapter 17
that there's something
for Abraham to do.
And you see,
this is one of the things
that begins
this great pattern
in the Bible.
In the Ten Commandments,
it begins,
I am the one
who redeemed you
out of slavery
in Egypt,
therefore this is
how you live.
And redemption
always precedes
living with God.
And so even here
in chapter 15
and 16 and 17,
first you have the promise
in chapter 12,
other things happen.
Chapter 15,
then something else
happens in chapter 16.
And then in chapter 17,
when Abraham is to enter
into this covenant
that God has already said
that he is going to be
the one who bears
the punishment,
the cost,
if the covenant isn't made.
And then for the whole covenant
to be completed,
what happens to Abraham?
He's circumcised.
In the story,
he's 99 years old
when it happens.
Everybody in his household
is circumcised.
Ishmael is 13.
And it's a very,
very interesting thing.
The Bible would find
female circumcision
completely abhorrent
because we know
that one of the reasons
that women are circumcised
is a part of a male dominance
over women.
And in particular,
it's to remove
any sense of pleasure
for them
in conjugal relations
between a husband
and a wife.
It's a very oppressive thing
to do to a woman.
And the Bible knows
nothing of it.
In terms of this,
for a man,
it has nothing to do
with his eventual ability
to sire children
or experience pleasure
in the conjugal act.
But there's this
symbolic thing,
so to speak,
of the source of life,
of ongoing life,
which is cut in a tiny way.
God takes the big promise
upon himself
and to be part of this covenant,
to enter into it
for the Jewish people,
Abraham takes this small,
symbolic,
but still costly
and very powerful,
symbolic act
that he's entering
into the covenant.
And as you see
the rest of the story develop,
you see that God desires
not just mere lineage
of one person
circumcised to another
and biological inheritance
because the entire
original point
of the covenant
in Genesis 12
is that there's some way
that the entire human race
is to be blessed,
that this covenant
is to point to something
beyond that
which is merely physical,
which is to be,
in fact,
something deeply spiritual.
And so we see here
this promise
of some great gift
of life
and it's in that context
that we have Jesus coming
and his circumcision.
And before I say
a few more words,
we'll watch another movie
that helps to bring home
something special
about the person of Jesus.
Is it going to work?
Okay.
Throws off my rhythm.
Anyway,
so one of the things then,
we have this interesting thing
at the beginning of this story
which continues on,
these variety of different images
of the fact that
God wants to enter
into a relationship with us.
There's consequences
for breaking the relationship
and the fact of the matter is
is if you read
what we call the Old Testament
and our Jewish friends
call the Torah or the Tanakh,
you'll see that
human beings broke it constantly,
that the Jewish people
broke it constantly.
And it's not that we are
to take from that
that the Jewish people
are particularly bad
or particularly virtuous.
In a sense,
they are everyone
and that human beings
aren't able
to keep the terms
of God's covenant
or relationship.
So here we have Jesus
entering the story now
and he gets circumcised.
But we,
and in other words,
he now enters into
the covenant people,
the covenant relationship
that God has desired
to have with his people.
But at the same time,
Jesus is going to be the one
who ends up dying
upon the cross.
So what we actually see
in the person of Jesus
is this wonderful
coming together
of the story.
We see that on one hand,
Jesus is part
of the covenant people.
He identifies with those
who are to be
in a relationship with God.
And while all of us
aren't able to keep
the covenant
in the way that we should,
he is able to keep it perfectly.
And yet at the end
of the story,
he in a sense experiences
the true and greater
circumcision.
He is both part of the line
of chapter 17
where Abraham is circumcised
and he is in fact
reenacting chapter 15
where God himself
takes upon himself
the consequences
and punishments
that come
if people aren't able
to keep the covenant.
And so it is
that by Jesus'
in a sense
physical circumcision
and the true
and greater circumcision
that happens
with his death
upon the cross
as the Lamb of God
who takes away
the sin of the world,
he both represents
the people
and he represents God
to create
a new covenant,
a new covenant
where God begins
to dwell with us
in a new way.
That everything
in the,
what we call
the Old Testament
and what our Jewish friends
call the Tanakh,
everything is pointing
to this time
where God is going
to keep
not only chapter 15
and chapter 17
of Genesis
but also chapter 12.
That it's only
when God,
the Son of God,
perfect God
and perfect man
dies
on the cross
that there is
this possibility
of a blessing
that will go
to all
in the human race
who put their faith
and trust
in Jesus.
And that
when we put
our faith
and trust
in Jesus,
in a sense
what happens
as we've talked
before,
you reach your hand
out to Jesus
and you can't reach him
but his hand
can reach yours
and he takes you
and you in a sense
enter into him
and he enters
into you
and so that all
that he accomplished
by his life
and all that he accomplished
by his death
and all that he accomplishes
by his resurrection,
you enter into that
as he enters
into you
taking away
your sin
and your punishment
and your shame
and all that you deserve
for not having lived
a holy life
and
I'm just going to finish
this thought
you'll just be ready
to point
okay
and so that is
this true and greater
it's also the promise
of a spiritual reality
that now enters
into you
that
you now
by being united
to Christ
you're united with him
now
and into eternity
that death
is the ending
of this one created order
and the entering
into what God
has promised
of the new heaven
and the new earth
and now we finally
have the video
that I would have shown
a few minutes earlier
and in the same region
there were shepherds
out in the field
keeping watch
over their flock
by night
and an angel
of the Lord
appeared to them
and the glory
of the Lord
shone around them
and they were filled
with great fear
and the angel
said to them
fear not
for behold
I bring you
good news
of great joy
that will be
for all the people
for unto you
is born this day
in the city
of David
a savior
who is Christ
the Lord
and this
will be a sign
for you
you will find
a king
wearing a magnificent
crown
no dad
that's not it
oh really
let me try it again
for unto you
is born this day
in the city
of David
a savior
who is Christ
the Lord
and this
will be a sign
for you
you will find
a powerful
well trained
soldier
no dad
you did it again
that's not right
okay
how about this
and this will be
a sign for you
you will find
a democratically
elected president
what
no
a trendy
motivational speaker
no way
a big tech
CEO
a movie star
time traveling
cyborg
no
none
none of those
are right
the shepherds
we can't find
any of those
okay
then
little miss
know it all
what did
they find
for unto you
is born this day
in the city
of David
a savior
who is Christ
the Lord
and this
will be a sign
for you
you will find
a baby
wrapped in
swattering cloths
and lying
in a manger
oh that's
right
a baby
does that even
make sense
a baby
is totally
helpless
yeah but if
Jesus didn't
come as a baby
then he wouldn't
have known
what it was
like to grow up
ah but wait
why did he
have to grow up
that's easy
to save us
ah
well then that
means that the
best part about
Christmas is
the baby
right
the baby
oh
well
guess it's
time you
get some
sleep
we got a
big day
ahead of us
tomorrow
no
we're not
done with
the story
okay
just a little
longer
and suddenly
there was with
the angel
a multitude
of the heavenly
host praising
God and saying
glory to God
in the highest
and on earth
peace among
those with whom
he is
Jesus was cut
off that we
could be
connected in
Jesus was
cut off
that we
could be
connected in
one of the
things that
makes human
life so hard
is that you
are the one
who has done
that wrong
that makes
you cut off
and in many
of our
relationships
there's no
way to
redeem that
there's no
way to
make atonement
for it
there's no
way to
fix that
and this
is this
profound
part of
the Bible
of Jesus
being cut
off
of entering
into what
it means
to be
cut off
in the
most complete
and perfect
way
when he
dies upon
the cross
saying my
God my
God why
have you
forsaken
me
that is in
fact the
very very
means that
Jesus'
death upon
the cross
is that
true and
greater
circumcision
that we
see
promised
first with
Abraham
in the
stories in
Genesis
and then in
Jesus in
his birth
and then in
his death
and resurrection
that Jesus
enters into
our life
in weakness
that when we
put our
faith and
trust in
him our
separation
from God
is ended
that in a
sense a
very real
and true
sense our
eternal
destiny with
him is
guaranteed
that we
can hope
in that
and trust
in that
and that
he is present
with us now
even in our
weakness
even in those
moments of
abandonment
or breaking
that seems so
insoluble and
maybe on this
side of the
grave they are
but we have
Jesus to
teach us
and help us
to humble
us to
make amends
of life to
say that we
are sorry
that we are
guilty because
our identity
is no longer
rooted in our
ability to
keep control
of things
our identity
begins to be
rooted more
and more
in Jesus
and his
true and
greater
circumcision
his being
cut off
that we can
be connected
into him
and into
God
for all
eternity
let's watch
this final
movie
why
did
Jesus
come to
earth
why forsake
the majesty
and fellowship
of heaven
exchanging a
palace for a
stable
immortal
comforts
for a
feeding
trough
and robes
of glory
for the
feeble
body
of an
infant
an
unparalleled
irony
this
supreme
unrivaled
nobility
experiencing
absolute
and total
humility
our
sovereign
God
Emmanuel
as a
baby
he
didn't
come
to
heap
shame
upon
sinners
or to
judge
and
cast
out
the
impious
but to
break
bread
with
those
called
unrighteous
he
didn't
come
to
illuminate
every
mystery
of the
cosmos
or to
enlighten
the
intellectual
but to
fulfill
the
testimony
of
prophets
clothed
in
rags
he
didn't
come
to
elevate
a
single
nation
or to
advocate
a
particular
political
affiliation
he came
because
he saw
you
broken
in
need
of
salvation
he
saw
you
lost
and
abandoned
crying
out
surrounded
by deaf
ears
fighting
through
the
tears
but
beaten
down
by
the
torments
of
this
world
and
unable
to
bear
your
distress
he
renounced
his
eternal
throne
walked
the
earth
bore
the
stripes
accepted
the
nails
and
gave
up
his
last
breath
so
that
you
could
receive
the
breath
of
life
our
God
our
holy
infinite
God
beheld
your
pain
perceived
your
heart
and
determined
that
your
soul
was
worth
dying
for
from
the
manger
to
the
cross
to
the
empty
tomb
it
is
all
a
story
of
profound
love
of
a
savior
who
rescued
his
children
from
darkness
of
a
blameless
king
who
declared
that
no
sacrifice
was
too
great
for
the
sake
of
his
beloved
creation
why
did
Jesus
come
to
earth
he
came
for
you
just
stand
and
bow
our
heads
in
prayer
in
closing
now
father
we give
you
thanks
and
praise
you
are
a
great
storyteller
that
you
are
very
wise
we
confess
before
you
that
there
are
parts
of
the
story
that
when
we
read
them
we
find
it
a
bit
fearful
a
bit
barbaric
we
ask
father
that
you
help
us
to
trust
more
and
more
that
if
we
are
to
dig
down
into
your
word
we
understand
and
see
how
even
in
these
parts
which
seem
so
hard
and
difficult
in
fact
your
great
love
and
your
great
goodness
is
revealed
in
different
ways
we
ask
father
that
you
fan
into
flame
within
us
once
again
a
deep
appreciation
for
the
humble
birth
of
the
savior
in
Bethlehem
2000
years
ago
that
story
father
will
be
true
and
deep
and
real
to
us
and
help
to
shape
and
form
our
heart
help
to
shape
how
we
understand
politics
how
we
understand
being
good
neighbors
how
we
understand
business
how
we
understand
service
and
family
friendship
and
love
how
we
understand
prayer
and
how
we
understand
hope
father
we
ask
that
you
bring
this
story
deep
into
our
hearts
that
we
might
live
lives
that
bring
you
glory
and
we
ask
all
of
this
in
the
name
of
Jesus
your
son
and
our
savior
amen