|
And at the end of eight days, when He was circumcised, He was called Jesus, the Name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. (Luke 2:21)
When Jesus was eight days old, it was time for Him to be named and circumcised. Every Jewish boy was circumcised as God commanded Abraham, to mark Him as someone who belonged to God and who lived under God’s Law.
Circumcision was a ceremony that happened at home, though we don’t know where Jesus and His parents were living at this point. I hope Joseph had found them somewhere more comfortable to stay—a house, perhaps, or even just a guest room with a relative! Certainly he was doing his best to keep both mother and Child well and happy.
But neither Joseph nor Mary could spare Jesus the pain that came with circumcision. This was God’s command, and it had to be done—even to God-in-the-flesh Himself, Jesus our Savior. And so Jesus felt His first pain since birth, and shed His first blood. What a welcome to the Savior who would save His people through a painful, bloody death!
But if circumcision reminds us of pain, it also reminds us that Jesus has joined Himself to us and all God’s people forever. He is on our side—the human side—and He bears the marks of it in His own body. Even now that He has risen from the dead, He continues to be ours, one of us. And where He goes we go—because Jesus has made us His own forever.
WE PRAY: Dear Jesus, thank You for accepting pain for me and joining Yourself to us forever. Amen.
Reflection Questions:
- Were you baptized as an infant?
- How are Baptism and circumcision similar? How are they different?
- Why do you think Jesus chose to go through all the same experiences we must go through, even the painful ones?
Advent Devotions were written by Dr. Kari Vo.
| 
