Jesus took the cut of the law to save you.

 

Sermon for New Year’s Eve, December 31, 2025

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Luke 2:21  After eight days passed, when the child was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. (EHV)

Jesus took the cut of the law to save you.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

            There is likely not a man out there anywhere that does not flinch at the idea of this particular surgical procedure.  That is especially the case when we remember that Abraham was commanded to do the operation on himself and his son, Isaac.  However, it was critical that Jesus undergo this circumcision commanded by God when He gave His covenant of grace to Abraham.  As we consider this text, we remember that Jesus took the cut of the law to save you.

Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day after His birth exactly as commanded in the law.  The fact that circumcision marked the child as a member of God’s people should put to rest any idea that we can chose this faith for ourselves.  It also reminds us that babies are born sinners.  Already at birth, and we could add at conception, babies inherit sin from their father.  We accept that this is why God commanded the men to be circumcised, an indication that the need for a Savior is inherited from our sinful parents all the way back to Adam.

We also note that circumcision for Abraham’s descendants is like Baptism for us.  God’s chosen people were not chosen because of their great righteousness or obedience to God’s will.  God did not chose Abraham because of his faithfulness, because Abraham was not credited with righteousness until after God chose the man and “Abraham believed God and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:3)  Likewise with Abraham’s descendants, God chose them because of His great love and mercy.  God chooses us also for that same reason.  We do not become children of God by works but by the work of God through the Gospel and the Sacraments Jesus instituted.

Which brings us back to Jesus.  Did Jesus need to be circumcised for God to chose Him?  The answer is no.  Jesus was circumcised because He is from the Father from eternity, and having come to earth to live for us, God was putting Jesus fully in our place.  Thus, Jesus took the cut of the law to save you.  In that circumcision, Jesus was connecting Himself with Abraham’s descendants including all people who will ever believe.  In that cut of the flesh, Jesus took the burden of our guilt upon Himself.  It is the first shedding of His blood to pay for our guilt.  This tells us that Jesus was working for our salvation right from His birth, even from His conception in Mary’s womb.

This is appropriate, because Jesus’ name means, “The Lord saves.”  Jesus came to earth with the sole intent to win our salvation and to honor His Father’s will to save us.  As sinners from the moment of conception, we were unable to do anything that would merit forgiveness, salvation, or eternal life.  The very nature we inherit from our parents warrants condemnation unto death, even eternal death in hell.  However, God’s plan from before the fall into sin was to change that through sending His Son to redeem His people from their guilt.

Now, it is common in our times for parents to choose the name of their children, whether for good or ill.  In addition, some people take on new names as a result of pride in their accomplishments or in expectation of some great achievement.  We could refer to any number of modern celebrities or ancient rulers who have done so.  On the other hand, Jesus’ name was declared from heaven before even His conception in Mary.  The angel, Gabriel, brought that instruction to Mary at the time he announced to her that she would bear the Savior of the world.  The angel who later visited Joseph in a dream, when he was considering divorcing Mary before the birth, confirmed this instruction. 

Thus, Jesus’ name was put on Him by God not from men.  This is important for us, because just as God put His name on Jesus at the circumcision, so God puts His name on us at baptism.  In baptism, we become part of God’s family through faith, and it’s all because Jesus took the cut of the law to save you.  Jesus’ circumcision also ended the need for this command among us, as Paul explained, “A real Jew is one on the inside, and his circumcision is of the heart—a spiritual circumcision, not one based on carrying out the letter of the law.  That person’s praise does not come from people but from God.” (Romans 2:29)

Jesus being given His name before His conception in Mary’s womb is God proclaiming that His own Son would bear the sins of the world, along with the cruelty and hardship, the pain and suffering, and finally the death that would rescue us from condemnation.

In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told His listeners, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy them but to fulfill them.” (Matthew 5:17)  This too is why Jesus had to be circumcised.  There was not to be even one dot of the law that was not carried out by the second Adam so that all mankind might be counted righteous by faith.  Everything that God and Moses had commanded had to be fulfilled or you and I would never inherit life.  But that is the point—Jesus did everything needed so that the Father in heaven is able to look down upon us covered with the righteousness Jesus lived for us and see us as holy and flawless before Him.

Seven hundred years before Mary became pregnant, the Lord told King Ahaz through the prophet, Isaiah, “Look!  The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son and name him Immanuel.” (Isaiah 7:14)  The angel repeated that promise to Joseph.  Immanuel means, “God with us.”  The Son of God came down to earth to dwell with us for a time in order to be “The Lord saves.”  He came to live with mankind and to be the Savior who would live, suffer, die, and rise again to give us hope.  Not some wishful thinking kind of hope, but a sure and certain reality that we are forgiven of all sin and guilt, and God has opened the gates of heaven for all who believe in Jesus.

Dear friends, we have come to the end of another year.  As always, the past year has had its highs and lows, its trials, challenges, triumphs, and joys.  Through it all, we recognize that this was another year when sins, sorrows, and doubts troubled us.  The nature of our sinful flesh makes us worry both about this life and the life to come, but it’s time to put all worry to rest forever, because Jesus took the cut of the law to save you. 

There is nothing we must do to be saved and enjoy eternal life because Jesus has done everything needed to rescue us from the punishment of hell.  We do not and cannot even choose to believe, for “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12:3)  On the other hand, having heard that, now ask yourself, “Do I believe in Jesus as Lord and Savior?”  If you can honestly answer that in the affirmative, then give thanks to God for the Holy Spirit has worked that faith in your heart, and therefore, you have forgiveness and salvation already credited to you in God’s heavenly ledger, for God “did this when he chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, so that we would be holy and blameless in his sight.  In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ.  He did this in accordance with the good purpose of his will, and for the praise of his glorious grace, which he has graciously given us in the one he loves.  In him we also have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in keeping with the riches of his grace.” (Ephesians 1:4-7)

If, perchance, someone here, or someone listening out there somewhere, does not yet believe in Jesus as the Son of God and Savior of mankind, now is your time of grace.  God is calling you to believe in Jesus and receive the gift of life.  For your sins and mine, and the sins of the whole world, Jesus took the cut of the law to save you.  God’s Son, Jesus, endured the suffering and death we all deserved for our guilt.  In addition, because He is God’s Son as well as the son of Mary, He could bear our sin all the way to death on the cross then take up His life again on the third day to guarantee for all who believe that we too, in connection with Jesus, will rise to live eternally with Him in heaven.

God grant this forgiveness and salvation to all who hear His message of grace.  Whatever might come our way in the new year, remember this saving truth, that because of Jesus and His sacrifice, all sin is forgiven and we have life in heaven through faith for in His circumcision, Jesus truly took the cut of the law to take your place as He made Himself the Sin-bearer who would take the law’s final cut with the nails driven through His hands and feet, and the exclamation cut of the law as the  spear pierced His holy side, proving that justice had been satisfied so that God’s merciful kindness could be extended to all who believe.  In His great love for people like you and me, Jesus took the cut of the law to save you.  Amen.

To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his own blood and made us a kingdom and priests to God his Father—to him be the glory and the power forever.  Amen.