Today used to be called the Feast of the Circumcision, the
day we remember that Jesus was, like all Jewish males, circumcised on the 8th
day after his birth. Now it is called
the Feast of the Holy Name because the child is named on that particular day in
keeping with the commandment here given Abraham. It is the only particular commandment given
to him for the people, the only thing required to get into the covenant. We, in our tradition, baptize infants because
it was commanded although without respect to birth. We bring children into the covenant community
and this places a high burden on the adult members of the community to
catechize, teach, the faith to those new ones as they grow. It is incorporation into a community which is
formed by the Word of God and the Spirit of God, a reminder that you are marked
out as a member, you belong.
Interestingly but not surprisingly, the eighth day is also the safest
day on which to circumcise a child from a medical perspective. Check out this short
article on that topic.
Jesus says we are to pray in His Name. That is a remarkable thing to teach. Peter took it to heart when he told the
council that there is no other name given under heaven by which a person might
be saved. To pray in Jesus' Name is an
amazing privilege. It is to say that we
can presume on our relationship with Him to ask the Father to act based on His
love for the Son. If we were friends
with Bill Gates' son and he said to us, go see my dad when you have a financial
need and ask him to do for you something in my name, treat you as he would
treat me, wouldn't we be excited but also a bit intimidated? We would be careful what we ask for if we had
to somehow justify our request. We
should consider the simple question of would Jesus ask this thing before using
His Name. This promise does not create
an obligation for the Father to do our will.
The Name of Jesus is precious, we should not treat it otherwise. The Jews consider the Name of God so holy
that they won't write it, do we treat Jesus' name with such honor?
We have received Jesus as Savior and Paul calls us to also
walk in Him, to put on Christ, to allow Him, by the power of the Holy Spirit to
live through us. We are not only to know
Him as savior but also as Lord. Our lives
should reflect that we have a new heart, a heart of flesh, that the Spirit
dwells in us. The old self was buried in
baptism and raised by the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. That is incredible power but we live too
often as though we had no power at all.
Let us commit our lives to Him, to His direction and His power working
in and through us that His Name be honored in us.
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