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This account of Jesus' circumcision is an opportunity to discuss how Jesus fulfills the law yet moves beyond it If you can relate some of the ritual of an orthodox circumcision, it might lend a contemporary note -- the ritual, the sign of the (old) covenant, the naming. It was important that the ritual be fulfilled to show that Jesus was the promised Messiah, rising up from within the tradition. But there is no suggestion that he ever called on his followers to continue in this tradition (though some of the early churches tried to do so) because his gospel moved beyond this covenant. He decreed a new sign -- baptism -- for the new covenant.
It is no coincidence that the tradition of naming was associated with both the old covenant of circumcision and with the new one of baptism. Naming seems always to set one apart from all others, and we seem to associate people with the meanings or "feel" of their names. That, of course, is why Jesus' name was so important. First, its meaning -- that Lord is salvation; and second that it was divinely given. Traditionally and theoretically (though rarely in fact) a Jewish child's mother did not know the child's name until after the ceremony was over. But, in Jesus' case, Mary supplied the name, as it was the one told her by the angel.
-- Shearburn
This account of Jesus' circumcision is an opportunity to discuss how Jesus fulfills the law yet moves beyond it If you can relate some of the ritual of an orthodox circumcision, it might lend a contemporary note -- the ritual, the sign of the (old) covenant, the naming. It was important that the ritual be fulfilled to show that Jesus was the promised Messiah, rising up from within the tradition. But there is no suggestion that he ever called on his followers to continue in this tradition (though some of the early churches tried to do so) because his gospel moved beyond this covenant. He decreed a new sign -- baptism -- for the new covenant.
It is no coincidence that the tradition of naming was associated with both the old covenant of circumcision and with the new one of baptism. Naming seems always to set one apart from all others, and we seem to associate people with the meanings or "feel" of their names. That, of course, is why Jesus' name was so important. First, its meaning -- that Lord is salvation; and second that it was divinely given. Traditionally and theoretically (though rarely in fact) a Jewish child's mother did not know the child's name until after the ceremony was over. But, in Jesus' case, Mary supplied the name, as it was the one told her by the angel.
-- Shearburn
