January 1, 2025

Today's Reading: Luke 2:21

Daily Lectionary: Isaiah 61:1-11; Luke 1:57-80

“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)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

The new year always begins with a festival called “The Circumcision and Name of Jesus.” This part of the Christmas story is celebrated every year on the Church calendar, but since we usually aren’t in church on New Year’s Day, it can easily slide by unnoticed, and when you consider the length of today’s text, it’s no wonder. This is the shortest reading in the entire lectionary, and this one-sentence lesson simply reads: “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.”

This reading may be brief, and yet the truth it contains is vast. You see, in this succinct Scripture, the infant Jesus is subjected to life under the Law of God, and for the first time, His blood is shed as a foreshadowing of the ultimate shedding of His blood on the Cross. In this important event from the life of Christ – on the eighth day of Christmas – we see Jesus keeping the Law in our place while, even as an infant, He begins His redeeming work for us, and all of this is captured in the name given by the angel:

“Jesus,” which means “Yahweh – the Lord – saves.”

This name takes us completely out of the equation. This is important to note because as much as our sinful nature likes to tell us otherwise, God’s Word is never simply a call for us to get busy or to get better! Instead, it is first and foremost a proclamation of performative language where God is putting our sinful nature to death and then raising us to life as a new creation created in Christ Jesus to do good works. He does this through His Law, and He does this through His Gospel, and in this personal application of performative language, the LORD does something to us and in us that fundamentally changes who we are!

This week, I saw a list of the top resolutions people made to greet the New Year, and ahead of both weight loss and improved health, the number one resolution for 2025 was to “be a better person.” Well, today, we need to recognize that in the eyes of the Lord, this resolution will always be impossible for us. The things that depend on our resolve will always fail to deliver us… but in the things that really matter – in eternal things – we have a Heavenly Father whose resolve was demonstrated in the cross of His Son and delivered to us by the Holy Spirit. In the Name of Jesus, we are blessed now and forever.

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Lord Jesus, take me and my sinful nature out of the equation and remind me that in my Baptism, I

have received your saving Name. 

-Rev. Thomas Eggold, pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, IN.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, KY.

What makes a church "good?" Come join the fictional family as they test out eight different churches in their brand-new town and answer this question along the way. Will the Real Church Please Stand Up? by Matthew Richard, now available from Concordia Publishing House.