Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“After eight days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, December 28, 2019
by R. Fergus Moir, Clergy Stuff
Sometimes we want to forget that Jesus was human. We focus on the fact that he was God, fully divine, all powerful and transcendent. But Luke’s gospel wants us to understand that not only was Jesus fully human, he was a particular human in a particular community. Jesus was a first century Jewish male. His parents followed the Jewish laws and traditions of the time. When he was eight days old, they took him to be circumcised and named.
When we are tempted to look only to some distant future paradise with God, Luke’s gospel reminds us to keep our feet firmly where they are. God made us human beings in God’s image, with material bodies that have material needs. When we participate in our own traditional rituals of baptism and communion, singing together, eating together, and being in community, we celebrate the physical, embodied nature of our faith.
Our human bodies are not simply a temporary burden to bear until our souls are freed, but a gift from God, a God who willingly took on a human body in order to be with us.
How can I be present in and give God praise for my physical body?
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