‘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’ (Luke 2:21).
The covenant of
circumcision is recorded in Genesis 17 and Leviticus 12, and is stated to be
when a boy is eight days old (unless there are medical reasons for a
postponement). Circumcision is viewed as a symbol of the total obedience to
God’s will and the distinguishing mark of a male Jew. It is during the act of
circumcision itself that the child is given his Hebrew name. Now this naming process is close to infant
baptism, at which the child receives his or her ‘Christian’ names. (There can
be no true ‘Christian’ names without infant baptism: the first name(s) remain simply forenames.) The difference is that
the child is washed clean of sin through immersion or the pouring out of water
in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
The purpose of the two ceremonies is therefore
profoundly different. Circumcision is a ritual to create or confirm a member of
the Jewish people who has already been born of a Jewish mother. Baptism is a
rebirth into a new life as a Christian with the possibilities of spiritual
growth this offers. Whereas the temple is the focus for the
circumcision, the river Jordan is central to the story of Jesus’ baptism.
Joshua led the people of Israel across the Jordan to the Promised Land. The baptism of Jesus, the Word of God made
flesh, leads the way through death (the Cross) to bring his people to
the promised land, the Kingdom of God which he preaches is near to hand. Jesus
doesn’t need to be baptized for his own benefit (as John the Baptist himself
points out). But his baptism shows us that Jesus is a new Joshua (both names are from the Hebrew Yehoshua,
‘God is salvation’ or ‘God saves’) who is not merely a man, but also
the Word of God who leads and protects his followers as they pass through death
into the new promised land, the Kingdom of God.
