INTRODUCTION: This morning we celebrate the Circumcision of our Lord Jesus Christ. For at least sixteen centuries this liturgy has been celebrated on the Octave of the Nativity of Christ. This is so because Christ's circumcision took place, according to St. Luke 2:21, on the eighth day after his birth, and this was in accord with the law of Moses which prescribed not only the act of circumcision but the time: the eighth day (Lev.12:3). Now why is this all so important to us? Why does the Church commemorate Christ's circumcision? In itself circumcision appears to be a rather crude act. Why then do we rejoice in Jesus' circumcision?

OLD TESTAMENT CIRCUMCISION: In order to obtain a handle on this question we must examine the background and significance of circumcision itself. Circumcision was instituted by God himself with our forefather Abraham about the year 2000B.C.. Abraham had been living in Ur of the Chaldeans, what would later become Babylon and today Iraq-Iran. It was at this time that God called Abraham out of his land, and in so doing out of his idolatry. God entered into a covenant with Abraham. Our great God, Yahweh, promised to be Abraham's God and to take Abraham and his descendants as his people. He told Abraham that through his seed the Christ would come in whom all the families of the earth would be blessed (Gen.12). As a sign and seal of this covenant and new relationship between God and Abraham God instituted circumcision (Rom.4:11).

In this light one can understand the value placed upon circumcision by God's people. Circumcision itself, at its very core meaning, was an ever-present reminder to Abraham and his descendants that they had a special relationship to God and a special calling in the world. An Israelite man would be reminded of this great reality at least several times a day (if you know what I am saying!).

Now God had a very important reason for instituting the specific rite of circumcision. I am sure many a Judean man had questioned the necessity of such a rite due to its pain level (especially for adult converts!), but there was a method to God's apparent madness. Circumcision itself taught God's people some very deep and important spiritual lessons. Some of those lessons taught by circumcision are as follows:

Cutting Off Rite- The act of cutting off the foreskin of the penis was symbolic of putting away the world, of being cut off from the realm of the evil one. The foreskin's removal symbolized the removal of the person from his former life. Circumcision itself was a sort of new birth. From the point of circumcision onward the individual was to be regarded as a member of God's family and people. As the new beginning that it was it was at the circumcision that the Israelite child received his name. Our gospel text tells us that it was at our Lord's circumcision that he received the name "Jesus"(St.Lk.2:21/ This is why we name our children at baptism).

There was another side to this cutting off sacrament. It is highlighted for us in Gen. 17 which records the institution of circumcision with Abraham. It is no accident that God instituted circumcision with Abraham immediately after Abraham sinned against God by listening to the unbelief of Sarah his wife and having intercourse with his maid Hagar, not believing that God's promise of a son through Sarah would come to pass. The whole Hagar incident is recorded for us in Gen. 16. Immediately after this God comes to Abraham with the knife of circumcision and with these words, "I am the God Almighty; Walk before me and be blameless." By these words God made clear to Abraham that he meant business, and by the rite of circumcision God made clear to Abraham that if he continued in disobedience Abraham would be cut off himself! Thus the knife was double edged. It cut off Abraham from the devil's domain to usher him into the promised land, and, depending upon Abraham's faithfulness or lack thereof it may be used to bring greater judgment on Abraham by cutting him off from life itself.

Bloody Rite- Circumcision also was meaningful in that it was a bloody ritual. Blood would become increasingly important in Israelite religion as God made clearer and clearer to his people, through the sacrifices and bloody temple ritual etc., that only through the shedding of blood would there be remission of sins (Heb.9:22). Circumcision then pointed God's people very early on to the death of Christ whose blood St. Paul says has sanctified us and obtained for us eternal redemption (Heb. 9:11ff).

Male Only Rite- By definition as well circumcision could only be applied to males. Now why would God choose to institute such an important rite when women can not experience it in their own persons? Well there is much wisdom here I would suggest as well. For by restricting the rite to males God was teaching his people a very important spiritual truth. He was teaching them that the bride can not provide the blood of redemption herself. He was teaching Israel that she, as God's bride, could not redeem herself, but that in fact she needed Christ the bridegroom, to come and shed his precious blood on her behalf. In this sense circumcision preached the gospel itself. It taught men that they stood in need of new life. It taught them that they could not effect this life themselves, and it taught them that their bridegroom, Christ, must come and redeem them.

CHRIST'S CIRCUMCISION: Now with this background perhaps we can appreciate to a greater degree the significance of Christ's circumcision. Here he came to be circumcised, he who needed no rebirth, he who needed no blood of redemption for his sins, because he had none. Here he came to be circumcised who was the very one who fashioned the procreative organ of the first man and every man since, and who was the one who instituted the rite with Abraham himself. What a wonder then that Christ would submit to the law of circumcision! In so doing, however, he declared in the act two realities that have ever remained at the heart of his Church.

The Reality of the Incarnation- By his circumcision he demonstrates to us that he is true man. In nothing but our sinfulness did Christ differ from us. Here we see truly that God himself is not ashamed to become a genuine human being. Forever cast out are the heretics who would destroy our salvation by their impious assertions that Christ only appeared to be human, that his human presence was an illusion for God would never be so low and self-degrading as to really and truly unite himself to humanity. Yet the circumcision of Christ is just such proof of God's great condescension. Here was no imaginary Jesus having an imaginary foreskin cut off his imaginary genitals. Here was God as a real man-child having a real foreskin removed from a real procreative organ! God has walked the earth, and everything that he has assumed to himself he has saved and healed. Christ did not refuse even circumcision, and remember that that precious child is now gone into heaven as a resurrected man, and his presence there as our forerunner is our assurance of resurrection to life eternal!

The Reality of Christ's Identification with Sinners- The second precious reality demonstrated by Christ's circumcision is that he has come to seek and save sinners. Circumcision was for sinners. Christ was the only one who has ever lived with no sin, and yet he submitted to circumcision. This is a great marvel. It reminds us that he came to bear our sins, to shoulder our griefs, to be pierced through for our transgressions (Isa.53:4ff), to be numbered among transgressors, and to receive in his own person all those things that are promised sinners, even death itself, in order that he might conquer sin, the devil, and death for us. This is why the circumcision of Christ is so precious to the Church.

NEW TESTAMENT CIRCUMCISION: I conclude this homily on circumcision by discussing the relevance of circumcision today. What would you tell someone who asked you if you were circumcised? If one had to be circumcised to be saved? Let me leave you with these thoughts. The New Testament tells us both that one must be circumcised to be saved (Col.2:11-12, Rom.2:28-29) and that if one is circumcised he severs himself from Christ and has fallen from grace(Gal.5:1-4). What in the world does this mean? Are these not contradictions?

The Prohibition of Circumcision- At the time of the New Testament there was a raging controversy in the Church over the role of circumcision. In fact the first major council of the Church was called (as recorded for us in Acts 15) to lay down a ruling on this matter of whether or not Christians had to be physically circumcised. You see circumcision, like the entire Old Testament, found its fulfillment in Christ and took on distinctively new form in the New Testament. The sabbath day was changed from Saturday to Sunday to signify the importance of the Resurrection of Christ on Sunday. The Old Temple was replaced by the New Temple in the heavenlies where we ascend each liturgy to worship God with the angelic hosts. How did circumcision change? St. Paul tells us that circumcision found its fulfillment in New Testament baptism (Col.2:11-12). Now we receive all the significance of Old Testament circumcision when we are baptized into the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Thus for anyone to claim that Old Testament circumcision is required for us today is to deny that Christ has come and fulfilled the law of circumcision. To do this is to deny the incarnation of Christ, and to act as though Christ hasn't come and changed things. This, St. Paul says, is damnable.

The Requirement of Circumcision- At the same time that he denies the requirement of physical circumcision St. Paul says that the true Christian is the one who is circumcised (Ph.3:3). Now what does he mean? Well he goes on to define what he means. He says that the true Christian is the one who is circumcised in heart by the Holy Spirit (Rom.2:28-29). In this sense, if we are not circumcised and are not living the life of the circumcised heart we shall not be saved.

Thus to celebrate the circumcision of Christ is to receive a powerful exhortation to live with a circumcised heart which we have received at our baptism (Deut. 10:16, 30:6). It is to embrace a life marked by those things which circumcision bespeaks.

A life of soft-hearted and willing obedience to God remembering both the words of God to Abraham "Walk before me and be blameless" as well as those terrible words of the proto-martyr Stephen who rebuked the disobedient Jews who were stoning him by saying, "You men who are stiffnecked and uncircumcised in hearts and ears are always resisting the Holy Spirit" (Ac.7:51). The spiritually circumcised Christian is the one who has a soft heart towards God demonstrated by his willing to do whatever God says.

A life of chaste and pure devotion to God remembering that God did not choose to put his mark on man's genitals for nothing. For in our calling to God and to his Holy Presence we have been ushered into a life demanding the greatest care in avoiding sensuality and uncleanness, and in keeping ourselves as pure virgins for he who has betrothed us to himself in his great love for us all.

This is the circumcised life. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

The

Circumcision

of

Christ

by the Rev. Fr. Josiah Trenham

St. Luke Orthodox Church

Santa Barbara, California