A Covenant Renewal—The Feast of the Circumcision
During each of these twelve days of Christmas the whole Church is praying that we might be renewed to live out that life of adoption and grace which became possible for us in Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem.
Unlike any other season of the Christian Year there is also a Gospel reading for these twelve days, the Last Gospel (John 1.1-14), so that daily we might understand the meaning, the significance of the Incarnation, God coming to us as a human being, that we might see and know the reality of God’s love and desire that we might be with Him forever.
On January 1st, the 8th Day of Christmas, of Jesus’ birth, he was circumcised, incorporated into the Covenant people. Yes, this had something to do with Jesus being a male, but we need to remember that you were a Jew because your mother was a Jew, the Covenant people—the lineage was through the female. This wasn’t to denigrate men. I just know that sometimes us men can be superficial. What is true is that in wisdom God gave outward circumcision as a sign of incorporation into the Covenant between God and His people.
But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. (Romans 2:29 ESV)
This octave of Jesus’ birth is about our renewal of our Covenant in Christ, our yearly being reminded that we are alive in Christ. If we are to live this Christmas life in Christ, to be marked not superficially, but inwardly? As the expectation is that “things will be different this Christmas,” that the joy of Christmas doesn’t evaporate and the decorations come down and we move on. This Eighth Day of Christmas is the dawn of a new week and a new year. And Christmas isn’t left behind, we carry Jesus’ birth into our life to receive the mark of promise not in the flesh, but in our hearts.
First, being alive in Christ begins with obedience.
And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. (Matthew 22:37 ESV)
This is easy when it comes to the big things, the Ten Commandment level. We’re like the young man talking to Jesus,
“Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” (Mark 10:20 ESV)
Or from whenever we finally grew up.
But what about the small words, the regular print commands of Jesus?
And whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward.” (Matthew 10:42 ESV)
Our hearts need to be circumcised, renewed to this level of obedience so that our being alive in Christ is manifest in our daily life.
Second, if we’re to be alive in Christ we need to be spiritual. Author Dallas Willard did an Internet search on “spirituality.” And he found not just the strange, the unusual, and the bizarre, but he found these people were marked by zeal to come and stand clearly before the presence their god, whatever extreme they went after. These people have a passion in their seeking.
And they are people who wholly devote their innermost being—the heart, will, or human spirit—to do so. (Dallas Willard)
The one true God is looking for people with that kind of zeal. To be alive in Christ our hearts need to be marked with that kind of passion. It’s the heart of our worshiping in spirit and in truth. It’s the true circumcision to which Paul referred:
For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God and glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh… (Philippians 3:3 ESV)
It is our spirit being filled with the Holy Spirit and marking, being made evident in our flesh, not superficially, but in our physical existence, in our daily life.
It is important to note that Paul when he talks about confidence in the flesh usually isn’t addressing sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll. No, Paul’s list of confidence in the flesh is a list of his religious credentials.
…though I myself have reason for confidence in the flesh also. If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. (Philippians 3:4-6 ESV)
I’m a Cradle Anglican, attended a High School Bible Study, graduated from Nashotah House, and served on the Forward in Faith Council. This is the flesh, but what is more important is the spirituality, what is Jesus doing in my life today? The credentials can be piled up, but do I want, am I seeking to stand before God, to seek Him? Am I willing to risk being considered a radical, a fringe element, a fanatic because I want to be alive in Christ? Do I have that spiritual zeal in my seeking God?
Third, being alive in Christ needs to be personal. In the Bible our relationship is with God who is an unbodily personal power. More than just a higher power (this may be a good starting place). The God of the Bible is uncreated. God created everything else. And His creation continues in existence because God wills it so. This is important because the Holy Spirit enters into our created being and acts with us. This is very different from the current Paganism of today where we are the source of power. Popular religion teaches that the truth resides in our self—the power and achievement of the individual and the self-determination of what is right.
The Last Gospel is the theme of Christmastide that we are alive in Christ by God’s initiative in Word. Our acting, interacting, and cooperating with God is derived from the personality and action of God. Our being alive in Christ is having our life effectively integrated into and dominated by God’s Kingdom, that is, our whole life is about being transformed under God’s direction that we might be made into the image and likeness of God.
But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13 ESV)
Christmas is about our hearts being circumcised, a Covenant renewal, our being made alive in Christ once again. Our lives are to be different this Christmas: in our Obedience to Christ, in our Spirituality, our passion for Christ, and in the personal and supernatural reality of Christ touching us. The Feast of the Circumcision of Christ is we might not only fulfill all righteousness, not only have the outward appearance, but that we might truly be alive in Christ.