The Circumcision of Our Lord, God and Saviour Jesus Christ; Our Father Among the Saints Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia (379)
Colossians 2:8-12; Hebrews 7:26-8:2; Luke 2:20-21, 40-52; Luke 6:17-23
Feast of our Lord. Polyeleos Feast. The Divine Liturgy of St. Basil the Great is celebrated today. A day when the faithful are highly encouraged to participate in the Divine Liturgy.
Read Colossians 2:8-12
Christ is born! Glorify Him!
In the Old Testament, Circumcision makes a claim on our bodies. It is a physical sign to denote that we are owned by the Lord.
Christ’s descent in the flesh is explained by Paul in this phrase: “the fullness of Divinity resides in him bodily.” Through our baptism, he later explains we enter into a “circumcision not made by human hands.” What he wants to say is that Baptism makes a claim on our life, perhaps in a more radical way than circumcision ever could. Certainly, such a rite as circumcision is serious and carries with it a certain danger, especially in first-century Judaism.” But more radical than the removal of flesh and blood is the removal of original sin from the level of our being. More radical than removing a piece of ourselves to signify our dedication to the God of Israel is to submerge ourselves in the waters of baptism and by that, be united to his very being. As Saint Paul will remind us through our own lips shortly at Theophany: “All you who have been baptized into Christ, have been clothed with Christ. Alleluia!” We have a relationship with God through his bodily descent that the Angels stand in awe of. They must hide their eyes from the glory of his throne. We can see him and, more to the point, “taste and see” his goodness.
All of this comes about through the fact that the fullness of divinity dwells in Christ. The same God on the throne in the heavenly court is the same God who now comes to be circumcised. As the icon indicates. He is always leading us, even here, he proceeds his earthly parents to Circumcision, leading them to obey the law that he laid out and he himself embodies. Mary and Joseph’s posture is our own, following them into the temple, seeking to obey a law and live a life laid out for us by the Lord. This is the way of life; the only other way leads to perdition.