DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS

The Circumcision of Christ; Basil the Great, Archbishop of Caesarea          January 1, 2007

1st Vespers Circumcision: Genesis 17:1-7, 9-12, 14

Epistle: Colossians 2:8-12  Gospel: St. Luke 2:20-21, 40-52

 

Fulfillment: Genesis 17:1-7,9-12, 14 LXX, especially vs. 7: “And I will establish My covenant between thee and thy seed after thee, to their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be thy God, and the God of thy seed after thee.”   The Exaposteilarion of the Feast of Circumcision says: “Verily, the Creator of ages Who fulfilled the law is circumcised in the flesh as an eight-day old child, is wrapped in swaddling clothes like a man and is fed with milk, He Who is the All-Controller through His boundless might, since He is God, and the Maker of the law in flesh.”

Observe the words: “the Creator of the ages...fulfilled the law.”  The statements that follow concerning His circumcision, clothing as a man, and being fed with milk, specify ways in which He fulfills the law tangibly.  Let us explore these actions as fulfillment; for, having already overturned the course of nature, God the Word was born as a tiny, dependent Jewish infant.  Then, after eight days, He accepted the requirement of the Mosaic Law and was circumcised.

The “laws” of the created world require infants to be fed and clothed for survival, yet the Lord, Who is unbounded and eternally free from any need for protection, has chosen to take our flesh upon Himself, for He is God the Word assuming the limitations and demands of the natural order of things.  Therefore, He was diapered and nursed.  Observe that His satisfaction of the natural order is expressed in many of the icons of the Nativity for they regularly show Him being washed and cared for as well as being “wrapped...in swaddling cloths” (Lk. 2:7).

These most mundane actions direct us to the Apostle Paul’s point: when the Lord Jesus was “found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself,” lowered Himself in every respect (Phil. 2:7).  In other words, He came into the world and joined Himself to us as an actual man in order to address the dread side of our human separation from God, of our being wedded to death.

Note: for mankind’s salvation, God becomes a perfect man to reestablish our fallen race with Himself, an actual flesh-and-blood man who also is sinless. We have had many flesh-and-blood men, but as spiritual descendants of Adam our race lost the ability to produce a perfect man.  So to say, “we keep turning out sinners.”  Who can respond to that which God asked of Abraham: “be well-pleasing before Me, and be blameless” (Gen. 17:1 LXX).  Who is blameless?

However, through the action of the Holy Spirit overshadowing the Holy Virgin, God produced a Man Who lived perfectly and blamelessly.  By death He trampled down death, and as God bestows life upon all in the tombs and upon all who still are destined for the tombs.

Continuing on, we may also note that the Lord’s circumcision fulfills another level of “law.”  Observe God’s words to Abram, “I will establish My covenant between Me and thee, and I will multiply thee exceedingly.... [therefore] thy name shall no more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham, for I have made thee a father of many nations” (vss. 2,5). This covenant required that all males who would inherit these promises be circumcised on the eighth day after birth (vss. 9-12).  Obviously, the Theotokos and Joseph the Betrothed fulfilled this requirement upon the child Jesus, thereby making Him an inheritor of God’s promises to Abraham.

Abraham became the father of several nations (see Gen. 25).  Then, through a natural descendant of Abraham - the Lord Jesus - there came a Savior for all peoples throughout the whole world.  All nations, languages, and cultures may now unite themselves to Christ, and through Him, to receive the blessing promised to Abraham.  The Lord Jesus’ circumcision permanently assures us that God has fulfilled His promise to Abraham - and all for our sake.

O Thou, Who art ever above the law, Thou hast submitted to it, granting us blessing from on high.  Wherefore we extol Thee, praising Thy condescension of transcendent goodness!

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