DYNAMIS!
A publication of St. George Orthodox Christian Cathedral
Wichita, KS
Genesis 17:1-2, 4-7, 9-14, First Reading
at Vespers: The Circumcision of Christ in the Flesh
Fulfillment: Genesis 17:1-2, 4-7,9-14 SAAS , especially
vs. 7: “I will establish My covenant
between Me and you and your seed after you in their generations, for an
everlasting covenant, to be your God and the God of your seed after
you.” A hymn of the Feast
of the 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.”
After the words: “...the Creator of the
ages...fulfilled the law...” the hymn further describes how the Lord
Jesus fulfilled the law of the created order - being clothed as a child and fed
with milk. These actions are
modest, human components of a great divine fulfillment; for, overturning the
course of nature, God the Word was born as a tiny, dependent Jewish infant, and
after the eight days required by Law of the Covenant with Abraham, He was
circumcised.
The laws of the created world require infants to be
fed and clothed for survival, yet the Lord in taking our flesh upon Himself for
our salvation, set aside His limitless and eternal freedom for our
salvation. Yes, we see God the Word
assuming our natural restraints and the demands of creation, and being diapered
and nursed. Observe His humbling, a
truth expressed in many of the icons of the Nativity that show Him being washed
and cared for, as well as being “...wrapped...in swaddling
cloths....” (Lk. 2:7). Thus,
He fulfills life’s simple neccessities.
These 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 to our human state (Phil. 2:7). In other words, He joined Himself to us
fully as a man to address our helpless and weakened separation from God,
including our being wedded to death even from our birth.
For our salvation, God in Christ becomes a perfect,
flesh-and-blood man to reestablish our fallen humanity to Himself, although He
remained sinless. We have had many flesh-and-blood men; but, as spiritual
descendants of Adam, our race has not had the ability to produce a perfect
man. So to say, we keep giving
birth to sinners. Who can
answer that which God asked of Abraham: “...be pleasing before Me and
blameless” (Gn. 17:1)? Christ
fulfilled our answer.
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 He bestows life upon all in the tombs and those of us
destined still for the tombs.
Continuing on, note also that the Lord’s circumcision
fulfills another level of law.
Observe God’s words to Abram: “I will establish My covenant
between Me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly” (vs. 2) For this
reason God says, “No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your
name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations” (vs.
5). And God requires that all males who would inherit these promises be
circumcised on the eighth day after birth (vss. 9-12). Hence, the Theotokos and Joseph fulfill
the requirement upon the infant Jesus, thereby making Him an inheritor of
God’s promises to Abraham for all peoples.
Abraham became the father of several, but not all, nations
(see Gn. 25). Then, through a
natural descendant of Abraham, his own seed after him (Gn. 17:7), Christ
our God becomes the Savior for all peoples, nations, languages, and
cultures. Now, not just Jews, but
anyone joined to Christ may receive His eighth day fulfillment of eternal life. The Lord’s circumcision assures us
certainly that God did fulfill and is fulfilling His promise to Abraham, 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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