Feast of the Circumcision of Christ

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Last week I proposed the idea that Joseph believed Mary. As such, he wanted to put Mary away before their marriage, quietly and without shame. This idea is held by a minority of the theological academy, aiming to pull Joseph off the sidelines and into the drama of JESUS’ birth as a more significant protagonist, and not just an onlooker. — Some people see Joseph as a backstop in a male-centric society, running interference for Mary’s pre-marital embarrassment in conception apart from Joseph, while also providing the financial underwriting necessary to raise a respectable Hebrew family in first-century Judea. — The question is, was there more to the story than Joseph simply being a surrogate father to JESUS and a dutiful husband to Mary?

Certainly, Joseph was an accomplished & respected carpenter in Nazareth; why else would Heli, Mary’s father, authorize their betrothal? Yet, the anticipation of the coming Messiah in Israel at that time cannot escape our introspection. The Rev. Alfred Edersheim in his work, The Life and Times of JESUS the Messiah, brings the excitement of first-century, Jewish society’s anticipation of the Messiah’s arrival, which was the thought of each person in Judea – all the time. The Jews wondered, incessantly, if theirs would be the generation that GOD would choose to bless with the arrival of His Anointed One – the Jewish Christ – the Redeemer of Israel. — Fr. Edersheim says, “Such then was ‘the hope of the promise made of GOD unto the fathers, (who is the coming Christ)’ for which the Twelve Tribes ‘serving GOD night and day,’ longed – they read it, (viz., the arrival of the Messiah), into almost every event with such earnestness, that it was ever the burden of their prayers … that many and long centuries of disappointment [of the Messiah’s arrival], could not quench their heightened expectancy.” ¹ – We can expect, then, that Joseph and Mary were also drenched in the hope of the coming of the promised Messiah in their generation.

Further heightening their excitement, was the fact that Joseph and Mary’s betrothal would bring together two lines of descendants from King David’s House. The Old Testament prophets foretold that it would be from David’s lineage that the Messiah would spring forth. In the book of Isaiah, we read one such prophecy, wherein David’s father, Jesse is mentioned, identifying which human family the Christ, which means Anointed One in Greek, would emerge. In Isaiah 11,1-2, we read: “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon Him; The Spirit of wisdom and understanding; The Spirit of counsel and might; The Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.”

Isaiah also foretells ‘how’ the Christ would be born. In this prophecy, a sign would be given that would foretell the immediacy of the coming of the One that would deliver Israel from her enemies. Isaiah writes in 7,14: “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel.” – With these clear and authoritative descriptions of the coming Messiah, how could a virgin in Israel, descended from the House and Line of David, not think that she might be the one that GOD would choose to be the mother of the Christ? – Edersheim continues: “In all of this, however marvelous, there could be nothing strange to those who cherished in their hearts Israel’s greatest hope, (which Isaiah foretold), not merely as an article of abstract belief, but as a matter of certain fact – least of all to the maiden of the lineage of David [and her betrothed husband, Joseph].”²

Thus, when Joseph heard Mary’s news of being visited by Gabriel and having been made pregnant by the overshadowing of GOD the Holy Ghost, Joseph’s mind must have instantly recalled Isaiah’s prophecies, giving credibility to Mary’s claims. – With the character and integrity of Mary in his heart, for Joseph loved Mary and wanted to make her his wife, Joseph, must have read the situation with such vivid Messianic earnestness, that he could not help but wonder at his role in this sacred drama. – The challenge was, the sacred Scriptures make no mention of an earthly father for the Messiah. Instead, they are clear that the Messiah’s Father is YAHWEH! In Psalm 2,6-7 we read: “I have set My King on My holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: The Lord [YAHWEH] has said to Me, [His Anointed], ‘You are My Son; Today I have begotten You.”. – So, deciding not to cross swords with GOD by making a claim of adultery in the public square against the Virgin who bore YAHWEH’s only Begotten, Joseph sought to put Mary away, quietly, and without a stir – fearing to take her as his wife. – But GOD was not finished with Joseph, for it was His will that Joseph wed the blessed virgin of Isaiah chapter seven.

As part of the Old Testament covenant, Jewish boys were required to be circumcised eight days after they were born. This religious rite was a ceremony of dedication and incorporation. The custom emerged from the agreement GOD made with Abram, before GOD changed Abram’s name to Abraham, which means, ‘Father of a multitude’. Abraham, and the little boys that would come from his loins, were to cut off the foreskin of their ‘member of multiplication’, from which the sin of Adam is promulgated. This was done on the eighth day after the male child’s birth, the day of New Creation, as something new was happening when this rite of circumcision was performed – covenantally and spiritually, by grace and not works. — Circumcision was a ceremonial rite that acted as a sign, pointing back to GOD’s faithfulness to Abraham when He said to the patriarch: “I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish My covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and your descendants after you.” (Genesis 17,6-7).

GOD chose Abraham and his descendants to reveal His glory in the world, which He specifically defined as: “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12,3c). And GOD would do so by marking them uniquely, as GOD told Abraham: “You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you … So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant” (Genesis 17, 11 & 13b).

Now, we can begin to see the importance of the Abrahamic Circumcision in Holy Scripture. For, “[Circumcision] symbolized a deeper moral truth that man must, by his own act, complete what GOD had first instituted.”³ – In every case, the Hebrew male was marked in the flesh of his foreskin, so that he would know by the mark, and that all could see by his deeds, that he was a child of the Promise. — Therefore, the priest prayed over the child at the close of the circumcision ceremony, along with the whole family joining in, that the little boy might, by the name of YAHWEH GOD, with the influence of his tribe’s patriarchs, grow-up to attain Torah, a blessed and fruitful marriage, and good works [in the community of Israel,’ reflecting GOD’s glory and mission in the world. For, “there is no true faith without obedience and no true obedience without faith.”⁴

All of this was customary in Israel, but it pointed to something greater – something complete – ultimately, to someone greater and more complete than an average male child in Israel. Indeed, it pointed to the One, the Seed, who would fulfill the Promise made to Abraham, so that all the families of the earth could be blessed through Him – And this is where Joseph’s active role in the birth of the Anointed One is paramount!

Jesus’s ancestry as a descendent of King David is recorded in the genealogies found in the Gospels of Matthew and Luke. These genealogies are carefully described, so that all readers of the Holy Scriptures, Jew, or Gentile, may see that JESUS’ heritage is of the line and house of King David. The importance of which, we have already mentioned. – The drama played out in the life of Mary and Joseph is thus affected. – For Joseph, was the lynchpin to uphold the promise given in the Old Testament that David’s seed, would sit upon his throne forever. In that prophecy from 2 Samuel 7, GOD says to King David, “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom … forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son” (7,12-14a). – Joseph was honorable; he was faithful; he was loving; God-fearing; and he was chosen for this purpose: to graft the Messiah of GOD into the line of kings in the House of David.

Joseph was called by GOD to be the adopted father to the Christ Child, a role so often misunderstood for another purpose in the Holy Family. — For even though Mary descended from the House of David, her family tree grew from David’s son Nathan, who was not of the kingly line. Solomon was the son of David, wherein the kings of Israel came, and this is the line from which Joseph descended. While JESUS was begotten of His Heavenly Father GOD, that He might be born without the sin of Adam, being adopted by Joseph allowed JESUS to receive all the rights of name and title of the Root of Jesse – truly being called the Son of King David.

This can only mean Joseph was a key part of God’s plan; not just a circumstantial convenience to shield Mary and the Child from shame. — It is through Joseph’s lineage that JESUS inherits the right to be a Davidic King, thereby fulfilling the Promise given to Abraham, that his Seed, who is Christ, would bring the blessing of salvation to all people who put their trust in Him as their King. And this is why the Feast of the Circumcision is so important, and worthy of our celebration – we Gentiles.

Further, the circumcision of Christ was the fulfillment of all fleshly circumcisions, so that by His ‘bloody sacrifice’, He could bring about a new sign and seal for those that would participate in the Promise of the New Covenant made in His Blood. This newly realized sign and seal is Holy Baptism. – Ultimately, circumcision is a rite of incorporation into the body of Israel – a sign of relationship to GOD. It was purchased with the price of every male member’s body, yet their redemption was only as good as their sinful flesh. Thus, when Christ came into the world, undergoing Abraham’s circumcision on the eighth day after He was born, being divine and without sin, Abraham’s circumcision and covenant were fulfilled. In His Body and in Blood, JESUS established a New Covenant that all mankind could enter, but now, not by cutting themselves, but by believing in the Grace of GOD that comes through the shed Blood of JESUS on His Cross.

Very early on in Church history, the sacrament of water baptism replaced circumcision in the flesh, because faith in Christ, who is the Seed of Promise to bless all the families of the earth made to Abraham, allows for a new rite and ceremony of covenantal incorporation into the family of GOD. We read from St. Paul’s letter to the Colossians (cf. Col 2:11-13) that there is a new circumcision in the New Covenant in Christ’s Blood, not administered by hands, but a circumcision of the heart that occurs during the sacrament of water baptism. It is a circumcision that involves the ‘cutting away’, but not the cutting of the flesh of the body. Through Holy Baptism, a spiritual circumcision of the human heart takes place, wherein GOD grafts into our hearts and minds, that which pleases our Creator, without the instruction of some external ‘law’. As the writer of The Letter to the Hebrews records GOD saying: “I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more” (Hebrews 10,16-17).

And, as with JESUS in his fleshly circumcision, becoming the adopted son of Joseph, at our Holy Baptism, we become true sons and daughters of our adopted Heavenly Father. – And to be sure, this is no ordinary honorarium; it is an incorporation, (as JESUS’ incorporation into Joseph’s line), into the rights and privileges of the King of kings. From the day that we are baptized in Holy Water and chrismated with Holy Oil in the sign of JESUS’ Cross – from that day forward until we see Christ JESUS face to face, we are to live differently – to live purposefully – as children of the Most-Highest – unashamed to confess the Faith of Christ and Him crucified – members of the community of the King, set-apart to do His will, and not our own. Just like the little boys in Israel after their circumcision, after our naming and baptism, we are charged to live in the form and fashion of our Father – to be holy and He is holy.

In His fleshly circumcision, JESUS took on the mantle and name of Joseph to perform His role as the Messiah, as the Son of David. — In our spiritual circumcision by Holy Baptism, we are also to take on the mantle and Name of the Crucified & Resurrected Christ, to perform our role as children of GOD. Taking up this mantle means we will honor and live according to our heavenly Father’s historical identity, authority, and reputation. “For it has been well said that ‘it is a thing in itself beautiful and likewise spiritually helpful, that a man/woman/child should be reminded of their Christian profession and privileges every time they think of their baptismal names.’”⁵

JESUS was born a child of Mary and was adopted by Joseph, so that He could live a human life as the Son of David, assuming the mantle of the Messiah promised by the prophets -the heir of GOD’s Eternal Kingdom. And as the Son of David, JESUS could fight for us the war, victoriously, against sin, the flesh, and the devil. — Unless JESUS was born a human babe under the Law in a manger on Christmas, being circumcised in His flesh on the eighth day, He could not have ‘borne our griefs and carried our sorrows’. (cf. Is. 53:4) Unless JESUS also came as the Divine Son of GOD, He would not have had the strength to endure the ‘wounds for our transgressions – the bruises for our iniquities – the chastisement that brought us peace. (cf. Is. 53:5; Gal 3:13). JESUS Christ, Immanuel, GOD with us, did all this for us, that we might be cut free from the sin that so easily entangles our hearts and minds, allowing us to become, by His shed blood, the adopted heirs of GOD and called by His most Holy Name. — Thus, I pray unto the Father, dearly beloved of StME, that ‘we all will be strengthened with might by His Holy Spirit in the inner man. That Christ might dwell in our hearts by faith, and that we may all be filled with all the fulness of GOD, so that we, being dead unto sin, may live unto righteousness, and being buried with Christ in His death, may also be partakers of His resurrection; so that finally, with the residue of Christ JESUS’ holy Church, we may be inheritors of His everlasting kingdom, in the New Covenant, as GOD’s sons and daughters; through Christ our Lord. Amen. (cf. 1928 BCP, 280-281)

1 Edersheim, Rev’d Alfred, Life and Times of JESUS the Messiah, (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2016), 127.

2 Edersheim, 107.

3 Edersheim, digital 8965.

4 ++Sutton, Most Rev. Ray, Signed, Sealed, and Delivered: A Study of Holy Baptism, ( : Classic Anglican Press, 2001), 70.

5 Massey Jr., Sheppard Hamilton, American Prayer Book Commentary, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1950), 359.