In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
We are here, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, in the midst of the feasts, between the Nativity according to the flesh of our Lord and God and Saviour Jesus Christ and the Theophany, the revelation of God, Christ’s baptism by the Forerunner in the Jordan. And here, between the two great feasts, we take part in another event in the human life of the Lord, his Circumcision.
And we squirm, we don’t like to talk about such things: further, we remember the Lord’s words, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfil.” (Matthew 5:17) We want to interpret fulfil in a way which means the Law has ended: “I have no need for the Law,” I say to myself, “I have grace;” this is not, however, the understanding of the Scriptures nor of the Church, for when the Lord says “fulfil” he means “fill to overflowing.”
And I turn back to today’s celebration, for it directly links us to the two Great Feasts. “In him also,” says the Apostle to the Colossians just a few moments ago, which is to say, “in Christ,” “you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ;” for we, each of us, have participated in Christ’s Circumcision. And how has this been accomplished? The Apostle continues, “and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.” So today’s feast is not something to be forgotten for a Law which no longer applies but shows how we are incorporated fully into the Israel of God through our Baptism into Christ. We have been “baptised into Christ [and] have put on Christ.” (Galatians 3:27) through which we have received Christ’s Circumcision.
My dear brothers and sisters, Christ in his incarnation fulfils, fills to overflowing, the Law. Read the Law, learn from the Law, understand the Law through the lenses of Christ so that we too may come to know him who gave us all things, that we may turn from our wanderings and back to the living God, who “sent prophets, … performed mighty works, … spoke to us by the mouths of servants the prophets, … and appointed the Law as an aid.” (Anaphora, Liturgy of St Basil) May we all, Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female; honour together the Circumcision of Christ in which we have each received circumcision,
for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
Galatians 3:28–29
To our incarnate, crucified and risen Saviour, Jesus Christ, circumcised in the flesh, be all glory, honour and worship, together with his unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit, Amen.
Brethren, see to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily, and you have come to fulness of life in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ; and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
— Colossians 2:8–12
At that time, the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them. And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover. And when he was twelve years old, they went up according to custom; and when the feast was ended, as they were returning, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem. His parents did not know it, but supposing him to be in the company they went a day’s journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintances; and when they did not find him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking him. After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions; and all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. And when they saw him they were astonished; and his mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” And he said to them, “How is it that you sought me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” And they did not understand the saying which he spoke to them. And he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature, and in favour with God and man.
— Luke 2:20–21, 40–52