Jewish baby boys
are circumcised
on the eighth day.
This is in accordance
with God's command
to Abraham
as part of His covenant
with Abraham
and his descendants.
For those of us
who are not of the Jewish race
this seems unnecessarily unpleasant
or even an abuse of a child.
There are many that say
that children should not
be circumcised
because they cannot choose
their faith.
There are in Christianity
those who believe that
children should not be baptized
because they cannot choose their faith.
But being Jewish is
not just a religion,
it is a race,
a family,
all genetically related
to Abraham.
This is why baby boys
are circumcised
in order to become
full members of that family
in obedience to God.
This is why Our Lord
is circumcised
in order to play a full part
in the family of Abraham
to receive His inheritance
from David
and to participate in
the life of God's chosen people.
In being circumcised,
Our Lord ratifies and fulfils
the Old Testament.
But there is
more to it
than that.
[PAUSE]
Christ is circumcised for us
just as He lives and dies for us.
But He is also baptized
and, in so doing,
sanctifies the waters of Baptism
in order to bring others
into the family of God.
As we have been reminded
at Christmas,
we have fallen from
our first state of grace,
though grace has not been
obliterated in us.
We have turned our backs
to God and rejected
being part of a family
with Him.
In so doing,
we have lost ourselves
and sit in the degradation
of our own making.
This is the purpose
of Our Lord's Incarnation.
His whole life is
to re-sanctify ours
in some things by setting the example,
in others by doing what we can't do ourselves.
On the one hand,
He shows obedience to God
so that we might see
how to be obedient to God.
This we can do.
On the other hand,
He supplies goodness
to heal wounds and restore
what is broken.
This we cannot do.
At Baptism,
Grace is given back to us
in order for us to be
part of the Family of God
once more.
This is why we baptise babies,
to bring them into
the family of God,
even as they are already
members of their family.
In Christ,
we are bound together
as God's people
of the New Testament
with the God's people
of the Old Testament
as one family
whether or not
we are of the Jewish race.
This is why St Paul
can say that,
in Christ,
there is neither Jew nor Gentile.
[PAUSE]
As Gentiles,
we are spared circumcision,
but we are not spared
the pains that come
with being Christian.
As Christ suffers,
so we must suffer with Him
on the road to our perfection.
We must all endure unkind cuts in life,
but in Christ,
the are badges of honour
in which we will find Eternal Joy.
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