Nativity, Circumcision and a New Year of Our Lord

On January 1st, the church observes the octave day of Christ’s Nativity, commemorates his Circumcision, and begins a new (civil) year in his grace. Before drawing out the connections between these, a brief excursus into art history: St. Luke’s gospel tells us that the new-born child of Mary was wrapped in swaddling clothes; and for centuries Christian art was content to depict him thus attired; so it is striking that in the late middle ages it became common to depict a naked infant, with a full exposure of all those parts of the body which modesty would cover. Some artists try to have it both ways – they show him with swaddling clothes covering the upper part of his body only and his lower limbs naked – but the exposure often begins just at the point where you think modesty would suggest a couple of more inches of coverage! Moreover, in depictions of his Circumcision, the artist directs the attention of the viewer to precisely that part of the body that we normally keep covered. This is very embarrassing to prudish modern viewers; but there is clearly something intentional about this nakedness, and the exposure of that which normally we keep covered. We can rule out prurient motives – these images were designed for the devotion of the faithful. As was argued by the late great Leo Steinberg, the artistic depiction of the nakedness of the infant Jesus, and the immodest exposure of what we normally keep covered, was made for reasons of profound theological symbolism. The nakedness of Jesus – and in particular the exposure of the male organ of generation – is visually emblematic of the true manhood he assumed in the Incarnation. It’s also emblematic of the purpose for which he came into the world – the redemption of our own entire humanity, whether male and female.

So the Nativity is a hint of what the Son of God was incarnate to accomplish – the redemption of our entire humanity – but the Circumcision is a hint about how he accomplished it. Circumcision is the Old Testament prototype of baptism – it is the mark of entrance into the covenant that God established with Abraham and his seed, and the benefits he promised; but it is also a pledge of their obedience to God’s holy will and commandments. Though Israel never fully honored this pledge of covenant fidelity, this Child is the promised seed of Abraham, in whom are fulfilled both God’s promises to man, and man’s obligations to God. The law requires an active obedience to its stipulations – but it also requires punishment for disobedience; and Christ is born to satisfy God’s justice on both counts. By keeping the law for us, he inaugurates a new covenant of grace, in which we seek and obtain redemption not on the basis of our own futile efforts to keep the law, but by faith in his name, and by trust in the blood that was first shed on our behalf in this circumcision. As Paul said: “in the fullness of time, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are under the law, that they might receive the adoption of sons”. That’s why, at his circumcision, Mary’s child was given the name Jesus (Joshua in Greek), which means Savior, because he is born “to save his people from their sins”.

So the particular history we commemorate on the Feast of Christ’s Circumcision is also our history: it is about how the eternal purposes of God and his promises to Abraham have already been fulfilled for us by Christ – and are being fulfilled by his Spirit in us who believe in him. As he was conceived of the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, and made the child of Joseph by adoption; so are we regenerate, reborn, of the Holy Ghost, and made the children of God by adoption and grace. As he was circumcised for us in the flesh, and undertook the full obligation of the law for us; to redeem us from the curse of the law; so on the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ we pray for “the true circumcision of the Spirit; that, our hearts, and all our members, being mortified from all worldly and carnal lusts, we may in all things obey thy blessed will”. This is basis of the custom of the New Year’s resolutions, and an indication that spiritual growth is not about self-help and self-improvement; it’s not about compliance with external regulations and standards; it’s not about the accumulation of merit or the establishing of our own righteousness by our accomplishments; no, it is about the deep inward transformation, the renewal of the heart and mind in growing likeness to Christ, which happens as we grow into deeper dependence upon him, who was born and circumcised for us.