Homily For The Feast of the Circumcision 2026
Happy New Year! 2026 is now upon us and may God grant us the blessing of His presence and His delight in our worship in the civil year to come. Today, January 1 is the feast of the Circumcision. It is a celebration of the faithfulness of God, even in the earliest days of Christ’s life, to make him obedient to the Law. That there was nothing lacking in his faithfulness to every aspect of the Law.
As our Collect says, “ALMIGHTY God, who madest thy blessed Son to be circumcised, and obedient to the law for man; Grant us 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; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”
The Church reveals to us the teaching for this morning - Jesus the pure one was circumcised under the law, submissive to the Law for man.
He, the second Adam, offered perfect obedience to God’s requirements even when he did not need to do so according to his eternal sonship.
Our Gospel for today presents unto us the worship of the shepherds, the same group of outsiders who were the first to hear of Christ’s birth in our Gospel for Christmas Eve. After hearing the joyous announcement of the angels, they said to each other let us go and see this thing. Let us go and see the sign of the Messiah in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. They came and worshiped, and their testimony of the celestial witness of the host of heaven became a treasured memory in Mary’s heart. She collected, archived all the prophecy and joyous revelation so she might be fortified in her obedience.
She didn’t mistake these signposts of divine favor and revelation as a cancellation of covenantal obedience.
Heartfelt sentiment did not take the place of obedience for the child. It must be remembered that a Jewish boy had to be circumcised to have part of Israel’s covenant. They couldn’t participate in their privileges and responsibilities unless the boy’s parents brought him to be circumcised. God took the refusal, the neglect of circumcision as a grave offense. Recall the cryptic story of Moses and the angel who sought to kill him because of the neglect of Moses in regards to his two sons. Moses’ death was only averted by the hasty circumcision performed by Zipporah, Moses' wife. God took it seriously - if one wasn’t circumcised he was cut off from God’s people - outside of the protection of the covenant established with Abraham.
So, in obedience to the Law, Mary and Joseph brought the Christ child to be circumcised. They did the next right thing - the simple obedience to what the word of God said.
In doing so, Jesus became obedient to the Law before he was self-aware; before he was able to do so of his own accord. In the humiliation of the Incarnation, the second person of the Trinity was reliant in some sense on the faithfulness of sinful man to present him, the Messiah, the Incarnate Son, back to God in covenant faithfulness. In the circumcision, we have the first sacrifice of Christ’s blood for man’s redemption. For Jesus had no need for the circumcision, for he was sinless. Yet, in this act, it initiates the pattern of Our Lord’s complete faithfulness to all of God’s commandment, fulfilling all righteousness so that we can be presented to God clothed in Christ’s righteousness.
The Gospel ends with a simple statement - And when eight days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called JESUS, which was so named of the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
Our Epistle tells us the significance of this naming - in the Gospel it was in obedience to the command of the angel earlier at the conception of Jesus but this faithfulness of the Holy Couple has eternal significance. His name is Jesus, or Joshua, which translated means the one who would save his people from their sins. Joshua took Israel into the promised land saving them from their physical enemies but Jesus would save his people from their greatest enemies - sin and death. The Epistle tells us the eternal significance of this name. It is the name appointed for the bowing of every knee, the worship of every creature that has or will ever exist. It is the regal, the royal name of the one who sits at the right hand of the Father - to whom the Father has given the nations to be his footstool; the universe as his gifted dominion. St. Paul removes the scandal of his humble appearances in Bethlehem, Nazareth, Capernaum and passion in Jerusalem. The great name was given in simple obedience on the eight day by Mary and Joseph - frail, needy sinners.
This feast should bring much encouragement to parents and grandparents. Hope and joy to godparents and sponsors. God chose to have Jesus, the perfect one, born to sinners in need of God’s grace for living, for all aspects of life. God honored their humble obedience and through simple faithfulness to the truths that God had revealed to Israel they made Christ obedient to the Law before he could be so himself.
We should bring our children to the God of the covenant in humble obedience, acknowledging our frailty and yet still the greater promises of God, his greater, fuller faithfulness in Jesus. We should bring them to the God of the covenant. Jesus was made a member of Israel through circumcision - without his choice, without his consent. He was marked and then lived out the implications of being part of Israel as he became more self aware.
Let us bring the little children to Jesus - even at eight days of age - so that he can take them up in his loving embrace; so that God can provide whatever is wanting in our parenting. Whatever may be deficient in our dealings with children. Think about the circumcision, think about Mary and Joseph and the fact that they were sinners just like us, and take hope that God provides for his people through simple obedience. He brings blessing through faithfulness to what He commands. Amen.
