The Jewish Jesus

Today on the tenth day of Christmas
the readings for the extraordinary form of the Mass
Are taken from the Octave of Christmas
the feast of the Circumcision of the Lord.

As we hear in the Gospel of Luke:
On the eight day after His Birth our Lord and Savior
Was taken to be circumcised as was prescribed by the Law

It seems like a odd thing to think about, and to celebrate
The circumcision of the Christ,
But it is important for two reasons

First Jesus’ circumcision marks his entry
into a particular cultural reality.

Salvation is from the Jews because the Son of God
Became a Jew, not just the son of Mary
But a son of Adam, and of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob
A son and descendent of David, who was destined to rule on the throne of His father David forever.

The Feast of Jesus’ circumcision
is the celebration of Jesus’ jewishness

A fact that we Catholics can not afford to forget.

Because it demonstrates the fact
that contrary to the heretic Marcion—
the Jewish Old Testament
and all the promises made to the Children of Israel
refer to Jesus and to us, his Church.
It also demonstrates our fraternity with the Jewish people
Who in Christ, are our brothers,
and even though they did not recognize Him when He came
they too wait for and expect the final coming
of the same Messiah, who we know is Jesus Christ.

Thus while we ought to pray for them,
as we should for all people, including ourselves!
that they come to a great realization
of the truth of Jesus Christ.

We must always remember that we share a bond of friendship and fraternity with them,
And therefore that anti-semiticism has no place
in the mystical body of the Jewish Christ—the Chruch

But most importantly,
we must remember and celebrate the Jewishness of Jesus
because it is only in this context that we fully realize
who Jesus of Nazareth is and what He is doing in the world

As Pope Benedict points out in his recent book on Jesus
It is precisely in dialogue with the old testament
and our Jewish brothers,
that we can come to a clearer understanding,
of who Jesus was and what He taught.

And its only in the context of the Israelite and Jewish
Forms of worship and prayer
That we can understand Jesus’ prayer and worship
Jesus’ Liturgy, which here at the Altar of God
We participate in each day.
Incense, Altars, vessels, and the sacrificial lamb
Not to mention all the rich liturgical psalms and canticals
That are so intergral to the traditional Mass
All come from the Jewish millieu and culture
Into which Jesus was born.

In order for us to understand and engage,
To fully and actually participate in the Liturgy
Not just saying the Mass, but at Pope Pius the tenth insisted,
Praying the Mass—we must be aware of the fact that
Jesus was a Jew, and that we too
are part of that same chosen people.

The second reason why it is important to celebrate
Jesus’ Circumcision is because it prefigures our own.

Jesus was circumcised according to the Law
Because for the Jew, circumcision was the only way
For a male to enter into the chosen people
With all its duties and priveledges.

Our Lord was circumcised, for it
"became him to fulfil all righteousness,"
as of the seed of Abraham, according to the flesh.

It was to use the words of Trent
and outward sign of an inward reality
of membership in God’s chosen people

By His circumcison the God who became man
And who was born as the son of Mary
Became in law and in truth a Jew
And a legal heir to the promises made
to the Patriarchs and Prophets,
which Jesus Himself was destined to fulfill.

However more important than the physical reality
of circumcision—was the spiritual reality!

As we hear in the book of Deuteronomy
the LORD thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou mayest live.

Although physical circumcision was still practiced
and in fact required of Jews in Jesus’ day
many had forgotten the inward reality that it symbolized.

Jesus acused the pharasees of scrupulosity over outward signs
Not because he begrudged them these signs,
But because they had forgotten their reality.

And the practice of circumcision,
was not required of the gentiles,
because this sign began to get in the way of the reality.

However, Jesus the Jew, gave us a new symbol
of the reality of a circumcised heart,
when he entered the waters of the Jordan,
united his perfectly circumcised heart
with the hearts of so many sinners who had entered the waters
of the baptism of repentence
only to be transformed by the baptism of the spirit.

Jesus’ circumcision into the House of Juda
and the Children of Israel today
prefigures the reality of our baptism into Christ
and thus into His chosen people the Church.

The Jewishness of Jesus, which we celebrate today
Links us intimately by means of the waters of baptism
To the entire history of Salvation,
and makes us heirs of the promises
God made to his friends and servants Abarham, Issac, and Jacob

Like Jesus we too have been circumcised into this same family
And called by a name known by God before our birth
to an awesome vocation in it.

Let us pray that our faith might grow through our understanding of the Jewish Jesus
who has made known and accessible to the nations
the saving power of God.