Works › Sermons for the Seasons of the Year
Volume 13 · pp. 35–36
Sermon VII. On the Circumcision of the Lord
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Sermo VII.
De Circumcisione Domini.
Postquam consummati sunt dies octo, ut circumcideretur puer: vocatum est nomen ejus Jesus. Luc. ii, 21.
Tria principaliter sunt hic notanda:
I. Quid per circumcisionem pueri figuretur? II. Quid per octo dies spiritualiter intelligi detur? III. Quare puer hoc nomine Jesus appelletur 1?
I.
De primo nota, quod per circumcisionem pueri duplex circumcisio figuretur. Prima est, per quam circumcidimur, id est, purgamur a vitiis et iniquitatibus. Secunda est, per quam circumcidemur, id est liberabimur ab omnibus miseriis et poenalitatibus. De prima circumcisione dicitur Genes. xvii, 10 et seq., ubi Dominus dixit ad Abraham: Circumcidetur ex vobis omne masculinum: et circumcidetis carnem praeputii vestri, ut sit signum foederis inter me et vos. Infans octo dierum circumcidetur in vobis... Masculus, cujus praeputii caro circumcisa non fuerit, delebitur anima illa de populo suo, quia pactum meum irritum fecit.
Cum igitur circumcisio, id est, amputatio vitiorum sit signum foederis, id est, pacis inter nos et Deum, nota, quod quinque in nobis principaliter sunt circumcidenda, videlicet, cor, oculus, auris, et lingua, manusque.
1. Primo igitur cor circumcidendum est a malitiosis, et maculosis cogitationibus. Quod autem malitiosae cogitationes a corde sint praecidendae, dicit Jerem. iv, 4: Circumcidimini Domino, et auferte praeputia cordium vestrorum, viri Juda, et habitatores Jerusalem: ne forte egrediatur ut ignis, indignatio mea, et succendatur, et non sit qui exstinguat, propter malitiam cogitationum vestrarum. Per viros Juda et habitatores Jerusalem Christiani figurantur. Ipsi enim confiteri Domino debent, quoniam bonus, quoniam in saeculum misericordia ejus 2. Ipsi enim suspirare debent ad visionem pacis aeternae. Praecipitur ergo Christianis, ut circumcidant corda sua a malitiosis cogitationibus, id est, ut nulli homini malum in corde suo machinentur. Et quare praecipitur hoc? Quia si corda sua non circumciderint, egredietur contra eos divina indignatio, tamquam severissimus ignis, qui numquam exstinguetur. Dicitur enim Jerem. iv, 14: Lava a malitia cor tuum Jerusalem, ut salva fias: usquequo morabuntur in te cogitationes noxiae? Cor enim circumcidendum est a malitiosis, id est, immundis cogitationibus: nullus enim requiescet in monte sancto Dei, nisi qui sine macula cordis ingreditur. Unde dicitur in Psal. xxiii, 3 et 4: Quis ascendet in montem Domini? aut quis stabit in loco sancto ejus? Innocens manibus et mundo corde. Hinc enim dicit Apostolus ad Philip. iv, 8 et 9: Quaecumque sunt pudica, cogitate: et Deus pacis erit vobiscum.
Sermon VII.
On the Circumcision of the Lord.
After eight days were completed, so that the boy might be circumcised, his name was called Jesus. Luke 2:21.
Three things are principally to be noted here:
I. What is figured by the circumcision of the boy? II. What is given to be understood spiritually by the eight days? III. Why the boy is called by this name Jesus 1?
I.
Concerning the first, note that by the circumcision of the boy a twofold circumcision is figured. The first is that through which we are circumcised, that is, purged from vices and iniquities. The second is that through which we will be circumcised, that is, liberated from all miseries and penalties. Concerning the first circumcision it is said in Genesis 17:10 and following, where the Lord said to Abraham: Every male among you will be circumcised, and you will circumcise the flesh of your foreskin, so that it may be a sign of the covenant between me and you. An infant of eight days will be circumcised among you... The male whose flesh of the foreskin has not been circumcised, that soul will be destroyed from his people, because he has made my covenant void.
Since therefore circumcision, that is, the amputation of vices, is the sign of the covenant, that is, of peace between us and God, note that five things in us must principally be circumcised, namely, heart, eye, ear, and tongue, and hand.
1. First, therefore, the heart must be circumcised from malicious and stained thoughts. That malicious thoughts must be cut away from the heart, Jeremiah 4:4 says: Be circumcised for the Lord, and take away the foreskins of your hearts, men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem, lest perhaps my indignation go forth as fire and be kindled, and there be no one to extinguish it, because of the malice of your thoughts. By the men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem Christians are figured. For they ought to confess to the Lord, because he is good, because his mercy is forever 2. For they ought to sigh for the vision of eternal peace. Therefore Christians are commanded to circumcise their hearts from malicious thoughts, that is, to devise evil in their heart against no human being. And why is this commanded? Because if they have not circumcised their hearts, divine indignation will go forth against them like a most severe fire, which will never be extinguished. For Jeremiah 4:14 says: Wash your heart from malice, Jerusalem, that you may be saved; how long will harmful thoughts stay in you? For the heart must be circumcised from malicious, that is, unclean, thoughts; for no one will rest on the holy mountain of God unless he enters without stain of heart. Hence it is said in Psalm 23:3 and 4: Who will ascend into the mountain of the Lord, or who will stand in his holy place? The innocent in hands and clean in heart. Hence the Apostle says in Philippians 4:8 and 9: Whatever things are chaste, think on these; and the God of peace will be with you.
2. Secundo circumcidendi sunt oculi a lascivis nutibus, et ab impudicis adspectibus. Multi quippe nequitiam, et lasciviam nutibus oculorum ostendunt. Unde dicit Isa. iii, 16 et 17: Pro eo, quod elevatae sunt filiae Sion, et ambulaverunt extento collo, et nutibus oculorum ibant, decalvabit Dominus verticem filiarum Sion. Per filias Sion intelliguntur feminae Christianae, quae, quoniam ad nutus oculorum vadunt illuc, ubi ab amatoribus corrumpantur, decalvavit Dominus verticem earum, id est, tantum dolorem immittet eis post hanc vitam, quasi tota cutis capitis per rasorium ipsis jugiter abstrahatur. Multi etiam habent oculos plenos luxuria, illi videlicet, qui in lascivis adspectibus delectantur. De talibus dicit Augustinus: "Impudicus oculus impudici cordis est nuntius." De talibus etiam dicit II Pet. ii, 14: Oculos habentes plenos adulterii peribunt.
3. Tertio circumcidendae sunt aures ab auditu detractionum seu cantationum. Contra detractionum auditionem dicitur Proverb. xxiv, 22: Cum detractoribus non miscearis: quoniam repente consurgit perditio eorum. Scribit enim Hieronymus ad Nepotianum: "Cave, ne aut linguam, aut aures habeas prurientes," id est, ne aut ipse aliis detrahas, aut alios audias detrahentes. Nemo invito auditori libenter refert. Sagitta in lapide numquam figitur, interdum resiliens percutit dirigentem. Aures suas a detractione circumciderat David, qui dicit in Ps. c, 5: Detrahentem secreto proximo suo, hunc persequebar. Debemus etiam aures circumcidere, ne in turpi locutione, vel lascivo cantu delectentur. Unde dicitur
2. Secondly, the eyes must be circumcised from lascivious nods and from shameless looks. For many show wickedness and lasciviousness by nods of the eyes. Hence Isaiah 3:16 and 17 says: Because the daughters of Zion have been lifted up and have walked with outstretched neck, and went with nods of the eyes, the Lord will make bald the crown of the daughters of Zion. By the daughters of Zion Christian women are understood, who, because they go at the nods of the eyes to that place where they are corrupted by lovers, the Lord has made bald their crown, that is, he will send upon them after this life so great a pain as if the whole skin of the head were continually drawn away from them by a razor. Many also have eyes full of luxury, namely those who delight in lascivious looks. Augustine says concerning such persons: "An shameless eye is the messenger of a shameless heart." Concerning such persons 2 Peter 2:14 also says: Having eyes full of adultery, they will perish.
3. Thirdly, the ears must be circumcised from the hearing of detractions or songs. Against the hearing of detractions Proverbs 24:22 says: Do not mingle with detractors, because their destruction suddenly rises up. For Jerome writes to Nepotian: "Beware lest you have either an itching tongue or itching ears," that is, lest either you detract from others yourself or hear others detracting. No one gladly reports to an unwilling hearer. An arrow is never fixed in a stone; sometimes, rebounding, it strikes the one directing it. David had circumcised his ears from detraction, who says in Psalm 100:5: The one detracting secretly from his neighbor, him I pursued. We also ought to circumcise the ears, lest they be delighted in shameful speech or lascivious song. Hence it is said in
Notes
- The answers to II and III will be found in the two following sermons, namely Sermon VIII and XI. (Responsiones ad II et III invenientur in duobus sermonibus sequentibus, scilicet Serm. VIII et XI.) ↩
- Judith 13:21. (Judith, xiii, 21.) ↩
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