Inner and Outward Circumcision

  • January 16, 2023
  • /
  • John Tillman

Scripture Focus: Genesis 17.23-27
23 On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. 24 Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised, 25 and his son Ishmael was thirteen; 26 Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that very day. 27 And every male in Abraham’s household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him. 

John 16.1-4
1 “All this I have told you so that you will not fall away. 2 They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God. 3 They will do such things because they have not known the Father or me. 4 I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them.

Acts 7.51
51 “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!

From John: Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. The purpose of this day is to encourage service to one’s community. Along with that purpose, we also acknowledge that many have wrongly thought that they were doing “a service for God” (John 16.2) when they committed acts of violence. May our service bring about a loving community on Earth that mirrors that above and may we redouble our efforts to counter violence and the normalization of violent language and threats in our world.

Reflection: Inner and Outward Circumcision
By John Tillman

Every male in Abraham’s household was circumcised. Not just his offspring. Not just his blood relatives. Not just those of his race or country. Everyone. Abraham did not yet have the son God promised, but all those with him were marked as children of this promise.

Even though it set Abraham apart from the rest of the world, from the very beginning circumcision made one people from diverse peoples. It was intended as an external physical marker of an internal spiritual reality. 

Eventually, circumcision, and other distinguishing marks of faith, went from being about inclusion to being about exclusion. “Holiness” became just another kind of sinful show.

Jesus warned his disciples of what they would face in the immediate future from the religious elite. Paul and Stephen would soon live out Jesus’ words. (Acts 7.51-60) Stephen called out “uncircumcised” hearts and ears of those deaf and blind to God’s Word and his work. Their inner spirituality did not match their outward ritual purity.

With any religious practice, it is easy for the ritual to become a replacement for the spiritual. Our legalistic holiness can become a sinfully prideful show. If we are not careful, we can lose our love for the Lord, and other humans, amidst our liturgies. 

But without ritual or liturgy or law our “spirituality” is just a mush of feelings—ecstatic highs and depressive lows. Liturgy, law, and the rhythmic rituals of worship are tools to remind us that we are included. They are intended to set us apart from the world and, at the same time, hold out an invitation to the world. We, like the foreigners in Abraham’s household, can be marked as children of the promise alongside Christ, Abraham’s true son.

Faith can start outwardly. Nonbelievers may begin reading the Bible, coming to church, singing worship songs, or changing outward behaviors of their lives. This can be a path to inward faith.

Faith can start inwardly. People may have sudden or life-altering conversions of heart. These may lead to disciplines such as Bible reading, worship, and lifestyle changes.

Wherever faith starts, may every part, inward and outward, be changed. By God’s grace, may our ears, hearts, and every part of our lives bear the mark of a “circumcision” that is more than skin deep. May our inner spirituality and outward reality match.

Divine Hours Prayer: The Greeting
Be exalted, O Lord, in your might; we will sing and praise your power. — Psalm 21.14

Today’s Readings
Genesis 17 (Listen 4:02) 
John 16 (Listen 4:14)

Read more about The Necessity of The Spirit
Othniel and Stephen are two men touched and led by the Spirit of God to very different outcomes.

The Necessity of The Spirit

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The Sign of Jonah and The Cross

  • January 16, 2019
  • /
  • John Tillman

Matthew 16.2-4
“When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’  and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation looks for a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Jesus then left them and went away.

Reflection: The Sign of Jonah and The Cross
By John Tillman

If Jesus had a website “Can you show us a sign from Heaven?” would be listed in his FAQs.

In today’s reading, Jesus references the “Sign of Jonah” and walks away without any explanation. Earlier in Matthew, he clearly connected the Sign of Jonah to his death, burial, and resurrection. Mark, when relating a similar demand that was answered in a similar way, gives the intimate detail that Jesus “sighed deeply” before answering this repetitive query. (What a very human moment this is—showing us that there is no frustration that our savior did not fully enter into and experience.)

Jonah’s emotional path is like a photo negative of Christ’s. Jonah went to Nineveh unwillingly. It was not because he was afraid for his life, as many prophets were. He did not want to save the Ninevites because they were dangerous enemies of Israel. He was willing to die to save the idol-worshiping sailors in the boat, but when Nineveh repented and wasn’t destroyed, Jonah pouted like a child for the destruction of his enemies.

Jesus is, indeed, “greater than Jonah,” as he claims in Matthew 12. Their similarities begin and end with the time spent in the belly of the fish and in the grave.

Jesus left Heaven, setting aside his glory willingly. Jesus’ desire was consistently to seek and save the outcast and the lost. He demonstrated his love for sinners because he was willing to die for us. When the unrepentant beat, stripped, and crucified Christ, he cried to his Father for the forgiveness of his tormentors.

The signs of scripture, like the signs of the sky Jesus references, are clear and we can read them. Like the religious leaders, who privately acknowledged Christ’s miracles, we fail to follow Christ not because we can’t read the signs but because we doubt what they say.

We question. We qualify. We delay.
Jesus tires. He sighs. He weeps.

Jesus, in frustration, “walked away” from the religious leaders. But that is only because they didn’t go with him. When Jesus walks away from us, it isn’t to abandon us. He intends us to follow him. One of the key differences between the religious leaders and the disciples is that the disciples took their questions and doubts with them, following Jesus anyway.

We can bring our doubts, but we must be willing to take up our cross. There is no other way to follow him.

Prayer: A Reading
Jesus said to us: “In truth I tell you, anyone who does not welcome the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” — Luke 18.17

– Prayer from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Autumn and Wintertime by Phyllis Tickle.

Prayers from The Divine Hours available online and in print.

Today’s Readings
Genesis 17 (Listen – 4:02)
Matthew 16 (Listen – 3:43)

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Read more about Two Ways to be Religious
The Bible is very easy to understand. But we Christians are a bunch of scheming swindlers. We pretend to be unable to understand it because we know very well that the minute we understand we are obliged to act accordingly.  — Søren Kierkegaard

Two Ways to be Religious

Read more about Recalling the Failures
Christ’s message of reinstatement is for all of us. He doesn’t see our failures as the world sees them. Christ sees more failure in us than even we know, yet he re-calls us—he calls us to himself again, and again, and again. Christ re-calls the failures.

Recalling the Failures