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Circumcision was the entryway into the Old Covenant. In the same way, baptism is now the entry point into the New Covenant. Circumcision was a sign to Israel that He wanted them to have an uncircumcised heart. He desires a heart that is obedient and tender toward Him. In the New Covenant He gives us this heart. Let us look into circumcision to understand baptism better.
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the Lord appeared to Abram, and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless. 2 And I will make my covenant between me and you, and will multiply you exceedingly.” 3 Then Abram fell on his face; and God said to him, 4“Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. 5 No longer shall your name be Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. 6 I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come forth from you. 7 And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your descendants after you. 8 And I will give to you, and to your descendants after you, the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.” 9 And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their generations. 10 This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your descendants after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11 You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you.
The physical circumcision was to represent the cutting away of the hard rebellious heart. Over and over God warned the children of Israel to circumcise their hearts. Circumcision was a sign to them. Notice also that God promised that Abraham would be a father of nations.
12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, 13 and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I command you this day for your good? 14 Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it; 15 yet the Lord set his heart in love upon your fathers and chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as at this day. 16 Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.
The heart of God has always been reconciliation. He always wanted to dwell with us and wanted a people that would love Him in return. He desires a people that will love Him in return with a soft, obedient heart.
1 “If you return, O Israel, says the Lord, to me you should return. If you remove your abominations from my presence, and do not waver, 2 and if you swear, ‘As the Lord lives,’ in truth, in justice, and in uprightness, then nations shall bless themselves in him, and in him shall they glory.” 3 For thus says the Lord to the men of Judah and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem: “Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns. 4 Circumcise yourselves to the Lord, remove the foreskin of your hearts, O men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem; lest my wrath go forth like fire, and burn with none to quench it, because of the evil of your doings.”
Since the hearts of Israel were hard and the seed of His word could not flourish there, He called them to break up the hardness of their hearts. God knows we need His help to love Him. We need His grace and His Spirit, so He promised a New Covenant that would give us a new heart, a soft heart of obedience. He said He would sprinkle us clean of all our sins.
31 “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I was their husband, says the Lord. 33 But this is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each man teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the Lord; for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
19 And I will give them one heart, and put a new spirit within them; I will take the stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh, 20 that they may walk in my statutes and keep my ordinances and obey them; and they shall be my people, and I will be their God. 21But as for those whose heart goes after their detestable things and their abominations, I will requite their deeds upon their own heads, says the Lord God.”
25 I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. 26 A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will take out of your flesh the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. 27 And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances.
This New Covenant would give us a new heart. He would give us His Spirit and He would sprinkle us clean of all our sin! This is a direct reference to baptism. Baptism would be the doorway into the New Covenant as circumcision was for the Old Covenant.
The Apostle Paul joins circumcision with baptism.
8 See to it that no one makes a prey of you by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the universe, and not according to Christ. 9 For in him the whole fulness of deity dwells bodily, 10 and you have come to fulness of life in him, who is the head of all rule and authority. 11In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ; 12 and you were buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, who were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 having canceled the bond which stood against us with its legal demands; this he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the principalities and powers and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in him.
The cross stands at the center of the New Covenant. We are joined to Christ through the cross and baptism. The Church is the Body of Christ.[1] When a baby is baptized it is the faith of the family that brings the child into the Body of Christ. When the baby grows, he will eventually have to profess his faith in Christ, but as a baby he is joined to the Church. When an adult makes profession of faith and is baptized, he joins the Body of Christ. He enters the New Covenant.
St. Peter describes the Church this way.
1 So put away all malice and all guile and insincerity and envy and all slander. 2 Like newborn babes, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up to salvation; 3 for you have tasted the kindness of the Lord.
4 Come to him, to that living stone, rejected by men but in God’s sight chosen and precious; 5 and like living stones be yourselves built into a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in scripture: “Behold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and he who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 7 To you therefore who believe, he is precious, but for those who do not believe, “The very stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner,” 8 and “A stone that will make men stumble, a rock that will make them fall”; for they stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. 9 But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you were no people but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy but now you have received mercy.
As circumcision was the entryway or rite into the Old Covenant, so is baptism the rite into the New Covenant. The New Covenant is a promise for all nations, for all people to come into the Church. He sprinkles us clean, gives us a new heart and the Spirit.
Live repentance. Be zealous. In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen
June 27, 2025, Friday Twelfth Week of Ordinary Time, Feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
[1] 1 Corinthians 12
Be Zealous 
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