to life the son of his hostess? In that figure the law was given away. What
SERMON 196A 65
Now look at the eighth day, the Lord's day. Christ died on the sixth day of the week, was buried on the seventh,7 rose again on the next day. So notice that he rose again after the sabbath, that is on the first day of the week. So if any Jew has heard that Christ was circumcised, let him come and be circumcised by Christ. But he says to me, "I am not the one to forsake my law." Would Christ himself have refused to accept circumcision? Would he have condemned what he commanded to be observed? Where would be the fact that it was he himself who gave the law?8 Or do you suppose that Christ only began to exist when he was bom of Mary? Christ existed before his mother, because he created her to be his mother. He existed before Abraham.9 That's little enough I'm telling you: he existed before Adam. And that too is little enough I'm telling you: he existed before heaven and earth, because all things were made through him (Jn 1:3). So do you suppose that anyone else but the Only-begotten of the Father, the Word of God, gave the law through Moses? I'm asking you, dearest brothers and sisters, what greatness was it that the old man Simeon saw in a small child?10 What he saw was being carried by his mother; what he perceived was governing the universe.
The humility of Christ has conformed itself to
2. Tell me, what sort of thing was it that Elisha did, when he brought back to life the son of his hostess? In that figure the law was given away. What happened? He was told, "The child is dead." He gave his servant his staff, and said, Go and place it on the dead child (2 Kgs 4:29). The servant took his staff, placed it on the dead child, and he didn't rise again. Elisha came himself, conformed himself to the dead child, and brought the dead back to life. Pay attention, brothers and sisters, pay attention. The staff sent by the servant, that's the law given by Moses. The staff was placed on the dead child, and he didn't rise again. The Jews could receive the law, but they couldn't live by it. So they shouldn't despise the humility of Christ; they shouldn't despise him placed on top of weakness.11
Look, he's believed in, he's conceived, he's clothed with flesh, he's bom of a woman, he's wrapped in rags, he's laid in a manger. Don't despise him when he does such things as that; he's conforming himself to the dead. Take a good look at what you're laughing at; if you are converted, you will be living by it. The humility of Christ has conformed itself to us, as to dead people who are to be made alive. By this we have already risen again for the time being by faith, and eventually in fact it will be in the flesh.
"But I," he says, "hold on to what God handed over to Moses." Listen to what God says through the prophet. What is God telling Jeremiah? Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and I will confirm upon the house of Jacob a new covenant (Jer 31:31). Leave the old aside, take up the new, and you can see that you ought to leave aside circumcision, and unleavened bread taken literally, and the sabbath taken literally, and the sacrifices taken literally. Listen to how the new covenant is promised: Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, and