My Dad used to tell a story, which supposedly is true, of a Norwegian officer visiting a corps in the UK. It was the days of Salvation Meetings, and during the prayer meeting the officer felt led to approach a young lady in the hall and enquire as to the state of her soul and asked: “Are you shaved today?” The story did not say what happened afterwards, partly because my Dad always was laughing heartedly at this stage.
It could appear that the heading of this blog falls into the ‘Are you shaved?’ category – when one, with the best of intentions of saying something good, relevant or even clever, makes a mess of it and even displays one’s own ignorance. However, that is not the case. I full well know, although not from personal experience, what circumcision is, and my questions still is “What is the date of your latest circumcision?”
The question actually is not mine; it popped up in my mind as I was reading my Bible. I am reading through Acts and this morning it was chapter 7 which tells the story of Stephen – reciting the story of Israel to the people, who responded not with throwing rotten apples and tomatoes, but stones at Stephen. It was not the story that provoked the reaction, Stephen was sharing what every Jew knew and had heard many times, but his conclusion: “You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit!”
They knew the story, they lived and re-enacted it as they gathered for their religious celebrations during the year, and yet, for all their observance of rituals and rites, Stephen, ‘full of the Holy Spirit’, saw right through it and looked at their hearts. All the males present ‘wore’ circumcision as a sign of the covenant between the Jewish people and God – and yet they were ‘uncircumcised’!
It is so easy to fall into the rot of religious routine, to have gone through all the right events and stages, to ‘wear’ the right clothes, badges or even trimmings, and yet be ‘a stiff-necked people’ or, and that was how I was challenged this morning, a stiff-necked person.
Stephen specifically pointed out the hearts and ears of the people as uncircumcised: Not open to listen to the Spirit nor willing to be moved by his love, compassion or purpose. It is so easy to end up resisting the Holy Spirit, when we have ‘un-circumcised ears and hearts’. The danger is that it is not so easy to realise it is happening – because we are not open to listen or be moved.
Physical circumcision is a one-time event, spiritual circumcision must be a re-occurring experience – we must, as Paul encourages us in Ephesian ‘Continually be filled with the Spirit’ or else we risk becoming a people with a glorious history, smart and good looking and gathering for wonderful celebrations – and yet stiff-necked and unmovable.
Are you circumcised today?