THE CIRCUMCISED HEART

A Contemporary “Uncanonical Icon” of the “Sacred Heart,” Showing Christ with an “Open Heart,” Like the Heart Described in Scripture, the Purpose of the Old Covenant and the Reason Why Baptism Replaces Circumcision in the New Covenant

A SERMON FOR THE 14TH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY

By Bp. Joseph (Ancient Church of the West) 

OPENING COLLECT 

ALMIGHTY and everlasting God, give unto us the increase of faith, hope, and charity; and, that we may obtain that which thou dost promise, make us to love that which thou dost command; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

READINGS 

Old Testament: Deuteronomy 10:12-21

AND now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, to keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD's thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment. Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name. He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.

The Epistle: Galatians 5:16-24

I SAY then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts.

The Gospel: St. Luke 17:11-19 

AND it came to pass, as Jesus went to Jerusalem, that he passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee. And as he entered into a certain village, there met him ten men that were lepers, which stood afar off: and they lifted up their voices, and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed. And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks: and he was a Samaritan. And Jesus answering said, Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger. And he said unto him, Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole.

SERMON 

Beloved in Christ, today, we are drawn into a powerful confluence of themes from the readings before us: the healing of lepers, the call to walk in the Spirit, and the ancient command to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul. These readings are not separate, isolated truths; they resonate with a deep harmony, illuminating lamps along a pathway toward union with God. Through the centuries, the saints, prophets, and even the angels all sing harmony to this same song, the “Ceol Mor” the “Song of the Lluvatar” that God used to create the worlds. Let us now sing with them, resonating the harmony in our hearts as we reflect the uncreated light of the Holy Trinity, tuned by the revelation and instruction of these holy Scriptures.

THE SAMARITAN’S RETURN 

In today’s Gospel from St. Luke, we are met with ten lepers who cry out from the edge of the village, from the very border of society, suffering in their isolation. They cry out to Christ, "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." These are not mere words but a desperate plea for life and restoration. Their sickness separated them from the community, as sin separates us from the life of God.

Their cry reminds us of another cry we encounter in the ancient Protoevangelium of St. James. As the righteous Joachim, rejected from the Temple for childlessness, flees into the wilderness, he too cries out to God from the wilderness of his soul. In both cases, what follows is not merely physical healing but the birth of something sacred. For Joachim, it was the miraculous birth of the Theotokos, the one who would bear Christ Himself. For the Samaritan leper, it was the birth of a new relationship with God — one of profound gratitude and salvation.

St. Augustine reminds us, "To be grateful for the least is no small thing." One of the healed lepers, a Samaritan, returns in thanksgiving to Jesus, giving glory to God. The others, perhaps content only with their physical restoration, miss the deeper reality: gratitude draws us into the very heart of God. As we sing in Psalm 119, “I will delight myself in thy commandments, which I have loved. My hands also will I lift up unto thy commandments.” To delight in the commandments of God is not a mere duty but the very source of our freedom.

THE BATTLE OF FLESH AND SPIRIT 

In his Epistle to the Galatians, St. Paul speaks with great urgency about the conflict between the flesh and the Spirit. “Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.” This warfare is not an abstract battle but one fought in the very depths of our hearts. The Book of Enoch tells of how the rebellious angels, the Watchers, sought to corrupt the world by leading humanity away from the Spirit and into fleshly desires. Their fall was rooted in this same conflict, a battle between earthly passion and heavenly virtue.

Yet, in the life of the Church, as Fr. Alexander Schmemann points out in “For the Life of the World”, we are invited to rediscover the world not as a place of temptation but as a "sacrament of communion" with God. The fruits of the Spirit that St. Paul lists—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance—are not mere moral ideals; they are the natural outgrowth of living in the Spirit. Metropolitan Kallistos Ware emphasizes this point when he speaks of theosis in his famous book “The Orthodox Church” - the process by which we are drawn into the very life of God. This is the true healing of the leper, not just freedom from a disease but a transformation into the image of Christ.

CIRCUMCISION OF THE HEART 

In our Old Testament reading from Deuteronomy, we are reminded of God's command to "circumcise the foreskin of your heart." This is the deepest call to transformation, to a heart that is fully given to God. Mar Mari Emanuel, a preacher I like and respect, in one of his recent reflections on repentance, emphasizes that true repentance is not simply about feeling sorrow for sin but about cutting away everything in our hearts that keeps us from God. This is the same message proclaimed by the prophets, and even by the angels in the heavenly realms. The painful “cutting away” that was a physical symbol in the Old Testament is a spiritual reality under the New Covenant, as God cuts away that which shields us, blinds us, and makes us comfortable. 

The fear of God, as St. Symeon the New Theologian tells us, is the beginning of wisdom, but it is also the gateway to love. For as we cut away the callouses of pride, anger, and selfishness, we find a heart softened, made pliable to the divine will. As St. John Chrysostom reminds us on Christ’s famous statement, “He who loves Me will keep My commandments” — true love for Christ is not mere sentiment but action, expressed through obedience to His will and the transformation of our lives to reflect His holiness. The commandments of God are not burdens but blessings, channels through which divine grace flows.

SUMMARY: HEALING IN THE NEW COVENANT 

What binds all of these readings together is the theme of transformation—of the heart, the body, and the spirit. Whether it be the leper who is healed and returns in gratitude, or the sinner called to walk in the Spirit, or the Israelites called to circumcise their hearts, the message is clear: God is calling us to deeper communion with Him, a communion that heals and transforms us by giving us new life. Healing can only occur in a wound that is open and clean, not hidden or bandaged. One often hears the axiom, “light is the best disinfectant,” and this is true of our hearts. The reason God demands our internal circumcision is that this is the only way that our souls, deeply marred by sin and losing essential parts of the image of God and true freedom of will, can receive God’s light and truly be healed. 

C.S. Lewis, in his work “Mere Christianity,” speaks of the Christian life as a journey, not just toward moral improvement, but toward becoming a new kind of creature altogether. In Christ, we are invited into this new creation, but it begins, as we see in the Samaritan, with a heart of gratitude, a heart that acknowledges the work of God and returns to give glory to Him. 

As we contemplate these readings today, let us pray that we too may walk in the Spirit, that we may circumcise our hearts, and that we may live lives of gratitude, ever giving glory to the God who heals, restores, and makes all things new. Amen.

FINAL COLLECT 

O Gracious and Merciful God, who in Thy love and wisdom dost call us to walk in the Spirit and to circumcise our hearts, grant us the grace of true repentance, that we may cast off the works of the flesh and bear the fruits of Thy Spirit. Give us hearts of gratitude, like the Samaritan who returned to give Thee thanks, and transform us through Thy healing and love. May we delight in Thy commandments and ever glorify Thee, for Thou art our strength and salvation; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.

I have said these things to you, Beloved, in the Name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.