In Genesis 34, we meet a man named Shechem. He defiles the daughter of Jacob, and sins against God and man. However he has stirrings in his heart, and comes to love her so much that he asks Jacob for her hand in marriage. Jacob tells him "Only on this condition will we consent to you: that you will become as we are and every male of you will be circumcised." And the bible tells us that "the young man did not delay to do the thing, because had delight in Jacob's daughter."
What man today would willingly-- eagerly-- undergo adult circumcision in order to marry the woman he claims he loves? Not many.
We see here in Genesis the first story of a man converted for love of a woman. A man who would willingly suffer and sacrifice in order than he could love her more perfectly, as she deserved. Today, men would shy from such a sacrifice; they also shy from the sacrifice of circumcision of the heart, which is what Jesus asks of us. Circumcision of the heart is also very painful and demands sacrifice, some may say more so than physical circumcision. But if a man is not willing to do this for the woman he claims he loves, then he does not love her. For men are meant to love their wives as Christ loved the Church, to give his life for her that she may be without blemish and undefiled.
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