The Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple

"The Presentation" by James Tissot

Day in, and day out, he walked the courts of the Temple, contemplating the Word and Law of God, and living obediently. Trusting in the promises God made his people, he looked for the coming of God’s salvation.  The Holy Spirit whispered to him that before he died, he would see the Messiah with his own eyes. But it hasn’t happened yet, and Simeon is a very old man now.  The promise God made him surely wore on his heart not to mention his joints. How long did he have left? When would God make good on his pledge?

And then suddenly: there He is. God’s word was fulfilled.  The Christ had come into his own temple. Simeon saw them—Mary and Joseph standing uncertainly, clutching the little cage with the two small birds, and the baby in their arms, and he knew.

On the 40^th day after the birth of Jesus, he was brought to the Temple by his parents for, as the text says, the time of Mary’s purification.

What is going on here? Several things. First, we should not think that this event in the life of Mary is something tossed in the garbage can of history, some antique custom for people way back when. For many generations of the Christian Church new mothers, in line with this Scriptural mandate, were directed to abstain from public worship for 39 days and on the 40^th day, she was to present herself for prayers of purification at the door of her local parish church.  You can find directions for this in old Lutheran hymnals and worship books. Eastern Orthodox Christians still practice this.

It is only within the last three generations or so that this tradition has declined, probably because of ignorance of what was meant to happen and why, and for a certain disdain for anything that differentiates between men and women. But Mary’s day of purification, 40 days after Christmas, is still a feast day in the Church, as are most significant events in the life of her Son, Jesus.

February 2^nd  is called variously the Presentation of Jesus, or the Purification of Mary, or Candlemas, for the associated tradition of blessing the candles to be used over the course of the remaining days of winter.  The focus of the day is on Light—even Groundhog Day was placed on this day of Light, with the idea that if the sun was shining, this creature would be able to see his shadow and somehow forecast the rest of winter weather.

But that folklore aside, something really important is happening here, and it also has to do with us. The Old Testament, specifically, the 12^th chapter of Leviticus, set forth a ritual of purification for a woman.  The act of giving birth, natural and desirable as it is, made women ritually unclean according to God’s law, It’s not because childbirth was bad, or that women were dirty or lesser, but it was because there is blood involved and the child is leaving his or her mother’s womb.  Both of those things clearly include the crossing of boundaries, from the confines of the skin and the womb, and such crossings made a woman ritually unclean. 

That seems so weird to us, but think of the story of the Good Samaritan—we are told that a priest and a temple worker headed to Jerusalem to serve their shifts passed by the man beaten by robbers, lying on the side of the road. It’s not because they were mean; it’s because if they crossed the boundary between life and death and touched a dead body and blood, they would not be able to serve in the temple for weeks, and certain sacrifices would need to be made for their purification.

Same with the story of the Ten Lepers—these men had been kept out of the temple and synagogues and had to live on the edge of the villages, until Jesus heals them. The woman with the flow of blood who touches Jesus’ robe. The little girl he raises from the dead. The man born blind that Jesus heals. The demon possessed man with the herd of pigs—Jesus is always crossing these barriers, touching people no matter what, which was unheard of and scandalous, especially since Jesus seemed very unconcerned with offering the sacrifices God’s law required.

You can kind of see how the Pharisees had a point: Jesus sure seemed to be scoffing at the Law that God had given directly to his people, in order to forgive their sins and make them clean!

When Mary went to her purification on the 40^th day, the Law required that she bring a sacrificial offering: a lamb, or if unable to afford a lamb, two pigeons or turtledoves.  The Law also said that as the first male child to be born of Mary, Jesus is to be offered in God’s service.  The child so offered is “redeemed” in a kind of buyback, with a cash offering of five pieces of silver.

This also applied to animals. And here’s where stuff gets interesting. The firstborn lamb of a female sheep is likewise dedicated to the Lord’s service, but as a sacrifice.  The animals are not redeemed, like male children are, but placed on the altar and sacrificed for the forgiveness of sin. 

Notice that there is no exchange of cash for Jesus.  Mary is purified with the offering of the two doves, but He is not redeemed, as would be expected.  Why? Because Jesus will be the sacrifice himself.

We are accustomed to hearing Jesus referred to as the Lamb of God.  It’s a symbol up there on our banners. We sing it every Sunday”  “Lamb of God, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us.”  Here, then, presented in his own temple, is the Lamb of God, whose life will be given for love and mercy’s sake to redeem the world. Here in the Temple is the Lord of Life who has humbled himself not only to take on our flesh, but to share everything exactly alike with us.

He placed himself under the sentence of death that you and I are under, so that—as the second lesson from Hebrews says--through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the Devil.

Jesus did not come to help angels, or only people in a far off land long ago—he came to help us. He became like us in every respect, except without sin. Only by becoming like us could he be presented as the sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people, for your sins. Here is the one who crosses every boundary, even death, and sheds his own blood, to make you clean. 

In Jesus’ sacrifice, it’s all of us who are purified, all of us who are designated holy to the Lord. Through Christ’s presentation as sacrificial  Lamb of the God, we are all able to be presented to the Father as his blameless, sinless children.

The way is not easy, as Simeon tells Mary—there is pain and suffering and sadness. Never let anybody tell you that Christianity is an easy way. But even in the middle of suffering, in the midst of upheaval in our world and in our lives, in the face even of death: joy comes knowing that we have a redeemer who knows us intimately and loves us anyway. He presented himself as a sacrifice to take our place, to die our death, and so rescued us from the power of sin, death and the devil. By his wounds we are cleansed; by his bruises we are healed; by his presentation, we are presented—holy and clean and purified. Amen.