Presented to the Lord
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| "The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple" by James Tissot |
“And when the time came
for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought [Jesus] up
to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord” (Luke 2:22).
Grace to you and peace
from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ!
To better understand
our text, we must first go back to the time shortly after the first Passover,
about 1446 B.C. The Israelites had been in slavery in Egypt for 400 years. But
God had not forgotten them. He sent Moses as His spokesman, warning Pharaoh
again and again, “Let My people go.” Pharaoh stubbornly refused, so the Lord
sent nine plagues to persuade him that rebellion against God is a very foolish
thing. Finally, the Lord declared that He would come through the land and take
the lives of all the firstborn males of Egypt, both man and beast.
Every firstborn would
die… unless. The Lord declared to His people that their firstborn sons could be
saved. They were to take a lamb without blemish and sacrifice it. They were to
put the blood of the lambs on the lintels and doorposts of their homes, and
they were supposed to roast the lamb and eat it for dinner. The people of God
followed His instructions about His Passover to the letter; and when the Lord
came through Egypt to take the lives of the firstborn males, He passed over
every dwelling marked with the blood of the lamb and spared those inside.
The tenth plague—the
death of the firstborn—finally moved Pharaoh to submit, at least temporarily.
He ordered the people of Israel out of his land. As they left Egypt, the Lord
commanded them to remember the Passover every year. He also said, “Consecrate
to Me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the
people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is Mine” (Exodus 13:2). The
firstborn males of animals were to be sacrificed as an offering to God. The
firstborn males of the people were to be redeemed, consecrated to God.
As God brought the people
of Israel out of Egypt, He gave them His Word in the Torah, often called “the
Law of Moses.” These five books, the first five in our Old Testament, tell how
God brought His people out Egypt, how He led them through the wilderness, how
He made a covenant with them, and how He established and regulated their
worship. In addition to the instructions for the consecration and presentation of
the firstborn that go back to the Passover, God also gave laws and restrictions
for keeping Israel separate from the nations as the people from whom the Savior
would come.
Among those regulations
was the ritual purification of mothers after childbirth. When a baby was born,
the mother was ceremonially unclean. This was not because procreation itself is
sinful. It is indeed the will of God, a command and a blessing. God told Adam
and Eve, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis
1:28). The inspired psalmist said, “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward” (Psalm 127:3), and “Your wife will be like a
fruitful vine within your house; your children will be like olive shoots around
your table. Behold, thus shall the man be blessed who fears the Lord” (Psalm
128:3,4). The Israelites thought of children as a blessing. In fact, in ancient
Israel, childlessness was considered the height of misfortune and even a
judgment from God. No, it was not the birth itself that made the woman unclean,
rather it was the discharge of blood that occurs following birth.
The ritual passage began
with the birth of the child. Immediately after that had occurred, the mother
remained in social seclusion for a week if she had given to a son or for two
weeks if she had given birth to a daughter. Following a ritual washing, she was
free to resume her normal domestic role in the family.
This period of social
separation for one or two weeks was followed by a longer period of ritual
quarantine. If she had a male child that lasted an additional thirty-three
days; if she had a female child, it was sixty-six days. During this time, she
was not allowed to have any contact with the sacred domain. She was not
considered to be unclean, but neither was she considered to be ritually clean
because she was not allowed to touch any holy things in her household, such as
meat from a peace offering or anything that had been dedicated as an offering
to the Lord or, if she was the wife of a priest, any of the holy food from the
sanctuary.
The period of religious
quarantine was concluded by an act of sacrifice. The woman who had given birth
to a child offered a lamb as a burnt offering and a turtledove or pigeon as a
sin offering (Leviticus 12:6). If she was too poor to afford a lamb, she
brought another bird instead (Leviticus 12:8). She entered the sacred precincts
and brought the offerings to the priest on duty at the entrance.
These two sacrifices
performed two specific functions. Through the rite of atonement with the blood
from both sacrifices, the woman was cleansed from any impurity that she had
incurred from her flow of blood (Leviticus 12:7). Through the burning up of the
lamb on the altar she was accepted by God and reinstated as a member of the
congregation. She was once again ritually clean. She therefore had access to
God’s holiness and His blessing. That meant, too, that she was once again open
to the gift of another child from Him.
The observance of this
rite of passage had a profound impact on the life of every mother. It connected
her life as a mother with her participation in the divine service and her
reception of blessing from God. Negatively, it ensured that she did not become
involved as a woman in pagan practices of the fertility cults. Positively, it
affirmed her status as a full member of the holy congregation and recognized
her role as a bearer of blessing from God. The original language in Leviticus 12:2,
literally calling the mother a “seed-bearer,” hints at this connection between her
vocation as a mother and her call to holiness. Moreover, the continuity and
survival of her family—and, more broadly, of Israel—depended on her and her
access to the blessing gained from the presence of God in the sacred domain.
The description of the
mother as one who “produces seed” recalls the promise to Eve, the “mother of
every living person” (Genesis 3:20), that her “Seed” would crush the serpent’s
head (Genesis 3:15). God repeated to the patriarchs His promise that through
the Seed of Abraham all nations of the earth would be blessed (Genesis 22:18).
The apostle Paul expounded the fulfillment of this promise about the “Seed” by Christ
and in all those who are baptized into Christ and thereby become the “seed” of Abraham
(Galatians 3:15-29).
Over 1,400 years after
God gave His Law to Israel through Moses, the Seed of the woman is born in
Bethlehem. On the fortieth day, Mary and Joseph come into the temple in
obedience to the Lord’s command. They bring Jesus to the temple for the first
time to include Him in her purification. Since Jesus is her firstborn son, He is
presented to be consecrated to God at the same time.
That she offers the sacrifice
of two birds, helps us to understand that Joseph and Mary were likely of a “humble
state” (Luke 1:48), that is, too poor to be able to afford a lamb. On a
theological level, no lamb was necessary because already here at forty days
old, Jesus is the Lamb brought to His temple for sacrifice.
No mention is made of Jesus’
redemption then or later. Jesus’ life is consecrated to the Lord in the fullest
possible way. Luke quite deliberately connects Mary’s purification to Christ’s
presentation, for she was purified by her son—as are all the saints—for access
to the heavenly sanctuary. The purification of Mary is celebrated on the day of
the presentation of our Lord on February 2nd of each year. On this
day, the Church prays for cleansing by Christ so that, like Mary, the people of
God may be brought and presented to Him with clean hearts.
Jesus is the firstborn
in many ways. Colossians 1 calls Jesus the firstborn of creation, for the
eternal Son of God is now incarnate, born of Mary. Colossians 1 also calls Him
the firstborn of the dead, because the One who was once the Sacrifice for sin
is also now the risen Son of God. Crucified for the sins of the world, He lives
again to give life forever. And now the Spirit is at work calling you to faith,
interceding on your behalf, conforming you to the image of God’s Son, in order
that He might be the firstborn among many brothers” (Romans 8:29).
Like Simeon, you, by
the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the Word of God, know of Jesus. You
know that the Son of God became flesh, lived, and died for you. By faith, you
also know where to find your Savior: as the Spirit pointed Simeon to the infant
Jesus in the temple, so He points you to your baptism, to the Word, and to the
Supper. There your Savior is found, present with forgiveness and life. You hear
the Word. You receive Christ’s body and blood. It’s no wonder that, after the
Supper, you sing Simeon’s song—because the Savior is just as body-and-blood
present with you as He was with Simeon when Simeon held Mary’s firstborn in his
arms. And so you may depart in peace.
As you do, what does
the Lord call you? Firstborn.
Hebrews 12:23 calls the
Church “the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven,” and you are
numbered among them. Like the firstborn sons of Israel in Egypt, you have been
saved from death by a sacrifice of blood: the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God
who takes away the sin of the world. Like the firstborn of Bible times, the inheritance
of the Father is yours: The Lord declares that the kingdom of heaven is yours.
This is so because Jesus, the firstborn of creation has joined you to Himself
in Holy Baptism; there, you were adopted as sons of God. For the sake of Jesus,
you are sons of God, heirs of the kingdom, and God is your Father who works all
things for your good, even as the Holy Spirit is at work conforming you to the
image of the Son.
It is not your doing.
It is not your righteousness or works or obedience or sacrifice that make you
an heir of the kingdom of heaven. But it is yours because, as our Epistle
reading for today reminds us, Jesus Himself partook of flesh and blood, that
through death He might destroy the one who has power over death, that is the
devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong
slavery. To help us, the seed of Abraham, Jesus was made to be like us, His
brothers, in every respect, so that He might make propitiation for our sins
(Hebrews 2:14-18) that you and I might be presented to the Lord, adopted as His
sons, justified and sanctified, co-heirs of His kingdom that has no end.
Redeemed by the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ, the firstborn from the dead, you are among the assembly of the
firstborn, for you are forgiven for all of your sins.
In the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are
from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights
reserved.
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