The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple – George Yandell
40 days after He was born, Luke tells us Jesus was presented in the temple by Mary and Joseph. “Every 1st born male shall be designated as holy to the Lord.” This event harkened back to the law of Moses in Leviticus (12:6 ff): “When the days after the [ritual] purification are completed, whether for a son or a daughter, [the mother] shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. He shall offer it to the Lord and make atonement on her behalf…. If she cannot afford a sheep, she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering, and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.”
The rules for purification after birth were different for the mother if a female child was born- then it stretched twice as long- to 74 days- emphasizing that a male child didn’t occasion the lengthier time of separation from the clan before she presented her child. Luke’s point is that Mary and Joseph presented the minimum offering- they couldn’t afford the lamb.
The real depth of the gospel’s lengthy narrative is the songs and prophecies that Simeon and then Anna spoke. They were both guided by the Holy Spirit- Simeon intercepted the Holy Family, took Jesus in his arms and sang to him- then told Mary the prophecy. The prophet Anna too intercepted the family- she began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Israel. Then the family went to the priest, did all that was required and returned to Nazareth- all in one sentence. Obviously Luke wants his hearers to understand it was not the ritual requirements that were important, but what Simeon and Anna ecstatically told Mary and Joseph, and us, about the child named ‘Yahweh saves.’
Do you hear the progression? Simeon speaks for the Holy Spirit to the trio, then Anna speaks to all who were looking for Israel to be delivered from oppression– suggesting she didn’t stop until she died. Moving from private converse to public proclamation. Listen to our collect for tonight- “God, as your Son was this day presented in the temple, so may we be presented to you with pure and clean hearts by Jesus Christ, our Lord. Do you hear the shift? OUR observance is first about Mary and Joseph presenting Jesus, but more importantly about Jesus presenting US, purified with cleansed hearts. That is Luke’s point- we who are looking for God’s kingdom to spread over all the earth and universe are presented by the resurrected Jesus as whole and well- all of us together. That’s the vision that Luke carries through the entire gospel- uniting people of all different backgrounds- well-to-do and poor, aged and young, of all nations- one people under God’s gracious rule, one with Christ. That’s our point in worshipping God in word, song, and Eucharist this evening.