Malachi 3:1-4; Psalm 84; Hebrews 2:14-18; Luke 2:22-40
A homily by Fr. Gene
Tucker, given at Trinity
Church, Mt. Vernon, Illinois, on Sunday, February 2, 2014.
“A PRIMER ON THE FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION”
(Homily text: Luke 2:22-40)
The
calendar this year presents us with a treat:
The Feast of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple
falls on a Sunday. In the rotation of
the calendar, the coincidence of this feast (which always falls on February 2nd) with our Sunday celebration takes place once every five or six years.
This
wonderful feast is also known by two
other names: The Feast of the Purification,
and also Candlemas. (We will have more to say about these names
and their meanings in just a moment.)
Since we
are able to celebrate this feast on a Sunday, let’s delve into its various
meanings, and the implications contained in them.
We begin
with this feast’s best-known title, “The Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ
in the Temple”.
The Law of
Moses required that each first-born son be dedicated to the Lord. The provision is found in Exodus 13: 1, 11–16, where the meaning of this dedication is explained. There, we see that the Lord required that the
first-born be offered in remembrance of the events that took place on the night
of Passover, for it was on that night that the Lord redeemed His people from
the Egyptians. The first-born of Egypt
were destroyed, but the first-born of the Hebrews were spared by the blood of a
lamb, which had been applied to the top of the door and to its posts.
The Exodus
text uses the word “redeem” (that is, bought back) to describe the dedication,
or the presentation, of the oldest son.
The process involved presenting that son to God, but then to “redeem”
the son by the offering of five shekels of silver, a provision we find in the
Book of Numbers 18:15–16. Thus, the
son was offered to God, but then possession of that son was regained by the
offering of the five shekels of silver.
Next, we
see that Luke tells us that Mary’s purification took place in the Temple at the
same time that Jesus was presented to God.
The process
of a mother’s purification is laid out in the writings of Moses, in Leviticus,
chapter 12. The provisions appear
faithfully in Luke’s account,
for he tells us that Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day of his life, in
accordance with Leviticus 12: 3. The Law
provided that the mother was ceremonially unclean for seven days after
birth. The circumcision then took place
on the eighth day, and the
mother remained unclean until 40 days have elapsed. During that time, she would be unable to
enter the Temple, or to touch or come into contact with anything that was
clean. The Leviticus text tells us that
she was to offer a lamb one year old, or a two pigeons or turtledoves, if she
was unable to afford a lamb, as part of the purification ceremony.
The fact
that Mary offered two young pigeons affirms the reality of Mary and Joseph’s
financial situation: They were poor.
Now, it
would be good for us to explore why this day is also known as Candlemas.
In the
gospel text before us today, Simeon says that the child Jesus will “a light to
the Gentiles”.
Picking up
on the theme of light, it became the custom in the Church to bless the candles
that would be used during services in the following year. Hence the name, which is a contraction of two
words: Candle + Mass, that is, the Mass
at which the candles are blessed.
Let’s
return to the presentation of Jesus and to the purification of His mother for a
moment.
Scholars
are unsure as to the reasons why these two events took place at the same
time. In the Law of Moses, there is no
requirement that they take place simultaneously.
It is
possible that practices during Jesus’ day had evolved so that both ceremonies
took place at the same time.
Or, it
could be that Joseph and Mary undertook both at the same time to avoid making a
separate trip for each ceremony, since their financial situation may have made
it difficult to make an extra trip to Jerusalem.
We simply
don’t know.
However,
one aspect of Luke’s account is worth mentioning: Luke does not record that any redemption was
paid for Jesus.
If no
payment was made, it might mean that the Lord was permanently dedicated to God,
a fact that seems probable, given the pattern of the Lord’s life. Put another way, Jesus was not “bought back”
as part of the presentation ceremony, but was permanently dedicated to God’s
service.
In that
sense, there are similarities to the account of the prophet Samuel, whose life
was not redeemed, but was dedicated to God in service at the tabernacle.
Now, it is
worth asking: What does all of this have
to do with us? After all, Holy
Scripture’s truths arise out of God’s workings in times past, but those truths
affect, guide and inform us still.
The first
observation we might make is that we – each of us - have been presented to the
Lord, much in the same way that the first-born were presented under the Mosaic
Law. That presentation took place when
we were baptized, as God claimed each one of us as His very own son or
daughter. But God’s claim on us also
involves redemption, for each one of us has been redeemed (bought back) by the
Lord’s death on the cross. As God
accepts the presentation of ourselves, He doesn’t just keep what we offer, but
gives us our lives back, so that we may live as His children, in fullness of
joy and completeness of living.
The second
observation has to do with purity. The
Collect for this day asks that we might be “presented to you (the Lord) with
pure and clean hearts…” The matter of
purity of heart begins at baptism, for as we enter the waters, the stain of
original sin is washed away. But we know
all too well that, even after baptism, we continue to have the ability to do
wrong. As I am fond of saying, “I am a
fully-trained sinner…I know how to do wrong.”
And so it is that we continually need to be cleansed of those things
that threaten to hinder our relationship with God, so that the light of Christ
may shine brightly to the world around us.
May we,
having been presented to the Lord at baptism, live by the grace of the Holy
Spirit in purity of heart and in clarity of mind, that the light of God may
shine into the hearts and minds of others.
AMEN.
