February 1, 2009: The Presentation of Our Lord (tr.)The Presentation of Our Lord + + +
On the 31st day, in obedience to the law, the Blessed Virgin followed the rites prescribed for the purification of women after childbirth. Actually, St. Luke has just the sweetest edge of the feminist, because he includes St. Joseph in this process as well... After the time came for THEIR purification...they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord... Clearly, the birth of a child is a momentous event in the life of any family. And this ritual speaks to the spiritual as well as the physical changes that must be accommodated, as father and mother prepare themselves for the tasks of caring for, and nurturing a child. And finally, the "presentation" mentioned in today's Gospel is also a ritual requirement of the Law of Moses. On the fortieth day after the deliverance of the first born male child, he was to be presented to the priest of the Temple in order that he might be redeemed. Just what does this mean...what is signified? Well, the first part of the symbolism goes back to Creation itself. God made all that is and everything belongs to Him. Adam and Eve, and you and I, are merely stewards of God's Creation. Nothing actually belongs to us, and yet, God in his benevolence, allows us manage that which is technically His. Now just in case you are even now tightening your squeeze on the change in your pocket... let me remind you of why we were instructed to offer God the "first fruits" of all our labors... and that, of course, is because we forget so easily to whom it really belongs! And so it was that the farmer offered the first and best of his produce as an offering to God. The herdsman offered the perfect, unblemished Lamb in sacrifice. And the first born son, in keeping with this same requirement, was taken to the Temple and redeemed. That is to say, an offering was made in exchange for the son. This acknowledged God as the source of all goodness, and the offering was then the outward sign of the parents' gratitude and dependence upon God. This is what Mary and Joseph were doing on the day so long ago. St. Luke records that their offering was a pair of turtle doves. Actually, the law required a lamb to be offered, but there was the exception provided in Leviticus in the case of poverty. And so, we have yet more insight as to just how humble and ordinary this little family was. Little did they know that the old Temple priest, Simeon, had been waiting practically his entire life for this event. As the multitudes clamored at the Temple Gate, the nearly-blind old man had strong spiritual insight. He knew who this infant was. It was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit... and with joy and gratitude in his heart, he took the child in his arms and exclaimed, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace! For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of thy people Israel! Ah, but there was a further significance behind the presentation of this first-born child... a significance with a darker and more ominous shadow. Every Jew remembered the deliverance from Egypt. They knew the story... they had heard it a thousand times. On that fateful night when God instituted the Passover meal, the blood of the sacrifice was sprinkled over the doors of the houses of Israel... and the angel of death had passed over their homes... But oh the wailing that issued forth from the Egyptians! For every first-born thing of Egypt had been taken... from the cattle, even up to the son of Pharaoh! And even though Israel was spared that night, death was still the enemy. Death was the wage of human sin, the promised consequence of our disobedience. And so, every time a first-born of Israel was redeemed, somewhere in the imagination of their hearts, his parents knew just how precious and fragile this life was... and how, in God's good time, the old score with sin had to be settled. So even on this happy and blessed day of celebration, old Simeon had a few more words to say, This child is destined for the rise and fall of many in Israel... and Mary, a sword will pierce through your own heart also. Every other first-born presented in the Temple was redeemed in order to live. But Jesus was presented in the shadow of death and the cross. And by that death, death would be conquered... And the redemption that had only been a temporary respite in the Old dispensation would become a permanent covenant, given in the Redeemer's blood. A blood that indeed speaks more eloquently than the blood of sacrificial animals. For the child that Simeon blessed, and the Child that Mary and Joseph took home to Nazareth was none other than the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. And so this morning, he comes once again to the Temple Gate. The gate of the Temple of human hearts. And we, the Gentiles prophesied by Simeon of old are now, too, partakers of his Glorious Light. And as we embrace the Savior in Our arms, we too can say with gratitude and Joy... our eyes have seen thy salvation. The Glory of Israel. The Hope of the Gentiles. Lord, now lettest thou thy servants depart in peace. + + + AMEN
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Church of the Holy Communion
Charleston, South Carolina
