Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
“And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, [Joseph and Mary] brought [Jesus] up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord” (Luke 2:22).
Today’s Gospel reading may have you feeling déjà vu. Or you could have the intuition that something is just not right. And those feelings may be appropriate, especially on Groundhog Day. But instead of hearing “I Got You Babe” on the clock radio over-and-over again, you are hearing about Joseph and Mary bringing their 40-day-old Son Jesus to the temple where they meet Simeon and Anna.
Today may feel more like Christmas than the Epiphany season. Afterall, this day sends us back to Jesus’ infancy! And yet, today, forty days after Christmas, Jesus comes to the temple for us!
It is forty days after Christmas. And in keeping with God’s Law in Leviticus 12, the Holy Family makes the short trip to Jerusalem for the purification of Mary and the presentation of the child in the temple.
And big things happen on this day. A man is waiting for a promise by the Holy Spirit to be fulfilled. And an elderly woman who spent her life “worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day” (Luke 2:37) in the temple is waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. And then there is Joseph and Mary whose lives will soon be changed forever.
First, let’s focus on Joseph and Mary. When they walked into the temple that day, they probably didn’t look that special as they brought the offering of the poor. They could only afford “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons” (Luke 2:24).
We know of Joseph and Mary’s financial status because of their offering. You see, Leviticus 12 called for a lamb to be sacrificed at the presentation of a firstborn, along with a pigeon or a turtledove. But if the parents cannot afford a lamb, then it was allowed for “two turtledoves or two pigeons” (Leviticus 12:8).
This is the financial situation for Joseph and Mary. They are poor. And it is likely that the average person wouldn’t have even noticed the Holy Family at the temple to worship that day.
But it was an offering commanded in the Law – for the life of every firstborn Israelite belonged to Yahweh and had to be redeemed, ever since the firstborn of Egypt died in the exodus.
Yet, even as Joseph and Mary purchased this offering and entered the temple precincts, they knew that the real offering was not the birds, but their forty-day-old Son. Their Son would be the Offering to end all offerings. In Him, the Law would be fulfilled.
But even with Joseph and Mary knowing they are raising the promised Messiah, they would also act like any other parent. So, when you may ask a parent what they wish for in their child, that answer may be something like: happiness, health, remaining steadfast in the Christian faith, or even outliving the parent. Parents express hope that their child will be kept safe from harm. They express hope that their child will not be corrupted by the fallen world.
What parents really want is that their child would not break their hearts. Parents want to do what is best for their child. But ultimately, parents don’t want their hearts broken by their child.
Then steps in Simeon, for it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Simeon looks across the room and he sees the infant Jesus in His mother’s arms. And so, he comes toward Mary with a familiar look on his face. A look that Mary had seen before. It was the face of Elizabeth when she had looked in awe at Mary’s swelling belly. It was the face of the shepherds when they knelt beside the manger. Now, this look is on the face of Simeon as he hurries toward the Holy Family with his arms outstretched, reaching for Jesus.
Simeon holds Jesus, looks into His infant face, and he prays:
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).
Simeon prays not to any other, but to Him, to the Child in His arms.
But then the Holy Family hears Simeon’s prophetic word: “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35).
Whatever Joseph and Mary may have thought about Jesus before, whatever their hopes and dreams may have been for Jesus, Simeon’s word was a great reminder that their Son was not ordinary, but extraordinary. Their Son is the Messiah, the Son of God, their Savior.
Though Joseph and Mary may appear to be nobodies, the Son they carried to the temple will turn the entire world upside down. He will become the most well-known Person on planet Earth. Jesus will not have our version of happiness. He will lose His life for the world’s sake. And His earthly life will not be a long one – only 33 years. The Jewish religious authorities will consider Jesus outside the faith by who He associates with and by His miracles and signs. Jesus will not be safe from harm, since He has come to wage war against our evil foes: sin, death, the devil, and hell.
This Child in Mary’s arms will bring about the fall and rising of many in Israel. Jesus will bring about the fall and rising of the whole world. Jesus is “the stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense” (Romans 9:33). So, those who are offended by Him, those who reject His love, those who want the fallen world to remain in Satan’s usurped grips will fall before Him.
But the lowly, the meek, the sufferers, the sinful, the repentant, the hopeless, the lost, the lonely, the world-weary – these people will be raised up by Him. Simeon was one of them. Simeon would not have peace until he saw the Lord’s Christ with his own eyes.
And Simeon would be at peace as he held the Lord’s Christ in his arms as he prayed the Nunc Dimittis to His Lord.
Anna, too, was one of the world-weary ones. She saw it all. She lost her husband. Her country was occupied by the Romans. She sought refuge in the temple that was known for greedy priests and faithless teachers. But she sought refuge knowing the temple was indeed God’s house as she waited “for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).
Yet, despite all her world-weariness, Anna remained faithful and loyal, praying and waiting, until this day, until this Child came to the temple. She noticed Simeon celebrating with Joseph and Mary. And so, “at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of Him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38).
Anna could not stop speaking of God’s great mercy in the Christ Child!
That Child held by Mary and spoken of by Simeon and Anna came to change this fallen world. He came to fulfill the Law on our behalf. Every last detail of all that God commanded and demanded for us is completed in Him. For this reason, Jesus is brought to the temple. Mary came to the temple for her purification, according to the Law of Moses. All women after giving birth had to offer a sacrifice. Again for the Holy Family, it was two turtledoves, or two young pigeons.
But this sacrifice wasn’t required to pay for some sin in the mother or because childbirth itself created some kind of guilt. No, this sacrifice was required because it reminded everyone that the sin of Adam and Eve was passed down to each generation. There was no escaping original sin. And sin always requires a sacrifice.
But there was one exception, one who entered the world by birth without inheriting sin. This very Child, forty days old was without sin, because no human father passed it down to Him as He was “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.”
This was God’s perfect plan! Jesus is presented in the temple as our substitute, the very Lamb of God who has come to purify us! So, in those moments we may feel world-weary, as if everything around us is out of control, we can cling in faith to the promise that God is not only ruling the universe, but He is also right here in lowly means, revealed in Word and Sacrament.
That forty-day-old Child would grow up to keep all the Law perfectly for you and me in our place, and He would also provide the payment for our atonement through His crucifixion and death on the cross. That sacrifice, the final sacrifice, gives forgiveness, life and salvation to all who trust in Him as Lord and Savior, so that we can depart in peace. By grace in Christ alone, through repentance and faith in Him, He presents us with pure and clean hearts. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,
keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.
+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +
