The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, Wednesday, February 2, 2022

Luke 2:22–40

When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord, and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.  Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying: “Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace, according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in sight of all the peoples: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and glory for your people Israel.”  The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him; and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be contradicted —and you yourself a sword will pierce— so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem. When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him. 

Today’s Feast celebrates the ritual presentation of the Infant Christ in the Temple and also the ritual purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary after giving birth to Jesus Christ.  For the Jews, blood that flowed out of the body defiled whatever it touched and so it was necessary for one who had been so rendered impure to be ritually cleansed in the Temple.  Leviticus 12 codifies this in the Law.  The ritual cleansing took place in conjunction with the presentation or or offering of the child in the Temple.  A sacrifice was then offered to redeem the child.  We should note that in the case of the Lord, a sacrifice was offered for the One who would sacrifice himself for us.  In addition, no purification was necessary for the Virgin Mary, for she was immaculately pure from the instant of her creation, and it was through her that he who would cleanse us from our sins came forth.

This is one of the earliest feasts in the Church’s calendar.  Evidence for its celebration in Jerusalem comes from writers in the 300’s.  The custom of blessing candles on this Feast arose from the understanding that Christ, the Light of the world, had now come into his Temple.

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.”  According to certain traditions, Simeon, called “the God- receiver” by the Orthodox, was a hundred years old or older at the time Jesus was brought to the Temple.  He did not live there, as Anna did, but must have lived in the Temple’s vicinity.  According to Luke’s account, Simeon approached the Holy Family before they offered the sacrifice, so perhaps they met in a courtyard.  We can understand him as signifying the Old Law, which was about to end with the coming of Christ and the New Law.  The Old Law foretold the salvation of the Lord just as Simeon does here.  The embracing of Simeon and Jesus shows the connection between the Old and the New Law.  The Old existed in order to prepare the people for the New, and recognizing the arrival of the New, fades away, blessing God.  Simeon’s prophetic aside to the Blessed Virgin points to the work of the Prophets under the Old Law who spoke of the Passion of her Son, and so, indirectly, of the sorrow of the Mother.

The Prophetess Anna is also of advanced age.  Widowed for many years, we can understand her to signify the Temple, which would soon fall.  Her widowhood stands for the second Temple, built after the first was destroyed by the Babylonians.  At the time of its building, no son of David reigned on Israel’s throne, and only with the coming of the Lord has the Son of David, of whom the Prophets spoke, arrived to take possession of his kingdom.  Now, in its final years, it rejoices in the One whose reign would last forever.

Luke does not mention how the Holy Family returned to Jerusalem after the Lord’s Presentation or the dream Joseph received to take the Child and his Mother to Egypt to escape the coming massacre ordered by Herod, though he does speak of the eventual return to Nazareth: “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.”  We pray that through the grace Jesus Christ won for us on the Cross, we may also become strong and filled and wisdom, and that the favor of God will rest upon us.