Feast of the Purification

“And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord.” +In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
 
Happy Feast Day everyone! Today we celebrate the Feast of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and of the Purification of St. Mary the Virgin. This day marks the fortieth day since Jesus’ birth. Traditionally, it was regarded as the official end of the Christmas season. This feast day was first observed by Christians in Jerusalem in the middle of the fourth century. In the sixth century, the Roman Emperor Justinian ordered that it be celebrated as a thanksgiving for the end of a plague, and since that time it has been observed by Christians in both the East and West. The Roman Catholic Church formally designated this day as a Feast of the Lord in 1960.

 The importance of this day is that it marks Jesus’ first entrance into the Temple, and it is a reminder to us of Mary’s role in God’s plan of salvation through Jesus Christ. It is significant in that Mary and Joseph were obedient to the Law of Moses which required that they present their first-born child in the Temple and offer sacrifice, and that Mary undergo the rites of purification for a woman who has given birth.

Have you ever wondered why the Law of Moses required that the parents of their first-born son bring that child to the Temple and offer a sacrifice? What is this all about? The fundamental principle at work here is the understanding that every first-born son belongs to the Lord, animal and child alike. This harkens back to the Passover, when God spared the first-born sons of Israel when He sent the Angel of Death to slay the first-born sons of Egypt. Second, prior to the Exodus and the giving of the Law, there was the law of primogeniture, meaning that the first-born son serving as the family priest as well as having the right of inheritance. According to the Law of Moses, God designated an entire tribe to be priests, the tribe of Levi. Therefore, the first-born son must be “ransomed” from the demands of the priesthood.

St. Luke tells us that while the Law called for the sacrifice of lamb for the occasion, a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons could also be offered for the sacrifice if one had only modest means. Mary and Joseph were of modest means and could not offer a lamb, but as we know from the Gospels, the baby Jesus is Himself the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. This baby Jesus would become both King and Priest of the entire human race.

Now Mary and Joseph are not unique in the Scriptures of offering their first-born to the Lord. All the way back in Genesis, we read that after Abraham and Sarah were blessed by a son in their old age, Abraham was asked by God to offer his first-born son Isaac to God. Then in 1 Samuel, we read about how Hannah prayed to God for a son, having been barren for many years. When God answered her prayers for a son, Hannah then dedicated her son Samuel to the service of the Lord, and he became one of the great prophets of the Old Testament. Then in the New Testament we read about Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah was a priest, and he and his wife Elizabeth were too old to have a child. Yet, God tells Zechariah that his wife will have a son, who will be the great prophet John the Baptist.

Amid all these great stories of God’s miraculous work, God asks for sacrifice. Abraham is asked to sacrifice his son Isaac on the altar. Hannah gives up her son to serve in the tabernacle. Zechariah and Elizabeth’s son John the Baptist goes out into the wilderness to proclaim Christ and then is beheaded in prison. And Mary’s son Jesus Himself goes to the Cross and though without sin, dies a painful and shameful death on behalf of a sinful human race.

Mary and Joseph offer their sacrifice in the Temple to fulfill the Law’s requirements, but Mary’s sacrifice isn’t completed. Remember Simeon says to Mary, “Behold this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword shall pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” Simeon tells Mary that the Son of God’s work of salvation will be costly not just to Him, but to Mary, as she would see her son Jesus rejected and misunderstood, and then unjustly condemned and sent to the Cross to die.

Today, we as followers of Jesus Christ no longer need to follow the Law of Moses under the Old Covenant. There is no longer any Temple. There are no more animal sacrifices. Yet the notion of sacrifice is not obsolete. On the contrary, as followers of Jesus Christ, we still believe in sacrifice. We believe in sacrifice because we wish to participate in Christ’s sacrifice for each of us. Each time we participate in the Eucharist, in the Sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood we don’t simply remember (that is, have a memory picture in our mind) of what Christ’s accomplished for us on the Cross, but we remember (make present here and now) Christ’s sacrifice and we participate in in it with Him. As we pray together in the Eucharistic Prayer from the traditional rite: “And here we offer and present unto Thee, ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto Thee…” To be a Christian is to live one’s life as a living sacrifice to God.

On this Feast of the Presentation, we honor Mary the Mother of God for her obedience and willingness to sacrifice for the sake of the Kingdom of God and the salvation of the human race. And we offer to God once again our own lives as the living sacrifice, so that He may use each of us for His honor and glory, for the building His Kingdom, and for the salvation of the world.

+In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit