The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord was once the final feast of the Christmas season, the last in a series of childhood events that reveal Jesus’ identity to all those who witness it. Luke’s Gospel recounts that when the days were completed for their purification, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem. A series of rituals were necessary, according to the law of Moses, including offering the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. Mary and Joseph complete these purification rites in the sacred space of the temple.
It is this event that Christians would come to understand as having fulfilled the words of God to the prophet Malachi: suddenly there will come to the temple the Lord whom you seek. In Malachi’s time, the people, having returned to exile, have also returned to their sinful ways, and thus Israel needs to be restored to purity. The Lord, Malachi states, is like the refiner’s fire that brings impurities to the surface of molten metal so that they can be removed. In like manner, God refines us, that he might fashion us according to his will. But who will endure the day of his coming? Only those willing to be purified, those ready to open themselves to God’s will and to God’s mercy.
In the Jerusalem temple, two individuals recognize the enormity of the revelation before them: the righteous and devout man Simeon and the prophetess Anna. Both embrace the Christ child, the Lord in their midst, the king of glory of whom Psalm 24 speaks; both welcome the Ark of the Covenant into the temple in keeping with Malachi’s prophecy. Anna and Simeon’s hearts are open and ready to let the king of glory come in!
Jesus is dedicated in the temple that he might, as the Letter to the Hebrews says, share in blood and flesh, becoming like his brothers and sisters in every way. In so doing, he conforms his life to the Father’s will, allowing himself to be tested through what he suffered, thereby bringing salvation to all. Moreover, this suffering is the very sword that will pierce Mary, his mother, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Already, all Mary is holding in her heart will be revealed in her Son and his life and death; Mary has let go of her own will in order to embrace the will of God. Mary will suffer because of all that Jesus must suffer for the sake of all mankind; Simeon’s blessing reminds us that Mary’s experience as mother enduring her Son’s death will break her heart open, revealing her heart to all.
Purification is transformative; only through such refinement are we prepared to take Jesus into our arms as Simeon does, and to proclaim the news of his arrival, as Anna does. Our hearts, like Mary’s, must be broken open, so that something new can come forth. Yet if we are open to God’s will and to his love for us, allowing ourselves to live in that love, we – the Body of Christ – can be be a a light to the nations, a light for revelation to all.
This post is based on Fr. Pat’s Scripture class.
Image source: www.wordclouds.com
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