Present & Presented
The Presentation of our Lord Jesus Christ at the Temple
Fr. Tim Nunez
2/2/25
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
This morning, we are reminded of the paradoxical nature of Jesus – seemingly opposed or even opposite truths about him that are nevertheless true at the same time. All through the birth narrative, including this precious scene, he is at once glorified, yet shockingly humble.
The angel Gabriel announces his coming birth, but to a young, virgin woman in Nazareth, a tiny town of no importance. When he is born in Bethlehem, and angel appears to proclaim this world-changing news and is joined by a heavenly host. What a stunning vision this must have been in a time when they had no fireworks or spotlights or drones.
But the announcement is to lowly shepherds. They go, as told, and find this “Savior” who is “Christ the Lord.” “Glory to God in the highest,” yes, but this savior is lying in a livestock food trough.
The paradoxes continue and expand in this scene. Joseph and Mary are simply obeying Jewish law as laid out through Moses. To comply with Leviticus, after giving birth, Mary has to go through a rite of purification which requires offering a lamb and a turtledove or pigeon. The offering of two turtledoves or two young pigeons was a discount for people who could couldn’t afford the lamb.
Here's the paradox: Mary cannot afford a lamb, yet she is carrying the Lamb of God.
Exodus and Numbers require a firstborn Son is to be brought to the Temple, presented and redeemed for five shekels, or about 10 days’ wages. This at once hearkens back to Abraham’s near-sacrifice of Isaac as well as the Passover, when the Angel of Death passed over the Hebrews’ homes that had painted the blood of a lamb on their doorposts and lintels.
The paradox here is that they are “redeeming” Jesus, who will redeem all of God’s children by giving himself as a ransom for the sin of the whole world to defeat sin and death forever.
And there is a massive paradox that is illustrated by this entire scene, which includes the encounters with Simeon and Anna. We don’t know any more about these two beyond what we have in this passage. But we can surmise that they were known. People who went to the Temple would remember these regulars who were always there. Their reputations were established. Canon Richard Brown was rector here back in the 60’s and early 70’s. Fifty-plus years later, the old timers still talk about him, recalling his character and persona as well as thing he said and did.
Simeon is waiting for the “consolation” of Israel, and he’s directed by the Holy Spirit, the consoler, to embrace Jesus as the fulfillment of God’s promises to him and to all peoples. He also affirms to Mary that her great love for her Son will exact a painful cost.
Likewise, Anna is another prophet who confirms Jesus as redeemer.
The massive paradoxes are that Jesus, a devout Jew born to devout Jews, who will observe the letter and the spirit of the Law of Moses his whole life, will fulfill that Law so entirely that he will transcend it such that he replaces it. Jesus’s followers will be released from the Law, and continuously called to holiness by their love of the Lord.
And, in fulfilling God’s promises to Israel, this Jesus who has no home and no job other than to follow his Father’s will, is the means through which Israel’s witness to the One true God will spread quite literally to all nations, all peoples. That project remains underway and the Gospel is spreading faster today around the world than it ever has. Everything that was and has happened in and through the people of Israel has come to this point and will be transformed and transforming for the world through Jesus. And he’s just this little baby who is being accosted by these strange people.
What God is doing through Jesus for the world he means to do in you right now; today, tomorrow and forever. Bishop N.T. Wright put it this way,
“Luke wants to draw readers of every age and stage of life into his picture. No matter who or where you are, the story of Jesus, from the feeding-trough in Bethlehem to the empty tomb and beyond, can become your story.
In becoming your story, it will become your vocation. Everybody has their own role in God’s plan.”[1]
It’s crazy how this account could be written so long ago, in a different place, a different culture, a different time and in a different language, yet it makes a clear call to us today. Calling: that’s what vocation means, to all who will hear it. It may not change what you do, but he will change how you see what you do and the manner in which you do it and you will see new life come from it.
And consider the paradoxes in you, the saint and the sinner, the friend and the foe, the bored and the restless. We bring it all before him, week by week when we come before the altar. And when we give of our time and effort and money, all of it represents all of who we are.
All of that will be transcended, too. Is it easier to believe in God than it is to believe he believes in you. He will transform everything you’ve achieved and suffered in the past, redeeming it for great purpose moving forward.
Bishop Wright continues,
“For some, it will be active, obvious, working in the public eye, perhaps preaching the gospel or taking the love of God to meet the practical needs of the world. For others, it will be quiet, away from public view, praying faithfully for God to act in fulfillment of his promises. For many, it will be a mixture of the two, sometimes one, sometimes the other. Mary and Joseph needed Simeon and Anna at that moment; the old man and old woman needed them, had been waiting for them, and now thanked God for them.”[2]
Make no mistake. Following Jesus is not merely about being on the right side. It is about redemption and transformation, within and without, of everyone and everything, to his side.
AMEN
[1] Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 27.
[2] Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 27.