1 Samuel 1:21-28/Hebrews 2:14-18/St Luke 2:22-32(33-40)
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
When the Lord commanded Moses to set up the Tabernacle in the wilderness, a cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the place. Moses could not enter because the cloud abode upon the tent of meeting (Ex 40).
When King Solomon built and dedicated the first Temple in Jerusalem, a cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord (2 Ch 7). God’s glory, the cavod YHWH, that is, God Himself, was present in a peculiar way both in the Tabernacle and in the first Temple. He revealed His gracious presence by the outward sign of a bright and beautiful cloud. This is a great honor and distinction given to these two buildings!
Solomon’s Temple destroyed in 586 BC as a consequence of Israel’s idolatry, as the Lord had threatened. Yet remembering His covenant He mercifully promised a second Temple would be built and this Temple would be greater than the former in both splendor and majesty. But the second Temple, completed in 516 BC, was far inferior to the first. Many of the priests and Levites and old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of the second Temple was laid (Ezra 3:12). And there is nothing recorded of the glory of the Lord coming down and filling it.
Why then did the Lord promise that the glory of the second house would be greater than that of the first? The reason was that during the time of the second Temple, the Hope of the Gentiles, the Messiah, was to come and was to preach and to accomplish the work for which He was sent, as Malachi declared, Behold, I send my messenger, and He will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His Temple, and the messenger of the covenant in the whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts (3:1).
Through the advent and epiphany of the Messiah, the glory of the second Temple was much greater, because in Christ, the whole fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily. The Word because flesh and tabernacled/set up his tent among us and we have seen His glory; glory as of the Only Son from the Father full of grace and truth (Jn 1). And now, in His assumed visible body He came to His Temple, in a manner far superior to the sign of the cloud in which the glory of the Lord was revealed.
Now St Luke records two stories regarding this: the purification of Mary and the presentation of our Lord. And Simeon. We have dealt with the story of Simeon on the Second Sunday after Christmas. Here we will give attention to the first story.
St Luke refers back to two laws of the Old Testament. The first was regarding the purification of men, recorded in Leviticus 12. If a woman bore a male child, she was considered unclean for forty days; if a female, for eighty days. At the end of which she was to bring to the priest, at the door of the tent of meeting, a lamb one year old for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. If she could not afford a lamb, she may bring a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. The lamb was slaughtered and the neck of the pigeon was wrung. Gruesome. Bloody. But this is what the Law required, life for life.
Now to our ears this may sound like society with hang-ups about sexuality or oppressive to women. This is not so. This law served not only to safeguard the woman’s health, but was chiefly a reminder of original sin, inherited by the children through birth, deeply affecting their nature. The male child received circumcision on the eighth day, as a sign or seal of the righteousness which he had by faith (Rm 4:11). But he and the mother were considered unclean for a time longer. For this law applied to the child as well. When the time came for their purification according to the Law.
This was an indication that the poison of sin was rooted so deeply in human nature and permeated all members of the body, even all powers of the soul, so thoroughly that even after the forgiveness of sins was received in circumcision and sin began to die, evil lust remained in the flesh and must be opposed by constant repentance and the indwelling of the Spirit.
The burnt offering and sin offering for purification indicate that if the remaining sinfulness is not to condemn us, we must cling to Christ in faith. There must be blood for blood, life for life.
His parents do not bring a lamb, for their Child is the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Here He is presented, as the fulfillment of the prophet Samuel, who was brought by his mother Hannah, to dwell in the Temple before the Lord. The laying of the foundation, as recorded in Ezra, is fulfilled here; for Christ is the new Temple and its Cornerstone. As it is written, No one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Cor 3:11). He is the Rock in whose cleft we hid, that is, in the wounds of our Lord Christ.
How does this concern Christ and His mother? Why did He submit to this Law? The law said, If a woman conceive, that is, in the usual, natural manner. But our Lord was conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. And Mary remained a virgin before, during, and after her pregnancy and the birth! She conceived and gave birth without the stain of sin. Her Son was born holy. Why then did He subject Himself to this law?
Answer: For our sake. As He received circumcision, and later, baptism, not for His own sake, but for ours, so He also submitted to this law for our salvation. He was circumcised and baptized that in Him we may have a remedy against original sin when we too are received into God’s covenant of grace by Holy Baptism.
He subjected Himself to the law of purification not because any uncleanness was to be found in Him, for He is the Holy One. But He presented Himself before His Father in heaven as the Lamb of God, on whom the sins of the world were laid. In this way He made purification for sins. Here, at His presentation in the Temple, the Christ Child assumes the obligation of offering Himself on the Cross as the Lamb of God.
But there is another aspect to which Christ submits as well. When the Lord slew the first-born in Egypt, but spared the first born among the Israelites, He established, as a memorial, that the first born, of man and beast, be given to Him. This we see in Hannah’s word to her husband, concerning the child Samuel; She could have redeemed him back. Animals were to be offered in sacrifice or bought back for a sum of money. First born sons were either to be left in the house of the Lord or redeemed with five shekels of silver (Lv 27). Hannah, not out of poverty, but in piety, left Samuel with Eli the priest that he may dwell there forever.
And this foreshadows Christ Jesus, the only begotten Son of the Father, the first-born Son of the Virgin Mary, who was not bought back, but was, in fact, sold for third pieces of silver - the price of a slave! - in order to buy you back, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.
He consecrated Himself for you. Not for angels, but you, the offspring of Abraham. He made Himself like you, sharing in your flesh and blood, partaking of the same things, even taking upon Himself your sin, so that He might make propitiation for the sins of the people. He is the Mercy-Seat sacrifice offered upon the altar of the Cross. His Blood has been sprinkled on you, making you His covenant people. He is the Lamb, offered your place, in order to make you sons. His Blood marks your bodies and souls. Death passes over. He is the True Firstborn who have given you birth, not from the flesh, not according to blood, not by the will of man, but from His Father and our Father, who art in heaven.
He fulfills Malachi’s prophecy and Ezra’s Temple. He is the proper Second Temple and the great glory of the Lord. Better than groundhog’s and winter, this is the fulfillment of all those Old Testament shadows now made reality in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, revealed to you in the glorious radiance of His Light.
Come, then, and partake. Only the priests ate of the sacrifice, and behold you are priests. As it is written, You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of god chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Pt 2:9, 4-5).
Partaking of the once-for-all Sacrifice of the Lamb, you are yourselves, spiritual sacrifices. Now that which is sacrificed has died. Thus are you given to die to sin, to die to the passions of the flesh, to die in Christ and to die in service to your neighbor. These are your priestly duties and your spiritual sacrifices. Indeed you dwell in the temple of the Lord, in His presence, for He has tabernacled Himself among you, and even puts Himself within you. As the Spirit was with Simeon, so He is with you, always leading to where Christ is, here, in His Temple, giving His gifts; bestowing on you the Hope of the Gentiles and the Consolation of Israel, even the Lord’s Christ.
Depart in peace. In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
When the Lord commanded Moses to set up the Tabernacle in the wilderness, a cloud covered the tent of meeting and the glory of the Lord filled the place. Moses could not enter because the cloud abode upon the tent of meeting (Ex 40).
When King Solomon built and dedicated the first Temple in Jerusalem, a cloud filled the house of the Lord so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord (2 Ch 7). God’s glory, the cavod YHWH, that is, God Himself, was present in a peculiar way both in the Tabernacle and in the first Temple. He revealed His gracious presence by the outward sign of a bright and beautiful cloud. This is a great honor and distinction given to these two buildings!
Solomon’s Temple destroyed in 586 BC as a consequence of Israel’s idolatry, as the Lord had threatened. Yet remembering His covenant He mercifully promised a second Temple would be built and this Temple would be greater than the former in both splendor and majesty. But the second Temple, completed in 516 BC, was far inferior to the first. Many of the priests and Levites and old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of the second Temple was laid (Ezra 3:12). And there is nothing recorded of the glory of the Lord coming down and filling it.
Why then did the Lord promise that the glory of the second house would be greater than that of the first? The reason was that during the time of the second Temple, the Hope of the Gentiles, the Messiah, was to come and was to preach and to accomplish the work for which He was sent, as Malachi declared, Behold, I send my messenger, and He will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to His Temple, and the messenger of the covenant in the whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts (3:1).
Through the advent and epiphany of the Messiah, the glory of the second Temple was much greater, because in Christ, the whole fullness of the Godhead dwelt bodily. The Word because flesh and tabernacled/set up his tent among us and we have seen His glory; glory as of the Only Son from the Father full of grace and truth (Jn 1). And now, in His assumed visible body He came to His Temple, in a manner far superior to the sign of the cloud in which the glory of the Lord was revealed.
Now St Luke records two stories regarding this: the purification of Mary and the presentation of our Lord. And Simeon. We have dealt with the story of Simeon on the Second Sunday after Christmas. Here we will give attention to the first story.
St Luke refers back to two laws of the Old Testament. The first was regarding the purification of men, recorded in Leviticus 12. If a woman bore a male child, she was considered unclean for forty days; if a female, for eighty days. At the end of which she was to bring to the priest, at the door of the tent of meeting, a lamb one year old for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. If she could not afford a lamb, she may bring a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. The lamb was slaughtered and the neck of the pigeon was wrung. Gruesome. Bloody. But this is what the Law required, life for life.
Now to our ears this may sound like society with hang-ups about sexuality or oppressive to women. This is not so. This law served not only to safeguard the woman’s health, but was chiefly a reminder of original sin, inherited by the children through birth, deeply affecting their nature. The male child received circumcision on the eighth day, as a sign or seal of the righteousness which he had by faith (Rm 4:11). But he and the mother were considered unclean for a time longer. For this law applied to the child as well. When the time came for their purification according to the Law.
This was an indication that the poison of sin was rooted so deeply in human nature and permeated all members of the body, even all powers of the soul, so thoroughly that even after the forgiveness of sins was received in circumcision and sin began to die, evil lust remained in the flesh and must be opposed by constant repentance and the indwelling of the Spirit.
The burnt offering and sin offering for purification indicate that if the remaining sinfulness is not to condemn us, we must cling to Christ in faith. There must be blood for blood, life for life.
His parents do not bring a lamb, for their Child is the true Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Here He is presented, as the fulfillment of the prophet Samuel, who was brought by his mother Hannah, to dwell in the Temple before the Lord. The laying of the foundation, as recorded in Ezra, is fulfilled here; for Christ is the new Temple and its Cornerstone. As it is written, No one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (1 Cor 3:11). He is the Rock in whose cleft we hid, that is, in the wounds of our Lord Christ.
How does this concern Christ and His mother? Why did He submit to this Law? The law said, If a woman conceive, that is, in the usual, natural manner. But our Lord was conceived by the overshadowing of the Holy Spirit. And Mary remained a virgin before, during, and after her pregnancy and the birth! She conceived and gave birth without the stain of sin. Her Son was born holy. Why then did He subject Himself to this law?
Answer: For our sake. As He received circumcision, and later, baptism, not for His own sake, but for ours, so He also submitted to this law for our salvation. He was circumcised and baptized that in Him we may have a remedy against original sin when we too are received into God’s covenant of grace by Holy Baptism.
He subjected Himself to the law of purification not because any uncleanness was to be found in Him, for He is the Holy One. But He presented Himself before His Father in heaven as the Lamb of God, on whom the sins of the world were laid. In this way He made purification for sins. Here, at His presentation in the Temple, the Christ Child assumes the obligation of offering Himself on the Cross as the Lamb of God.
But there is another aspect to which Christ submits as well. When the Lord slew the first-born in Egypt, but spared the first born among the Israelites, He established, as a memorial, that the first born, of man and beast, be given to Him. This we see in Hannah’s word to her husband, concerning the child Samuel; She could have redeemed him back. Animals were to be offered in sacrifice or bought back for a sum of money. First born sons were either to be left in the house of the Lord or redeemed with five shekels of silver (Lv 27). Hannah, not out of poverty, but in piety, left Samuel with Eli the priest that he may dwell there forever.
And this foreshadows Christ Jesus, the only begotten Son of the Father, the first-born Son of the Virgin Mary, who was not bought back, but was, in fact, sold for third pieces of silver - the price of a slave! - in order to buy you back, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and His innocent suffering and death.
He consecrated Himself for you. Not for angels, but you, the offspring of Abraham. He made Himself like you, sharing in your flesh and blood, partaking of the same things, even taking upon Himself your sin, so that He might make propitiation for the sins of the people. He is the Mercy-Seat sacrifice offered upon the altar of the Cross. His Blood has been sprinkled on you, making you His covenant people. He is the Lamb, offered your place, in order to make you sons. His Blood marks your bodies and souls. Death passes over. He is the True Firstborn who have given you birth, not from the flesh, not according to blood, not by the will of man, but from His Father and our Father, who art in heaven.
He fulfills Malachi’s prophecy and Ezra’s Temple. He is the proper Second Temple and the great glory of the Lord. Better than groundhog’s and winter, this is the fulfillment of all those Old Testament shadows now made reality in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, revealed to you in the glorious radiance of His Light.
Come, then, and partake. Only the priests ate of the sacrifice, and behold you are priests. As it is written, You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. As you come to Him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of god chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ (1 Pt 2:9, 4-5).
Partaking of the once-for-all Sacrifice of the Lamb, you are yourselves, spiritual sacrifices. Now that which is sacrificed has died. Thus are you given to die to sin, to die to the passions of the flesh, to die in Christ and to die in service to your neighbor. These are your priestly duties and your spiritual sacrifices. Indeed you dwell in the temple of the Lord, in His presence, for He has tabernacled Himself among you, and even puts Himself within you. As the Spirit was with Simeon, so He is with you, always leading to where Christ is, here, in His Temple, giving His gifts; bestowing on you the Hope of the Gentiles and the Consolation of Israel, even the Lord’s Christ.
Depart in peace. In the Name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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