Firstborn

Propers: The Presentation of the Lord (Candlemas), AD 2025 C

Homily:

Lord, we pray for the preacher, for You know his sins are great.

Grace mercy and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

40 days following the Nativity of Our Lord, Mary and Joseph present the child Jesus in the Temple. Here Luke summarizes several things at once. In the ceremonial laws of the Hebrew Bible, the shedding of blood imparts ritual impurity; not necessarily moral, mind you, but ritual. That’s because life is sacred, the precious gift of God, and the life is in the blood.

Childbirth involves rather a lot of bodily fluids, and so Mary undergoes a period of purification—40 days for the birth of a son—after which, according to Law, she is to present a lamb to be sacrificed to God. This goes all the way back to Abraham’s son Isaac, when Abraham substituted a sheep for the life of his child. If, however, one cannot afford a lamb, two small doves or pigeons will do, as provision for the poor. Mary and Joseph avail themselves of this option, indicating their relative poverty. No frankincense or gold for the Holy Family here.

At the same time, they have come to redeem her firstborn. Back before the establishment of the Tabernacle and Temple—before Moses’ tribe of Levites took over religious duties, and the sons of his brother Aaron served as hierophants for the people—the priesthood had fallen to the firstborn sons. In the Exodus, as a result of the Tenth Plague, God claimed the firstborn both of humans and of beasts. Yet as God had categorically rejected human sacrifice with Abraham and Isaac, a father could redeem his son for an affordable five shekels.

This would work out to somewhere around a hundred bucks today: a symbolic amount, a ritual fee. Oftentimes the priest might simply give it back. This redemption price held for any mother’s firstborn son, whomsoever “opened the womb.” It did not apply to Levites or priests, who took the firstborns’ place, nor notably to the sons of their daughters. Nor did it have to be done at the Temple, although that appears to have been a tradition. And since Jesus’ parents were already there for Mary’s purification, why not kill the two birds with one stone, so to speak?

Yet Luke never mentions those five shekels, but only the pigeons, the sacrifice for Mary. And the Evangelists rarely omit such details accidentally. Luke has already told us that Mary has priestly kin, as seen in her cousin Elizabeth. And he’s clearly drawing parallels to Samuel, the famous Judge and prophet who served as High Priest after the fall of the House of Eli. Samuel as a boy had been presented by his mother Hannah at the Tabernacle in Shiloh, the temple before the Temple.

Hannah dedicated her son to the service to the Lord. And Mary’s story has echoed hers since Gabriel first showed up. Whether Joseph paid the price or not, Luke’s implication is that Christ shall be High Priest, destined for the Temple as was Samuel from His birth. These are the distinctive themes of his Gospel: the role of women, and the Temple.

Ah, but Luke is not done yet. This tale is just getting started. For along comes a prophet, Simeon by name, to whom the Holy Spirit had given a particular promise. God the Spirit swore that Simeon “would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.” Keep in mind that Second Temple Judaism broadly recognized that prophecy had ceased several centuries ago, with Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi some 500 years before Christ. At that point, the Shekinah—the cloud of God’s divine presence, which had covered both Tabernacle and Temple in days of old—had departed from Israel.

Thus to have the Spirit here, in this prophet, in this man, indicates a new era, the dawn of the messianic age. Moreover, the presence of God had returned to His Temple, to His people, and Simeon knows exactly where to find Him. Guided by God the Spirit, he enters the Temple, finds the Holy Family, and takes up the Christchild in his arms, breaking into song as is so characteristic of the early chapters of Luke’s Gospel.

“Now, Lord, you let your servant depart in peace,” he sings. “Your Word has been fulfilled. My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people: a Light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” We call this Song of Simeon the Nunc Dimittis, and it is in fact his death-song. He has waited his life to see the Lord, the Christ who was promised of old. And now that he has, now that he has seen with his eyes and held in his hands the one who is the fulfillment of every prophecy and hope, he can depart in peace, and rest in joy, knowing salvation has come.

It’s beautiful, really. These are the verses sung at every Compline, every prayer before bed in the Liturgy of the Hours. And he proclaims Christ not only as the glory of His people Israel, but as the Light to reveal God to the nations, to the Gentiles, to the world.

Nor is Simeon alone. Another prophet, the aged widow Anna, one of the Lost Tribe of Asher, praises God and proclaims the Child to all who have come to the Temple. Luke likely intends for us to understand her as one of the so-called Temple Virgins, proto-nuns who lived in the Temple weaving the great veil that divided the sanctuary from the Holy of Holies. And not for nothing, the prophetess possesses the same name as Samuel’s mother Hannah.

Taken together, what all do we have? A devout and pious family who live out the will of the Lord. Not one but two prophets who proclaim the Spirit and presence of God. And a Child, already a priest, who is Himself the return of the Lord to His Temple, and the revelation of God to the world. Little wonder then that this event has captured the Christian imagination. Our celebrations of it go by many names.

Roman Catholics call today the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, which of course it is. Protestants title it the Presentation of the Child Jesus in the Temple, which is a bit of a mouthful, yet also perfectly accurate. Eastern Orthodox prefer Hypapante, which simply means the Meeting, between the prophets and Holy Family. For Americans, it’s Groundhog Day, for strange folkloric reasons. But the Anglicans put it best, I think: for in English it is Candlemas, remembering Christ as the Light of the world.

Thus on 2 February, 40 days after Christmas Day, we bless candles; both for public liturgical use, and for more personal devotions at home. It is traditional to thank the bees for their gifts, as they labor so selflessly to provide the Church with sweet-smelling illumination. Candlemas reaches deep into the history of Yahweh’s Chosen People, from Abraham through Moses to Samuel, the witness of prophets and priests; while also declaring the mercy, the promise, the salvation of God in Christ, to all the peoples of the planet and beyond.

The Christ of history is the Light of eternity, descending into darkness to rescue us from death. As the wick of the candle unites ethereal flame to melting wax, so does Christ unite divinity to our fallen humankind. Light of the world, fulfillment of prophecy, anointed High Priest and King, Jesus unveils to everyone the face and heart of God—just as He promised of old, just as we prayed that He would. The mystery hidden for ages is manifest now to His saints.

We believe in Him as we believe that the sun has risen: not simply in that we can see Him, but by Him we see everything else. Christ has come to His people, and made all people His own. What can we do in response, but hold Him in our arms and sing?

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pertinent Links

RDG Stout

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St Peter’s Lutheran

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