Holy Unto the Lord
the Presentation of Christ in the temple
Commonly called The Purification of Saint Mary the Virgin
“AND when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord; (as it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) and to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons” (Luke 2:22).
My dear friends, tonight, we are participating in a feast that goes way back to the earliest days of Christianity. In fact, this feast, which is called The Presentation of Christ or The Purification of Mary, is the oldest and first Christian feast mindful of the virgin, the Theotokos (God-bearer), who brought forth Jesus into the world. This ancient festival occurs forty days after Christmas. This is because the Law required a 40-day interval between the day of a baby’s birth and the day when the mother presented herself for readmission to the congregation and her infant son for an offering to the Lord (Lev. 12:4; Exod. 22:29; Numb. 8:17). In our Gospel for this evening, we focus on the event when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem on the 40th day after his birth, according to the customs of the Law. There, they performed the prescribed sacrifice of purification as required. It was also the occasion for an encounter between the aged Simeon and the Christ-child. The juxtaposition of an old man receiving the new child is much more than the passing of one generation and the emergence of another but signifies the old covenant giving way to the new, the old age fading away, and the dawning of salvation not only for Israel but for the whole world.
The Messiah Simeon longed and looked for had finally arrived as promised to the prophet Malachai: “The Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.” And now the one Simeon had prayed to see is placed in his aged, faithful hands, giving to the church the Nunc Dimittis, in which he proclaimed the glorious and universal Epiphany of the Holy Child when he prophesied of Him as “a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of God’s people Israel.” Simeon knows that this child is the Light given by God to illumine the Gentiles, the radiant glory of Israel. Simeon knows that Jesus is the Divine Light sent from heaven for the salvation of the world.
Like Simeon before him, St. John, the apostle and evangelist, also understood this. Jesus was born into a world that lay in darkness and the shadow of death, meaning a world that could not see nor find the means by which it could be saved from death; a dark and shadowy world beneath thick clouds of hopelessness, confusion, and anger, a violent world of men striving for mastery over one another for their mere survival. Jesus is “The true light, which gives light to everyone.” In Him proclaims John came into this world. But the world didn’t know him, couldn’t recognize him.
Jesus is the True Light; in him is life, and the life is the Light of men. Jesus is the Light to lighten the Gentiles, the Light that shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. He is the Light of illumination. You can see how this feast was made into a festival of candles, the warm candlelight reminding us of that greater Light, which is none other than Christ Jesus the Lord. This Light, which dawned upon a darkened world at Christmas, has now, some 40 days later, been brought into the Holy Temple. In presenting this child according to the Law, Mary and Joseph give their only son back to the Father who sent this only begotten son. Luke tells us that by presenting Jesus, he was “called Holy to the Lord” (ἅγιον τῷ κυρίῳ κληθήσεται). He was called (Kaleo), not meaning from that point on, he had a nickname, “from that point on, everyone called him “holy.”
No. Rather, Jesus was called in the sense of vocation, called into the service of God as a man is called to be a deacon or a priest. And Luke says he was called agion from the root agios, the Greek word for holy. That which is agios is a most holy thing. The Temple was “holy”; the innermost sanctuary of the Temple was the “holy of holies.” Various sanctuary furnishings were called “most holy” (qodesh qadashim): the altar of ascension (Exodus 29:37), the altar of incense (Exodus 30:10), the tent, the ark, the table of showbread, the lampstand, the laver (Exodus 30:29), the incense (Exodus 30:36), etc. But people were called qodesh in the Old Testament as well. Of course, God is most often called qodesh qadashim, for HE alone is the holy of holies. But Israel was called quodesh (Lev 11:45), holy. For God had set them apart from all the other nations on the earth; these people were chosen by God, consecrated for and to Him. Luke says that the baby Jesus, being presented in the Temple, was thereby called holy, meaning he was consecrated unto God. A consecrated person is one whose services God employs, a person wholly set apart for the purposes of God; Jesus was called and set apart for the express purposes of his heavenly Father: Jesus was consecrated to do what His heavenly Father sent him to do: to bring the Light of salvation to bear upon the hearts hardened by sin and minds darkened by disobedience.
Like Jesus, we have been consecrated to the Father through baptism. Centuries ago, John Calvin identified God’s baptismal claim on Christians with these words: “We are not our own, but the Lord’s.” The crucial factor in the Christian life, he said, is that “we are consecrated and dedicated to God.” This means “we may think, speak, meditate, or do anything only with a view to [the divine] glory.” Friends, we are not our own but are the Lord’s. As we say daily in the prayer office, “It is he who has made us and not we ourselves; we are the sheep of his pasture and work of his hands.” Friends, we, who have been remade and reborn through baptismal faith, are consecrated people: “We are His.” The consecrated life is lived in service to the Lord; it is compelled through prayer, strengthened by God’s presence, walks in holiness, and given for the sake of others. Just like Christ, we have been given to the world in Love, for Love, and in the name of Love. We are children of Light, and we have been saved by God to shine brightly in this world, the very Light of Christ on earth.
We find ourselves in an era that is rife with confusion and obscurity. The incessant brutality of abortion, terrorism, wars, and every form of abuse; the ongoing bigotry based on race, religion, and ethnicity; the increasing reluctance to accept traditional Christian moral teaching about the human person, the beginning and end of life, sexuality, marriage, and family; the blatant economic inequalities on the planet; the surges in depression, loneliness, and suicide all signal a very worrying trend of disorder and emptiness. But my friends, the Light, though sometimes dimly, still shines; we are that Light, the church, the body of Christ on earth. I implore you to hear the words of Jesus, who says, “You are the Light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives Light to all in the house. In the same way, let your Light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:14). Be the Light.
There is a vivid picture of our consecrated lives in the consecration of Holy Communion. Through the words of institution (which we will say momentarily), Common bread and wine are consecrated, made holy, and set apart for the Divine purpose of healing our bodies and souls; the bread broken for our brokenness, the wine poured out for our forgiveness. The Holy Spirit prepares the Eucharistic meal to feed God’s children with Jesus Christ, the Holy One of God. Blessed - Broken - Given. And we have been consecrated by water and the Spirit in Baptism. Blessed of God, illuminated by the Holy Spirit, our lives and all that we are and have set apart and sent for God’s purposes; our selfish wills like bread, broken by the Love of Christ. Like the cup, our lives poured out for the sake of others. This is what it means to live the consecrated life. We are called holy unto the Lord, for WE ARE HIS. Therefore, beloved, walk in the Light as children of Light, for we are Toto Tuus, “totally yours,” O Christ. Do with us as you will. Amen+
