Luke 2 - Candlemas - The presentation of Christ in the Temple

The presentation of Christ in the Temple.

Luke 2:21-35.

(Please note, much of the historical background here comes from Barclay, Daily Study Bible).

These verses deal with the time when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple to present him to the Lord. Mary was also required by the Law of Moses to go through a purification rite as all woman, after childbirth, were considered ritually unclean. While at the Temple, they met an old man called Simeon, who had some interesting things to say about their child Jesus.

Verse 21 tells us of how Jesus was circumcised. Every Jewish boy was required by the Law of Moses, to be circumcised eight days after his birth. This ceremony was considered so important that it was even permissible to perform this rite on the Sabbath, if that turned out to be the eighth day. We read in Galatians 4:4:

... when the time was right, God sent his Son, and a woman gave birth to him. His Son obeyed the Law so he could set us free from the law, and we could become God's children.

Notice secondly, verses 22-24 tell also of the obedience of Mary and Joseph. In obedience to Exodus 13:2, they were publicly acknowledging that their first-born son was sacred to God. By doing this Jews remembered back to the time when all first born males were spared when the angel of death passed over Egypt before the Exodus. The Law laid down that parents needed to give their child to God by presenting him at the Temple, and buy him back from the priests for the sum of five sheckles - about 70p. The blood of earthly lambs ensured the salvation of the first-born males in Egypt; the blood of Jesus, the Lamb of God, can save all those who come to him. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 5:7:

... Our Passover lamb is Christ, who has already been sacrificed.

Peter also writes in 1 Peter 1:19:

You were rescued by the precious blood of Christ, that spotless and innocent lamb.

Mary had to go through a cleansing ritual. When a woman had given birth, if it was a boy she was considered ritually unclean for forty days, if a girl, for eighty days. She could go about her household and do her daily work but she was not allowed to enter the Temple or share in any religious ceremony. At the end of this period of waiting, the mother was required to sacrifice a lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon for a sin offering. Because this was expensive Leviticus 12:8 records that if one was unable to afford the lamb, the mother was permitted to bring a second pigeon in its place. The offering of two pigeons was called 'The offering of the poor'. Mary could only afford the offering of the poor. This reminds us of the fact that Jesus was brought up in a very ordinary home, where there were no luxuries and where every cent had to be spent wisely. Jesus was a member of a family that knew all about the difficulties of making a living and the insecurities of life on this earth.

In verses 25-35 tell of the encounter of Mary and Joseph with Simeon. We are only told that the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen Christ, the Lord. When Mary and Joseph entered the Temple, the Spirit told Simeon that the time was now. This meeting between Simeon and Jesus is loaded with significance. Remember Simeon's first words: ‘Lord, I am your servant, and now I can die in peace ...’

Because Simeon met with Christ he no longer had any fear of death. He knew that God would send the world a saviour and when that saviour came, even though he came in the form of a baby boy of poor people - Simeon believed and so could die in peace.

The gospel of Jesus Christ brings true wisdom and understanding. Jesus can equip all people everywhere to understand the meaning of life. The reason why the world is in such a mess is because it has rejected Christ and his Word.

From verse 34, Simeon prophesied about the work and fate of our Lord. He stated that many in Israel would fall as a result of Jesus. Many Israelites as well as gentiles refused and even today continue to refuse to accept Christ. Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 1:23:

... we preach that Christ was nailed to a cross [so that people might be saved]. Most Jews have problems with this, and most gentiles think it is foolish.

Jesus never forces people to fall. People fall when they stubbornly and deliberately choose to refuse Christ's offer of grace. Still today Simeon's prophecy is being fulfilled. But more importantly, Jesus enables many to stand. They have been filled with his Spirit and know fullness of life on this earth and like Simeon also have no fear of death. Jesus lifts many people out of their old lives and gives them the gift of a new life where sin no longer dominates and where Christ fills our lives with dignity and wholeness.

The light of Christ causes people to face the truth about themselves. Therefore, Jesus acts as a warning sign to people. But many people do not like what they see, so rather than face reality, they reject him.

In verse 36, we meet Anna. Nowhere else in the Scriptures do we encounter her. The details about who she was are not important. Anna provides us with a beautifully human example of a Godly person. All Christians are required to imitate Christ and Anna, like John the Baptist and Simeon and others, provides us with a testimony of how ordinary everyday people can draw close to God.

After seven years of marriage Anna had lost her husband. Today her plight might not seem too serious but in these times it was considered a great shame. We read in Isaiah 54:4 that widowhood was considered by some, a curse. While the Scriptures condemned the poor treatment of widows, the norm of ancient society was generally one where widows were condemned to a life of loneliness and poverty. Only a few were fortunate enough to re-marry as society considered widows as inferior to virgins or unmarried women.

Anna had spent the remainder of her life after the death of her husband, alone. By the time we meet her in Luke's gospel, she was about 84 years old. We have no precise details about Anna's predicament, but we can safely deduce that she had known sorrow. It is however; also equally obvious that she had never grown bitter.

All of us have known sorrow. Sorrow can do one of two things: it can make us embittered, hard, resentful and rebellious against God; or it can make us kind, softer and more sympathetic and loving towards others. It can make shipwreck of our faith or it can make our faith stronger. Anna, despite what she had to go through in her life, obviously had a wonderful life, a whole life, a fulfilling life.

One of the reasons why Anna did far more than just cope with her circumstances was that she had her priorities right. She knew that she could not cope with life alone. She knew, as we all know today, that if she was to survive - more than that, still enjoy life and get the most out of life - she would have to stop relying on her own strength and become totally dependent upon God. And so she set about relying on God. We read how in verse 37:

Night and day she served God in the temple by praying and often going without eating.

Firstly, Anna was regular in worship. Luke records that she was to be found in the temple both night and day. In our times this would mean that Anna would have attended all the services in the church.

Nobody should come to church out of a sense of duty. We should all come to church because we know that we want to be here. While we can meet with God at any time and in any place - God meets with his people in a special way when they come together as his family to worship him. Christians therefore come to church because they want to and because they need to. God has promised that when his people gather together to worship Him he will bless them. We read in Psalm 84:4-5:

How happy are those who live in your temple, always singing praises to you. How happy are those whose strength comes from you, who are eager to make the pilgrimage to Mount Zion.

When people are in trouble, they find comfort in coming to the house of God. We read of the example of king Hezekiah when he heard that they were about to be attacked by the Assyrians in Isaiah 37:1:

As soon as King Hezekiah heard their report, he tore his clothes in grief, put on sackcloth, and went to the Temple of the Lord.

Coming to Church is also a place where people receive instruction from the Word of God. The focus of Christian worship is the Word of God - where we learn about who we are, who God is and how we ought to live. We are reminded of this in the prophecy of Micah 4:2 where the people said:

Let us go up the hill of the Lord, to the Temple of Israel's God. For he will teach us what he wants us to do; we will walk in the paths he has chosen.

William Barclay states:

We rob ourselves of a priceless treasure when we neglect to be one with his worshipping people.

Anna was able to cope and experience a full life because she was regular at worship with the people of God. Here she received comfort and instruction from the Lord and met with Him in a deep and significant way.

Notice also that she is described as one who prayed. Public worship is fantastic and an integral part of the Christians life and well being, but nothing can replace a regular private prayer life. Some people think that if they come to church regularly, that is enough. It is not. We cannot draw close to God, we cannot discover his will for our lives, we cannot know his peace in all circumstances, unless we regularly spend time with him in prayer. The years had left Anna without bitterness. Anna obviously led a full and contented life because day by day she kept in contact with God. Coming to God daily gave her strength to take each day as it comes.

Prayers are absolutely crucial for all Christian people. No person can ever hope to discover meaning in their life, no person can discover direction in their lives, no person can ever know true peace - that peace of God which passes all understanding (Philippians 4.7) - unless we spend time speaking and listening to God. There needs to be a time in every person's day when they are absolutely and completely alone, away from all others, when they can be quiet and commune with God. Remember that well known teaching of our Lord on prayer as recorded in Matthew 6:6:

... When you pray, go into a room alone and close the door. Pray to your Father in private. He knows what is done in private and will reward you.

Many people feel that they cannot pray because they do not know what to say. But the words one uses are not really that important. The beauty of the words used and perfectness of the grammar has nothing to do with the effectiveness of our prayers. I am often flattered when people come to me and compliment me for what they think was a 'beautiful' prayer that I might have said as part of worship. But the prayers of all Christians are as beautiful and can be as effective if one gives ourselves over to the Lord and if we open ourselves to the leading of his Spirit. Praying is easy. All we need to do is go to a quiet place, relax and open ourselves to God, give him our thoughts and allow him to inspire us. Remember those wonderful words in Romans 8:26-27:

In certain ways we are weak, but the Spirit is there to help us. For example, when we don't know what to pray for, the Spirit prays for us in ways that cannot be put into words. All our thoughts are known to God. He can understand what is in the mind of the Spirit, as the Spirit prays for God's people.

When we are able to spend time being quiet, allowing God to organise our thoughts, when we spend time meditating or listening to God, then we will be blessed in ways that we cannot imagine, we will come to know God more intimately than we have ever dreamed possible and we will be enabled to start experiencing what it means to have meaning, purpose and direction in our lives. We will also be enabled to accept who we are and who we will be as God transforms us and renews us. We will experience life in all its fullness. (John 10.10).

The depth of spiritual experience that we see in the lives of people like Anna is available for all people. You do not need to be an academic or a well read person to be able to experience God in the same way as the great heroes of the faith. Mary was a simple, poor young lass - yet she was close to God; Joseph was a carpenter - yet he was close to God. David was a shepherd - yet he was close to God. Peter was a fisherman - yet he drew close to God. Anna, despite the cruel blow she experienced early in her life, did not let what had happened wreck the rest of her life. All too often people whose lives are a mess, have excellent reasons for the problems in their lives. So many alcoholics can look back into something that happened in their childhood that they believe has caused them to be in the state they are in; child abusers, criminals and others can do the same. The world is in fact made up of people who are past masters, experts in making excuses for their failures. While our past might enable us to better understand ourselves, we need not be enslaved to it and its consequences. Anna was not. She was freed from the trauma of her past and lived a full and glorious life filled with joy and hope. Paul was also a man who had every excuse to be a grovelling wreck. He had been an accessory to murder, he had persecuted the people of Christ - he was guilty. Paul knew that he was forgiven and so could be freed from his past and its consequences. He writes in Philippians 3:12b: ‘... I forget what is behind, and I struggle for what is ahead.’

What is ahead for all Christians is a closer and more intimate walk with God. What lies ahead is a more glorious life, getting better all the time because we are becoming more and more like Jesus. While our bodies might be getting older and weaker, our spirits and souls can be continually renewed, more refined and made more beautiful. Be regular at worship, be regular at the sacraments, be regular in prayer and the other spiritual disciplines and you will be renewed, draw closer to God and experience the joy and wonder of life in Christ.