It’s only been a few days since we celebrated Jesus’ birth. But already, we’ve leaped forward 40 days to Jesus’ presentation at the Temple. And Jesus, as a 40-day-old infant, at the Temple overflows with prophetic fulfillment and significance. For the entire Old Covenant had come to its focal point in this little Child. He was the One!
Prophet Malachi had written: “‘The Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. He is the messenger of the covenant for whom you long. Look! He is coming,’ says the Lord Almighty” (Malachi 3:1).
But it seems that few expected the Lord to come into the Temple in His parent’s arms. And so the mystery of the manger continues into the Temple, where the infant Priest makes His first appearance. He comes humbly, hidden in an infant’s body.
The Old-Covenant Temple was the place of sacrifice. There, God’s people bought lambs to die for their sins, or as Passover lambs for slaughter. But 40 days after His birth, THE sacrifice for sin, God’s unblemished Lamb, appears, promised from eternity. He comes to be redeemed as the firstborn, as the Law of Moses prescribed.
Joseph came with the proper sacrifice: A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons. That was the poor man’s sacrifice of redemption if you couldn’t afford an unblemished lamb. The Lord told Moses during Israel’s wilderness wanderings, “You are to give over to the Lord every firstborn male of the womb” (Exodus 13:12).
Why was that? It was because every firstborn son in the Old Covenant pointed forward to, and prophesied, the promised Messiah, God’s Son. And now God’s Son fulfills that sacrifice. The blood of two turtledoves redeems the Redeemer, who needs no redemption. But Jesus was at the Temple because He still needed that redemption, for He was there to fulfill the Law for you.
Christ came to fulfill the Law down to the last ink flow of the pen. At eight days, He was circumcised. At 40 days, He was redeemed by a sacrifice, not to save Him, but that one day He would offer Himself as the once-for-all sacrifice for all sin.
Joseph and Mary presented Jesus in the Temple. Why? So Jesus could bring you and me to God eternally.
Luke also tells us that this was the time of purification for His mother. Now, why would Mary, the blessed virgin, need to be purified? She had just given birth to the sinless Son of God. There was no purer birth than this one. And yet, she came to the Temple for her purification, just like every Israelite mother.
Since the fall into sin, every mother has given birth to a sinner—except one: Mary. So, she didn’t need purification for bringing sin into the world, for Jesus was sinless. But she did need it because she gave birth to Jesus, who would become all sin to save us.
It was the same for Jesus needing two turtledoves to redeem Him. He didn’t need it for Himself, but He did need it for the sin of sinners that He would become on the cross.
And there waiting for Jesus are two time-worn people: Simeon and Anna. It’s as if the entire Old Covenant—all the prophets, and prophetesses of Israel—were patiently waiting to see God fulfill His promises by sending His Messiah into the world.
Simeon was old, and God had revealed to him that he wouldn’t die until he had seen the Messiah with his own eyes. That’s the opposite of how life often goes. The doctor may tell you that you have only so long to live. But God told Simeon that he wouldn’t die until He saw the Lord’s Anointed One, the promised Savior, for himself.
Imagine what it was like for old man Simeon to walk about the Temple, day after day, wondering if this was the day, as he waited and watched. How his heart must have skipped a beat when Mary and Joseph came to the Temple. Carrying their 40-day old son, the Holy Spirit whispered to his spirit, “This is the One for whom you wait.”
Simeon then took the little Child into his weary arms and lifted His eyes to heaven. He then sang out: “Lord, you can dismiss your servant in peace as you have promised.”
Simeon calls out to God as a slave crying out to his master for his promised freedom. He was at peace, ready to die, trusting in the promises of God. “To live is Christ and to die is gain” (Philippians 1:21). Simeon believed that as he held Salvation in his arms.
This little 40-day-old baby was His redemption, His freedom, God’s fulfilled promises, a Light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of Israel.
Simeon’s time of service had ended. His ancient eyes had seen the Lord’s salvation. And you can almost hear the relief in his voice. He had embraced the Savior of the world. His hands had held the world’s Redeemer.
Only faith could know this; faith God had enlivened in him through the Word. Only faith could see through the weakness, humility, and poverty and see the face of God.
Let’s mince no words: Simeon is saying that he’s now free to die. And so are we. For we have received and worshiped the Child of the Manger and the Man of the Cross. We have seen His glory, hidden beneath word and water and bread and wine. Like Simeon, you can go in God’s peace, just as He has promised.
So there’s Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. And the cross, some 30 years in the future, casts its long shadow over the Temple like a cloud. Simeon says, “This infant is destined to cause the fall and rise of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be rejected.”
Simeon knows that no neutral position can exist with this Child. The middle ground has gone away when it comes to Jesus. You either trust Him with your life and salvation or you don’t. You can’t revise, reshape, or reinvent Him. You can only receive Him as He chooses to come to you—as Savior, Lord, Christ, and Redeemer. You either rise with Him, or you fall without Him.
And so Simeon preaches the cross. For he prophetically sees this child, not lying in a manger, but hanging from a cross. Simeon doesn’t see shepherds kneeling in worship, but Roman soldiers kneeling in mockery. He doesn’t hear a mother lovingly singing to her Son but hears the beatings of brutal torturers.
Simeon’s eyes don’t see the Magi giving the infant King gold, but a crown of thorns encircling His bloodied brow. He doesn’t smell frankincense but embalming spices. He doesn’t see swaddling clothes but a burial shroud. He sees that many in Israel will stumble and fall at this Child, not accepting Him as their glory, but rejecting Him.
So, Simeon prophesies to Mary, “And a sword will pierce your soul.” And that it does: A sword will pierce Mary when a spear pierces her Son’s crucified flesh! St. Luke points to what will take place on the cross. Mary will see her Son crucified. She will experience sorrow and anguish as she weeps at the foot of His cross and watches. Mary will feel the bitter pangs of the cross within her.
In the Temple, Mary learns on her Son’s 40th day that He doesn’t belong to her. He was born to save the world; and to do that, He must die. Simeon’s words echo in her mind: “And a sword will pierce your soul.”
We’re tempted at Christmas time to let the cute and the cuddly take over our celebrations. We use archaic words implanted in our collective memories. We say “manger” and “swaddling clothes,” with sentimental images swirling in our minds. Swaddling clothes were long strips of cloth to bind a baby. A manger was a box, or trough, from which animals ate.
Luke reminds us that redemption is always messy, bloody work. On the eighth day, Jesus went through circumcision, according to Old-Covenant Law, and blood flowed from His wounds. On the 40th day, animal blood in the Temple redeemed Him as a firstborn son. Jesus takes our place under the Law. He frees us, by His blood, from our slavery to sin, from death, and from the power of the Law to condemn.
Like Anna and Simeon at the Temple, God has given us to embrace this Infant of Bethlehem. Like Simeon, God also answers our hope and longing for life in His Son. But God doesn’t give Jesus to us as a 40-day-old infant but, instead, in Word and Sacrament. And having embraced Him, God has prepared us to go, to die, in peace.
To redeem means “to buy back.” At the Temple, Jesus the Redeemer was redeemed, all to redeem you. “But whom did Christ pay?” some may ask. “To whom did He offer His blood? Was it the Father? Or was it the Devil?” The answer is the Law.
Jesus fulfills the Law: actively in His righteous life; passively in His life-bestowing death. And He gives what He did for you as a gift to you in your baptism. His life and death are now yours.
That’s why we praise God for the baby born in Bethlehem, the child destined for the fall and rising of many. Yes, He will fall, stumbling on the road as He carries His cross. But He will also rise on the third day.
So, rejoice! You also have fallen to your knees to receive your Savior in His body and blood. And so, you also will rise on the Last Day to life eternal—all because this child has fulfilled the Law. Praise God into all eternity for His mercy and glory!
So, come all ye faithful people of God. Come, not only to adore Him, Christ the Lord, but even to receive Him as your King, as He comes to you with His salvation! Amen.
