We have no idea how badly Adam’s Fall into sin has ruined our world. Oh, we know that death is the result of that Fall into sin. And we realize that sickness, frailty, and aging are also the continuing aftershocks of that cataclysmic event. Yet, we have no comparison to understand from what great depths of perfection we fell. For all we know is our fallen reality. The only lingering echo still within us from the Garden of Eden is a visceral, preexistent feeling that death is somehow wrong.
And so we can never fully understand the depth of the catastrophe that Adam unleashed on the world. From our first parent, we inherit an impure, stained human nature. It’s an inborn bias that skews each of us down the wrong path, which heaps the mountains of sins we commit on top of the inherited sin we already have. If we understood how this inherited sin has warped our nature, we would weep and shudder at our sin, instead of blow it off as if it were nothing.
This inability to understand the depth of our inherited depravity causes us to shake our heads at some of God’s mandated rituals in the Old Covenant. For example, why would Mary, the mother of Jesus, need to go to the Temple to be purified 40 days after giving birth? Giving birth is something beautiful! Children are a blessing from God. Why then should she need to be purified?
It goes all the way back to our Fall into sin. The pain and blood loss a woman endures in childbirth are a result of that Fall, and so testifies to our Fall into sin. God did not originally create women to give birth in pain and to suffer blood loss. Yet, not only did Adam fall into sin, but so did Eve. And so from Eve onward, the blood loss in childbirth is a real-life, pain-filled proclamation that the curse of sin is still with us.
And so Mary, with all the women in the Old Covenant, offered a sacrifice because of the curse of sin they still carried. We heard about that sacrifice in our Old-Testament reading for today. Yet, that sacrifice that Mary brought didn’t just confess our Fall into sin. No, it was a sacrifice also pointing forward to THE sacrifice that would take care of our sin problem, once and for all! So, there is some irony when Mary comes to offer her sacrifice, for in her arms is Jesus, the One who will fulfill the sacrifice that she brings to the Temple.
But more took place than God purifying Mary through the sacrifice she brought to the Temple. Mary also brought her Son to present Him to God. In the Old Covenant, all mothers were to present their firstborn sons to God. That started after God delivered His people from their slavery in Egypt. That’s because the firstborn sons of Israel belonged to the Lord, for He spared their lives from the 10th plague of death to bring His people out of Egypt.
God even told Moses to turn that presentation of the firstborn son into a teaching moment. Through that, they would learn who their God was and who they were as His people. Exodus 13:14-15 reads:
“In the future, when your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ say to him, ‘With a mighty hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the land of slavery. When Pharaoh was too stubborn to let us go, the Lord killed every firstborn male in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of man to the firstborn of livestock. That is why we sacrifice every firstborn male of the womb to the Lord and buy every firstborn son back from the Lord.’”
What we just heard, at first, sounds a bit confusing. But what took place was an exchange. The mother ritually presented her firstborn son back to God. God then would ritually redeem the son, sparing his life, as God first did when delivered His people from the land of Egypt.
And so we find that presentation ritual also pointed forward and back. It pointed back to God’s rescue of Israel’s firstborn sons, whom He had spared. But it also pointed forward to the firstborn Son whom God would not spare, so He might spare and redeem all humanity.
So it was an astounding, earth-shattering, heaven-affecting event when Mary and Joseph walked into the Temple with their baby boy. To ordinary, human eyes, it looked like nothing special was happening. After all, their baby looked like an ordinary Jewish boy, whom they were presenting like all firstborn sons. Yet, by Jesus going through that God-mandated ritual, He was fulfilling the Law for us and our salvation.
Although almost everyone in the Temple just saw an ordinary looking boy going through the presentation ritual, we heard about one man who recognized who Jesus really was. He was an older believer, waiting for the long-promised Messiah his entire life. Through the eyes of faith, he saw the Messiah with his own eyes, when everyone else just saw a baby boy in the arms of His mother.
The Holy Spirit caused the lights to go on for that pious senior citizen, who probably never meant much to the priests and other passersby in the Temple. Through Simeon, this awesome knowledge about the Messiah couldn’t remain secret, even amid the hustle and bustle of the Temple on that seemingly ordinary day. On that day, a meeting, a coming together, took place between God-in-the-flesh, on one hand, and Simeon, on the other.
Simeon, was a faithful man, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, the One who would fulfill the prophecies of the Scriptures. Simeon was there because the Holy Spirit revealed to him that he would not die before he had seen the promised Messiah. And so Simeon waited, and waited, and waited.
And then one day, as Simeon waited at the Temple, he saw the Messiah for which he had yearned. By the Spirit, he then knew what the angels did–that the baby in Mary’s arms was God in the flesh, his salvation and eternal hope, and the end of his sorrow and waiting. He then took Jesus into His arms and then chanted a prayer of praise back to God.
Simeon prayed: “Now, Lord, allow your servant to go in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen Your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples: A light that will reveal salvation to the nations and bring glory to your people Israel.”
You may not realize this, but you’ve stepped into Simeon’s shoes many times. You do that every time you sing his Nunc Dimittis at the end of the Communion liturgy. You sing it with Simeon after you receive the Body and Blood of the promised Messiah. For what you receive in the Lord’s Supper is as genuine a presence as what Simeon held in his arms that day. You pray with Simeon, “Now, Lord, allow your servant to go in peace according to your word.” I can die now, in peace. That’s what it means. Simeon was waiting to die.
Then Simeon spoke, that aged man who spoke with the wisdom of the ages. He said to Mary, “Indeed, this child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be rejected, so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
The cross looms large in Simeon’s words. This child, whom Simeon embraced, of whom the prophets spoke, would be rejected by Israel. His coming would precipitate a crisis of faith and unbelief, of rising to faith in Him or falling in unbelief against Him. Even more, Mary would live to see her Son crucified. She would stand at the foot of the cross and watch her firstborn die. The sword of grief would pierce her soul.
And so we learn that the Child at the Temple was born with blood on His hands. But it was not His blood. It was the blood of our sin, our rebellion against God, our atheism, and our rejection. That cute, 40-day old infant is a warrior destined to do battle with the darkness, the devil and his demons, and with Death itself.
The work of redemption that Simeon prophesies is bloody work. For it isn’t with unbloody gold or silver that God redeems and reconciles us from sin, death, and the Law. That would be a tidy transaction. That’s what we would like–something neat, clean, and tidy. But, instead, it’s Christ’s holy, precious blood, and His innocent suffering and death that redeem us. That was what Simeon saw as Mary beheld her Son on the cross, as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. “And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
The best way for us to keep today’s feast is to realize how much we need purification. The almighty God wants to purify us and admit us into His presence by bringing us together to meet with Jesus, our Lord. Now, the Temple is here, not in Jerusalem. Today, we do not receive Jesus in our arms as Simeon did; instead, we receive Him on our tongues. What Mary carried in her womb and Simeon held in his arms, we receive as we meet our Savior and Lord in Holy Communion.
Today, we receive the Christ-Child in Word and Sacrament. And after receiving Him, like Simeon, we, too, are prepared for whatever the future may hold. For this child of Mary, this baby at the Temple, is our future. He is Israel’s glory, our Light and our Life.
So, come now to receive Him. Come now to receive the One who prepares you for death, all so you may have eternal life. Amen.
