THE APPEARANCE OF THE LORD IN HIS TEMPLE

FEAST OF THE PRESENTATION OF THE LORD  

Mal 3:1-4 or Heb 2:14-18; Ps 24:7-10; Lk 2:22-40

The Lord Enters His Holy Temple

The celebration of the feast of our Lord’s Presentation has a twofold meaning for us. The first meaning, which is obvious, is the fact that the baby Jesus Christ was presented in the Temple of Jerusalem. The presentation is in accordance with the stipulations of the Law of Moses, as we read in the Gospel. “When the day came for them to be purified as laid down by the Law of Moses, the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, -observing what stands written in the Law of the Lord: Every first-born male must be consecrated to the Lord—and also to offer in sacrifice, in accordance with what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtledove or two young pigeons.” The Law stipulated the presentation in remembrance of the deliverance the Lord wrought for the people of Israel in the land of Egypt, by which they were delivered from their bondage and constituted a people of God. Because the firstborn sons of the Egyptians were sacrificed to redeem them, God demanded that they consecrate their own sons to him. What would have been the price they were supposed to pay to gain freedom was thereby consecrated to the Lord. The practice was a thanksgiving to God and a reminder that they are a people consecrated to God.

The practice of what is written in the Law of Moses is a reliving of historical facts and at the same time a type of what is to come. The redemption of the people of Israel from Egypt is a historical fact and a type for the redemption of the Christian people from the bondage of sin and evil. This is the second level and the meaning of the celebration. The practice anticipates the coming of the Firstborn of all creation, the Son of Man, whose consecration in the Temple would mark the beginning of the real redemption of the Christian people. Thus, the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple by Mary and Joseph marked the fulfillment of the prophetic aspect of the practice. Since the practice of the Law of Moses embodies Judaism as a religion, the coming of the First-Born of all creation into the Temple ends the practice of Judaism as a religion instituted by God for his worship. The end of the Temple worship at the entrance of the Lord into his Temple is part of the contents of the prophecy of Malachi. “The Lord God says this: Look, I am going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me. And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple; and the angel of the covenant whom you are longing for, yes, he is coming, says the Lord of Hosts.” If the Lord is coming, in which Temple are we to expect him? In the Temple built by human hands or in the Temple constructed by God himself? We expect the Lord in both, for while the latter is built by God, the former was constructed by men under his specific inspiration and instructions.

The appearance of the Lord in his own Temple, the one constructed by God himself, which is accessible to all men, and not only to Israelites, would make the Temple constructed by human hands obsolete. The Temple constructed by human hands is the locus of confirmation of God’s appearance in His own Temple. Simeon the priest and Anna the prophetess, representing the Law and the Prophet, came to witness and confirm the coming of God into his own Temple. Simeon speaks for the fulfilment of both the Law and the Prophet, and Old Testament religion as a whole. “Now, Master, you can let your servant go in peace, just as you promised, because my eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all the nations to see, a light to enlighten the pagans and the glory of your people Israel.” That a new and worldwide religion is subsequently inaugurated is implied. We see this also in the prophecy of Malachi. The entrance of God into his own Temple is to purify and consecrate a new priesthood. This priesthood would be constituted by all peoples and nations; for from them, a new Jerusalem would be constructed, and the people would be the new Judah, as explained by Hebrews.

The mystical sense of this celebration is therefore in the offering of the Eucharist as the offering of the new people and new priesthood. The offering of the new people of God, the Church of Christ, is always acceptable to God. It remains an everlasting offering made by our eternal Priest in the Temple of the living God, which is our bodies set free from sin and evil by his redemptive appearance in human nature. Our bodies, then, are the Temple of the living God, where Jesus offers the eternal sacrifice acceptable to the Father through the Holy Spirit. “Since all the children share the same blood and flesh, Christ too shared equally in it, so that by his death he could take away all the power of the devil, who had power over death, and set free all those who had been held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death.” Let us open the ancient gate of our minds in faith and that of our hearts in love, to admit the Word of God. “O gates, lift high your heads; grow higher, ancient doors. Let him enter, the king of glory!”

Let us pray: Almighty ever-living God, we humbly implore your majesty that, just as your Only Begotten Son was presented on this day in the Temple in the substance of our flesh, so, by your grace, we may be presented to you with minds made pure. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for and ever. Amen.