the parents of Jesus took him up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord
All of the firstborn of Israel, of man and beast, belonged in a special way to the Lord. This fact recalled how the firstborn were spared from the angel of death when God delivered Israel from Egypt. Looking back we recognize that this deliverance from Egypt was a foreshadowing of a deeper deliver from idolatry and sin. For our part, to be safe from the angel of death, we would need the blood of the lamb on the lintels of our hearts, just as did the ancient Israelites. All the firstborn before Jesus were offered with this debt to the redeemer in view. And we who have come after must still offer our lives back to the one who paid the debt for us.
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and to offer the sacrifice of
a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.
The first and the best of everything we are given must be given back to God. Although Jesus himself did not stand in need of redemption he nevertheless already chose to be identified with his people even in these early years, and would continue to do so throughout his life. He was circumcised, presented to the Lord, baptized, and ultimately even died for us, the sinless one in full solidarity with we sinners. Already in the Presentation we began to see in Jesus the paying of a price that we could never pay. He himself was in no way under the power of sin and death and in need of redemption. Only he was truly free to be fully, totally, and utterly consecrated to the Lord. This offering of the firstborn to the Lord had heretofore been a reminder of a debt unpaid, and a foreshadowing and a hope of the time when it would be paid. But in Jesus a worthy offering had at last been found.
And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts (see Malachi 3:1).
If only we could learn to welcome Jesus into the temples of our hearts in the way that Simeon welcomed him. In his eyes, the coming of the Messiah to the temple was the completion of his whole life and mission, the dawn of salvation which gave meaning to his entire life.
Lord, now let your servant go in peace;
your word has been fulfilled:
my own eyes have seen the salvation
which you prepared in the sight of every people,
a light to reveal you to the nations
and the glory of your people Israel.
This may have been something of a reversal of the situation with Hannah, Samuel, and Eli. For Eli received and trained the offering of Samuel. We seem to see a hint that with the coming of Jesus the time of the priority of the temple was already beginning to come to a conclusion. Instead of taking Jesus to live in the temple to benefit from those institutions and structures of religion Simeon rather witnessed the role of the temple was now superseded by the one who would teach us to worship in Spirit and in truth (see John 4:24). In a sense Simeon represented the whole economy of the temple pointing beyond itself to Jesus. It would now be our relationship with Jesus himself that would define our standing with the God of Israel.
Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
Jesus came to offer what we could not. But in doing so he loved us with a love that empowered us to respond in the way God always intended.
Beloved, I am writing no new commandment to you
but an old commandment that you had from the beginning.
It was an old commandment in that it had been written so early in the history of salvation. It was a new commandment in that grace and truth had been given through Jesus Christ (see John 1:17) that enabled it to be kept and honored. The difference, as John indicates, was night and day.
And yet I do write a new commandment to you,
which holds true in him and among you,
for the darkness is passing away,
and the true light is already shining.
We are still frighteningly free to choose to slide back into the darkness. But may we instead embrace the light of which John wrote, the salvation prepared in our sight, the glory that filled the life of Simeon with meaning.
Sing to the LORD a new song;
sing to the LORD, all you lands.
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