Mary’s purification teaches us the depravity of our sin. The presentation of Jesus teaches us that he has come to serve God on our behalf and to cleanse us from all sin.
What an odd thing to spend a Sunday considering. The purification of Mary and the presentation of Jesus. The scriptures record this event so it is important for us to study it. John wrote “there were many other things that Jesus did these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”
St. Paul writes to the pastor Timothy “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.”
So my goal for us this morning is to pray the Holy Spirit would give us wisdom to know why in the world we are reading about the Purification of Mary and presentation of Jesus?
Mary’s purification teaches us the depravity of our sin, that we are born sinful and unclean. The presentation of Jesus teaches us that he has come to serve God on our behalf and to cleanse us from all sin.
It’s a weird topic, I get it. A woman gives birth and when a child is born there is lots of blood. According to the Old Testament ritual purity laws the Jewish mother not only had to have her son brought to the temple for circumcision on the eighth day but then forty days after birth a sacrifice is offered on behalf of the mother to make her ritually clean.
You see after a woman gives birth she is considered ritually unclean. She is unclean because of all the blood. Whenever blood was in the wrong place or someone else’s blood touches you, whoever the person who was touched by it was considered unclean and could not be in the temple. Whenever blood is not where it is supposed to be God’s law says this is not right.
That’s what the law of God does it tells us something is not right. If you are one of those people who is squeamish when you see blood you know what I mean. WE aren’t supposed to see blood. We know its there in our bodies and when it’s doing it’s job we are not too worried. But hit an artery and it’s a fountain of all kinds of wrong.
Get hit too hard and you see it in a bruise. A bruise would disqualify a man from entering the temple. The law of God takes no prisoners. Even if your blood was shed or you contracted a disease of no fault of your own God’s law says you need to be cleansed. The ten lepers you remember, they were living outside the town, quarantined like they had Coronavirus. God’s law said, unclean. God does not care if it offends you when his law calls you ritually unclean. God’s law is brutal. The law doesn’t hold any punches. The law is like that television doctor from a couple of years ago, “House MD.” He had no bedside manners. He told you exactly how it is, he didn’t care if it offended you. He may be offensive but he was honest and that meant he knew how to cure you. The law says there is none righteous.
The temple would offend most of us because of the amount of blood and the smell. Police officers, firemen, soldiers, they all say similar things when they find a crime scene with a lot of blood, the smell. I’m told you never forget it. Well the temple, where we find ourselves in our gospel reading today would have PETA in an uproar if they could even stomach the smell to get close enough to see.
The sacrifices date all the way back to the garden of Eden. When Adam and Eve at from the tree they knew they had done evil. They tried to cover themselves with fig leaves. However fig leaves do not have blood, they are not human. Fig leaves were not an acceptable sacrifice to make up for what mankind had done. God found them and made the first sacrifice. Animal skin to cover Adam and Eve’s shame.
Can you imagine the scene? Adam and Eve had not seen shed blood to this point. Then right in front of them God takes an innocent animal – sheds it’s blood. Most of us probably remember the first time we saw death. Now death is regular, but it was never part of God’s creation.
Consider the contrast. Here is the temple of God, the most holy of holy places and it was covered in blood. This the place of sacrifice. Because sin has entered the world that which was glorious is now offensive. Since mankind has rebelled against his Lord by sin, even shedding the blood of one another in anger. Day in and day out, twice a day everyday sacrifices to pay for the sins of the people. The temple was offensive. Sacrifices, blood dripping off the altar running down onto the floor.
It is an intentional scene. It is suppose to be offensive to your sensibilities. When you would think your sin not so bad close your eyes and consider the worst crime scene imaginable and then see your fingerprints everywhere.
When a woman gave birth to a child God’s law said, “You are ritually unclean. You cannot be in the presence of God.” Remember God also said after the fall that because of sin now childbirth is difficult, painful, bloody. This ritual uncleanliness was a temporary thing of course after a sacrifice was made. God demanded a lamb but if the family couldn’t afford a lamb, they offered a pair of doves. This is what Mary and Joseph are doing today. We see they are poor but they still offer the required sacrifice. Mary would now be able to return to life in the temple. But what about the child?
40 days after birth the mother and father would sacrifice for the mother’s uncleanliness. Many think this refers to the forty days and nights that it rained for the Flood when God was cleansing the earth. At this time the non-Levitical family also redeemed, or purchased their first born son from serving God as a priest in the temple. The people paid this redemption price as a remembrance that God redeemed his people from Egypt. The Israelites owed God their firstborn for him rescuing them because they couldn’t rescue themselves. God though gave them a way to purchase their firstborn back, pay five shekels of silver. Purchased from the law, the number five.
Before Luke mentions the completion of the law a man named Simeon comes and says my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared. That’s sacrificial language taking us back to Eden. The first sacrifice God prepared and offered. Now we have a first born, being given by God himself, prepared and now offered. He is without blemish. But you notice that Luke doesn’t mention the five pieces of silver required to purchase the son from priestly service. Luke may be teaching us about the priestly role of Jesus who is also the sacrifice.
This is why our Old Testament reading is from the dedication of Samuel as a priest. Today Jesus is presented but not redeemed from service to God. In fact Jesus will give himself as the price for your sins. The blood you’ve shed of your brothers or sisters by murdering them in your heart. The stench of your sins follows you. But you know we don’t literally smell our sins but if you’re anything like me I can’t stand the stench after an argument with someone.
We can’t smell our sins but to God they are unbearable. So he sent his Son Jesus to be the temple. To be the place where your sins are dealt with. Consider the contrast, the most holy one of God covered in your sins. And this temple Jesus was covered in blood but not your blood but his holy precious and innocent blood. It was our sins that God placed on him and they didn’t bruise him but killed him. He was a stench to his father so you would be forgiven. You are innocent of all crimes.
He who knew no sin became sin for us that we would be the righteousness of God. The crime scenes in your life whitewashed. Jesus was the sacrifice from Eden. The innocent lamb. And you and I and all who believe and are baptized are covered in his innocence.
His blood now has been spilled for you. His blood doesn’t make us unclean but his blood now cleanses us from our sins. The opposite. We drink his sacrificial blood! Strange, yes. Even to some offensive. But God is not incumbered by our sensitivities.
Many are offended by the blood of the Lamb because they think their blood isn’t corrupted by sins. But here the priest and sacrifice cleanses you completely by believing his words, given and shed for you.
Mary’s purification teaches us the depravity of our sin, that we are born sinful and unclean. The presentation of Jesus teaches us that he has come to serve God on our behalf and to cleanse us from all sin.