by The Rev. Todd Jolly
SCRIPTURE READINGS Isaiah 61:10 - 62:3, Luke 2:22 - 40
Transcribed from the sermon preached on DECEMBER 31, 2023
Presentation of the baby Jesus in the Temple
When Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple, thirty-three days after his birth, according to the Levitical code, it was to offer three different sacrifices. One offering was for Mary’s purification, a second was a sin offering, and a third was to consecrate Jesus as holy to the Lord.
Luke describes the first two offerings together. Since Mary had given birth, she needed to bring a lamb to sacrifice for her purification so that she could proceed with normal social interactions and religious ceremonies, that is, to the degree that women were allowed participation. In addition, a sin offering of a pigeon or turtledove was required.
In the case of hardship, a couple could substitute a second turtledove or pigeon for the lamb. When Luke tells us “they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,’” Luke is telling us that Mary and Joseph were a hardship case.
As for the consecration of Jesus, redeeming a first-born son cost five shekels. In other words, a family need not leave their son for the priests in the temple to raise in service to the state religion; the parents could pay a sum equivalent to twenty days’ wages and take their son home to raise him themselves. Tomorrow, the California minimum wage will go up to $16 per hour, so twenty days’ wages would come to $2,560 in today’s market. Not a small sum for you and me, and a small fortune for a couple who already cannot afford a lamb for a sacrifice.
However, there is no mention that Mary and Joseph redeemed Jesus. Perhaps Luke is implying that Jesus continued in service at the temple, even though his parents took him back home and raised him themselves. That is conjecture, and a bit mysterious. But for someone as fascinated with the specifics of Jesus’ life as Luke was, it would seem he might include such a detail, unless he wanted us to ponder this curious aspect of the presentation at the temple.
“Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon…” It is Simeon who utters four of the most famous verses in the New Testament, known as the Nunc Dimittis, the first two words in the Latin translation of the text. “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation…”
And then there is Anna, eighty-four years old at least, and by some accounts over one hundred. She begins “to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”
“You, little child, are God’s salvation, prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”
No pressure, Little One. All who look for the redemption of Israel will now look to you. No pressure.
What does it do to a child to have such expectations thrust upon him, before he can even understand human speech? What does it do to a mother, a father, a couple already facing financial difficulties and a rocky beginning to their marriage?
I have spent quite a bit of time considering what constitutes appropriate expectations for children. I have three biological children and two stepchildren. For four years, I was a single parent. Between my wife and me we have seven grandchildren. I have taught music in public and private schools in New Jersey, New Mexico, and California, and I currently serve on the directing staff of the San Francisco Boys Chorus, where I oversee the training program. I have raised and taught children for many decades. For many years now, I have considered the question of what is fitting to expect of children, and what is not.
Therefore it is my professional opinion that placing the expectation of the redemption of a nation and a religion upon a baby, or a child, or even a teenager, is completely inappropriate and has the potential to be psychologically devastating.
I have been binge watching For All Mankind, a fictional series based on the premise that the U.S.S.R. landed on the moon first. That change in history sends ripples out into future decades as the U.S.A. responds to the shocking challenge to its supremacy in space. As a result of the rivalry between the two nations, we continue to fund NASA, establishing a lunar base and mining operation, and then a manned mission to Mars. Rights for women and people of color accelerate as perspectives change and priorities shift. The series takes the position that challenges are good for society, and that competition can lift us beyond our comfort zone and inspire creativity and innovation. In contrast to so much of what has been sold as best practice in education in recent decades, For All Mankind assumes that creativity and innovation are not always fun and engaging, but rather that they emerge from necessity and threat.
If there is a common thread to the complaints I have received during my career as an educator, it is that I require too much of my students, I push them too hard, I choose material that is beyond their grasp, I raise the bar too high. And for what? Something as frivolous as music?
If we believe that we are not simply readers of scripture, not merely churchgoers gathering on the last day of the year to enjoy a meal together, not that that doesn’t get me here, if we believe that we are members of the Body of Christ, that we are, in the words of the prophet, clothed with the garments of salvation, covered with the robe of righteousness, if we believe that the Lord God will cause righteousness and praise to spring up before all the nations as the earth brings forth its shoots, and as a garden causes what is sown in it to spring up, then we must take to heart the words of Simeon and Anna, as if they were speaking directly to us, because the birth we celebrate is not only that of Jesus, but of the Body of Christ, and therefore our own birth as members of it. The presentation in the temple of the firstborn to God is not only a presentation of the Christ Child, but our own consecration to servanthood.
The bar cannot be set higher: We are to be a light of revelation to Berkeley, to the Bay Area, to California, to the United States. We are God’s salvation, prepared in the presence of all peoples. The idea is preposterous, completely inappropriate, potentially devastating, psychologically speaking. It is beyond our grasp.
Yet, in the crucible of need and peril, creativity and innovation are born. With the prophet I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my whole being shall exult in my God. For the sake of Christ, I will not keep silent. For the sake of humanity I will not rest, until her vindication shines out like the dawn, and her salvation like a burning torch.