Sermon 2-2-25

Pastor Ray Lorthioir

Trinity Lutheran Church

W. Hempstead, NY

Based on the Gospel Lesson for The Purification of Mary and Presentation of Our Lord

Luke 2:22-32

Days of Observance

So, here we are on Sunday, February 2nd. It’s what we call Groundhog Day. I don’t know much about the modern origin of Groundhog Day, but it replaces an ancient pagan festival day called Imbolc Sabbat. This ancient festival is one of four that occur every ninety days, ushering in a new phase of the yearly solar cycle. Indeed, it’s now ninety days from the last festival, Samhein, on October 31st — the one we know as Halloween.

By October 31st, the northern hemisphere has lost most of the daylight it’s going to lose. For the next ninety days we lose the last amount of daylight until solstice on December 21st; then gain the same amount back by February 2nd. During the next ninety day period, ending on April 30th, we’ll rapidly gain back most of the light we’re going to gain. Then on the pagan festival day of Beltane, May 1st, we’ll begin the 90 days in which we gain the last amount of light until solstice on June 21st and then lose the same amount by July 31st. Finally on Lammas Sabbat, August 1st, we again begin to rapidly lose daylight until Samhein. So notice the modern days of observance that still correspond to the ancient pagan festivals: Halloween, Groundhog Day and May Day. The August 1st observance has disappeared.

But, there’s a much bigger reason that February 2nd is important to us Christians. It’s forty days after Christmas. Well, why is that important?, you say. We’ll get to it in a minute. But, first, some other days of observance that revolve around Christmas. March 25th is nine months before Christmas. The Church celebrates that day as the day the angel, Gabriel, came to the virgin Mary and announced to her that she would be the mother of our Lord. The day of observance is called The Annunciation. June 25th is six months before Christmas. The Church celebrates that day as the birthday of John the Baptist. He was conceived six months before Jesus. These days are in accord with the first chapter of Luke.

So, now we get to the days of observance that are in accord with the second chapter of Luke. January 1st is the festival of the Circumcision and Name of Jesus. Why? It’s eight days after Christmas. Here’s what we read in Leviticus 12:1, “1 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 ‘Speak to the people of Israel, saying, If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. . . . 3 And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4 Then she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed.’”

Circumcision is to occur eight days after birth. That’s why the day of observance on January first. Now, add 7 days to 33. And what do you get? Forty days. That’s the day of the mother’s ceremonial purification so that she may enter the temple precincts again. So, if we celebrate Jesus’ birth on December 25th, February 2nd is the 40th day. Thus, we read in Luke 2:22, “And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him [Jesus] up to Jerusalem. . . .” That’s why one part of the name for today is “The Purification of Mary.”

Now, when a woman was purified from the uncleanness of birth, an offering had to be made to the Lord. Here’s what we read in Leviticus 12:6-8, “ ‘6 And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering, 7 and he shall offer it before the LORD and make atonement for her. Then she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, either male or female. 8 And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.’” Keep this in mind.

For there’s more. We read in Exodus 13:13-15, “13. . . ‘Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. 14 And when in time to come your son asks you, “What does this mean?” you shall say to him, “By a strong hand the LORD brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 15 For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the LORD killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the LORD all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.”’”

So, Jesus, being Mary’s firstborn, had to be redeemed — bought back from the Lord. So, what was the price of Jesus’ redemption? We read in Numbers 18:15-16, “15. . . the firstborn of man you shall redeem. . . . 16 And their redemption price (at a month old you shall redeem them) you shall fix at five shekels in silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. . . .”

Of course, a month is thirty days. So at forty days old, Jesus qualified for redemption. Thus, both Mary’s purification and Jesus’ redemption were done together. As we read in Luke 2:22-24, “22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him [Jesus] up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord’) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.’” 

This is why February 2nd — forty days after Christmas — is called “The Purification of Mary and Presentation of Our Lord.” This year the second happens to fall on a Sunday, and that’s why we’re celebrating the day of observance today.

One more thing. The fact that Joseph and Mary offered two turtle doves means that they didn’t have much money at the time. They were still residing in Bethlehem, far from home in Nazareth. And apparently the Magi hadn’t shown up yet. For, the gold, frankincense and myrrh that were offered to Jesus were valuable. A lamb could have been purchased.

Now, if today’s Gospel lesson sounds a bit familiar, it is. The same lesson appeared on Sunday, December 29th, the first Sunday after Christmas. And I preached on it. It’s only because the February 2nd observance day falls on a Sunday that we have the lesson again today. So, I can cheat a bit and serve up again some thoughts from December 29th. Here are some questions I asked at the end of that sermon: Are these events of Jesus’ life real history? Do they make a difference in the world? Do they make a difference in your world?

Let’s note again what the evangelist Luke says at the beginning of his gospel. Luke 1:1-4, “1 Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, 2 just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, 3 it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.”

In the time of Luke, there was a high priest named Theophilus. Luke may have been writing the the gospel for him. But since that name means “God lover,” Luke may have been addressing all God-lovers until the end of time. One thing is for sure, though. Luke is adamant that his narrative is based on eyewitness accounts. And for Jesus’ birth narrative, the only eyewitness possibly left living would have been Mary, His mother. Therefore, Luke either had the privilege of interviewing Mary, or someone to whom Mary had transmitted all the details — including the elaborate song sung by Mary and the equally elaborate song sung by John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah. Both those songs are used in the liturgy of the church to this day. So, because Luke says his gospel is based on eyewitness accounts, we can assume the birth narrative of Jesus contained in his gospel is real history.

Now, why is the information about Mary’s purification and Jesus’ presentation important? Here’s how St. Paul begins his letter to the Romans. Romans 1:1-4, “1  Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God, 2 which he promised beforehand through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, 3 concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh 4 and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord. . . .” 

The key thing here for us is Jesus “descended from David according to the flesh.” This means several things. Jesus of Nazareth was a real human being. Jesus was a Jew by birth. And, He was descended from the famous King David of Israel.

Jesus’ true humanity is most important. A real human being, Adam, plunged this entire creation into death and futility by his sin. The human creature to whom Yahweh had given authority over the future of this creation screwed up. Therefore, only a real human creature to whom Yahweh had given authority over the future of this creation could restore it. A real human being had to rescue this creation from sin, death and the power of the devil by His righteousness. Consequently, Jesus could not have come as God merely masquerading as a human. He had to come as God Incarnate (embodied) in a human body. Therefore, it’s very important for your future and for mine that Jesus was truly human. For Jesus succeeded where Adam had failed. And because Jesus succeeded, you and I have a hope. You and I have an eternal future in righteousness and glory.

And this brings us to the importance of Jesus’ Jewishness. The only nation on earth to which Yahweh has revealed His righteousness is ancient Israel. Yahweh gave Israel His commandments — His righteous Law — by which human beings could attain righteousness through perfect obedience.

It was absolutely important that the Son of God live a perfect life under the Law as given to Moses. Only a perfectly righteous human being can gain any approval from Yahweh. And approval was essential to the mission of the Messiah. Therefore, at this very early stage of His life on earth where He was not in control of the situation, it was most important that Joseph and Mary should fulfill for Jesus the obligations of the Law. It was also important humanly speaking. For Messiah had to be recognized by Israel as a real Jew. And this included being one whose parents had fulfilled the Law for Him at the beginning.

One thing before we move on. The Judaism under which Jesus was raised and lived was not the Judaism of today. Today we have what’s called rabbinic Judaism, which is an invention of the rabbis in the wake of the temple’s destruction in 70A.D. Jesus lived under what is called Second Temple era Judaism, when Yahweh’s temple still stood in Jerusalem. Indeed, it was in the temple precincts that today’s gospel lesson took place. You see, in order for Judaism to be properly observed, there needs to be either a temple or a tabernacle. There also needs to be a priesthood descended from Aaron. There has been neither since the Jewish-Roman war of 66-70A.D.

So, we come to Jesus’ descent from King David. Yahweh made a promise to David in 2Samuel 7:16, “‘And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” Speaking of Messiah this prophecy was also made in Daniel 7:13-14,   “13 ‘I saw in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven there came one like a son of man, and he came to the Ancient of Days and was presented before him. 14 And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.’”

All this means that Messiah is to be the ruler of an eternal kingdom descended from David. Now, we know from the genealogy in Matthew’s gospel that Jesus’ guardian, Joseph, was descended from the kings of Israel. But Joseph isn’t Jesus’ earthly father. No man is. Jesus was conceived and born of a virgin. Therefore, Mary, Jesus’ mother also had to be descended from David. Thus, the assumption we make concerning Jesus’ genealogy found in Luke’s gospel is that it’s Mary’s genealogy. This genealogy also descends from David. However, not down the line of the kings through David’s son, Solomon. Rather, Mary is descended from David’s son, Nathan.

Now we come to an all important question. Why is all this stuff about Jesus important to us? It’s very simple. This life is not the main event in life. I’ll say it again. This life on this earth is NOT the main event in life. Physical death ends it. Eternal resurrected bodily life is the main event.

Even science is being forced to grudgingly admit that physical death here does not end life for human beings. Medical science has made it possible for some people to be resuscitated from clinical death. And among the many thousands the world over who have been resuscitated, a certain number can recount experiences while they were dead. This even included the prominent English atheist philosopher, the late A. J. Ayer. But some have had death experiences that can be corroborated with things here, like being able to remember a serial number on the top of a machine that was used to revive them — something they could not have seen lying on the gurney. The number of these kinds of experiences that can be validated continues to increase. 

For this reason, science is now being forced to admit what Christianity has long taught. Physical death does not end our existence. So, what’s on the other side for us? Jesus taught that there are two options. There’s either glorious, eternal righteous life with Him and Yahweh, bodily resurrected on a new earth under a new heaven — or there’s eternal unrighteous life, bodily resurrected to live totally evil, in evil and without Yahweh in the outer darkness and fire.

The bad news is that only the perfectly righteous can enter eternal righteous life. And that excludes all of us. However, the good news is that there is a special way for sinners to be brought out of their unrighteousness and into eternal righteous life. Jesus said in John 6:40, “. . . ‘this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.’” Peter preached in Acts 2:38-40, “38 . . . ‘Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.’ 40 And with many other words he bore witness and continued to exhort them, saying, ‘Save yourselves from this crooked generation.’” Paul taught in Romans 3:21-25, “21But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it — 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”

As we see from these verses, entry into eternal righteous life with Jesus is possible only through a God-given faith in Jesus that repents of the sins of this life. Jesus is the only way into eternal righteous life because forgiveness of our sins is possible in Him alone. This is the promise that faith grabs onto.

We find this marvelous promise in Psalms 107:9, “For he [Yahweh] satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things.” This means that for those given a longing to be free of their sinful nature and to enter eternal, resurrected righteous life with Jesus, there is a way into that life. It’s forgiveness of sins in Jesus Christ. And to be sure that Jesus is the way into eternal righteous life, we have to be sure that Jesus is the real deal. This is why the gospels were written — so that we could have faith in what the eyewitnesses saw and testify to. And so that we can remember what the eyewitnesses tell us, we celebrate days of observance like the Purification of Mary and Presentation of Our Lord. These things lead to the main event in life. Amen.

All Bible quotes are from the ESV.