(Homily for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord)
Today we not only celebrate the Day of the Lord, we equally celebrate
the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple. The Gospel of this
Feast is greatly inspired by the Lucan narrative of Mary and Joseph going to
the temple with the infant Jesus in order to fulfil their obligation as
prescribed by the Law of Moses. Indeed, at the heart of this feast is the
presentation and manifestation of the true identity of the Child Jesus and the
family background of the Holy Family. Moreover, over the years the feast of the
presentation of the Lord has received three different captions drawn from the
different aspects of the Gospel periscope. First, the feast in question was
celebrated in some countries as the Feast
of Purification, as such linking it with the Blessed Virgin Mary, who
though immaculate was not bound to make an offering for purification, but she
does that in humility. The Immaculate Virgin carried out the ritual
purification of new mothers on the fortieth day after delivering a son. Second,
the feast is officially recognized as the Feast
of the Presentation, as such, as the fulfilment of the prophecy of Malachi
in the first reading: “suddenly there will come to the temple the LORD whom you
seek, and the messenger of the covenant whom you desire” (Mal.3:1). Third, the feast is also called Candlemas owing to the liturgical tradition of blessing and
processing with candles to the Church. This was equally inspired by the
declaration of Simeon that the Child Jesus would be a light for the revelation
of Israel. The Feast of today is indeed beaming with significant, and no doubt
we need to identify and interiorize the import of this Feast in our lives today
as Christians of the 21st century.
The first reading (Mal. 3:1-4) presents
the people of Israel in an expectant situation. Malachi lived in a very
difficult period, about 450 years before the coming of Christ, the holy people
were living a licentious life, abandoning the practice of justice and love, the
poor were exploited, and nobody expected God to keep His promise. This
discouraging situation made people to have the opinion that there is no
difference between the good and the bad people. And behold the Lord’s reply to
this, is a solemn promise “Lo, i am sending my messenger to prepare the way
before me” and he continues, after the coming of this Messenger another
mysterious person will appear, who will be called ‘the Lord’, He ‘will come to
the temple’. (Simon saw the realization of this promise in the gospel). What will He do? We are told that he will
purify the religion of Israel, he will be like the refiner’s fire. The
coming of Jesus fulfils this prophecy. Jesus
is thus presented as the Purifier by prophet Malachi. He entered the temple
to purify it. Today, also our religious
practices need purification. We have not allowed the Lord to enter with his
fire. Many a times a look into what is happening in our society today, even
amongst us Christians, reveals the need for us to allow the Lord to enter into
the inner recesses of our being.
The second reading (Heb. 2:14-18)
narrates how Jesus stooped low to become like us, not only that, but also
accepting death in order to set us free. He accepted death in order to “destroy
him who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who
through fear of death were subject to lifelong bondage” (vv. 14b-15). The sacred
author in the second reading presented Jesus as the Destroyer of the devil and
the High Priest. For those of us that have been to the hospital, certainly
we must have met two types of doctors, those that are indifferent to our
problems pains, and those that really feel for us and encourage us. Our Lord
Jesus is like this good and caring doctor. He
did not stay in heaven to point to us the way to freedom from on high.
Rather he became one of us and experienced human anguish and suffering. Indeed,
“the sufferings he himself passed through while being put to the test enables
him to help others when they are being put to the test” (v.18).
In the Gospel (Lk. 2:22-40)
the theme of Israel awaiting the realization of the ancient prophecy
resurfaces. Israel was looking forward to the fulfilment of the prophecy of
Malachi that we read in the first reading. Israel
was expecting from their God a powerful sign, a strong force to destroy their
enemies, but behold surprise, only a weak and frail child. They would have
loved to see fire burning their enemies, instead Simeon proclaims this child
the ‘light’ that will enlighten all peoples, for both the righteous and the
wicked. The gesture of Simeon is replete with meaning, showing the child to
the world reveals that he is not only for the Israelites but for all nations. The
Mosaic Law prescribes that forty days after birth of the first son, the parents
will go to the temple in Jerusalem to present or offer their first son to the
Lord and for the ritual purification of the mother. In any case, the parents of
Jesus went through this prescription. But
it was not a ritual like the other times. In the other times men used to
present their sons to the Lord, as a sign of offering and belongingness; this time around, it is God that presented
his Son to men. God does it, by speaking through old Simeon and prophetess
Anna (Simeon and Anna represent all the faithful Jews who longed to see the
Messiah and the redemption of Israel). Simeon
presented him to the world as salvation offered to the whole world, as a light
that will enlighten all peoples, but also as a sign of contradiction, as
the one who will expose the secret thoughts of many.
Another interesting fact is that in the Jewish tradition only women go
for purification (cf. Lev. 12:1-4), but in our passage today, the whole family
went, that portrays the unity and love that characterize the Holy family. The
Virgin Mary accepted to undergo the rite of purification not because she was
unclean but as a demonstration of humility to the law. Jesus participates in the rite of purification in order to purify
humanity. Even though, he was pure, he accompanied us to where the Lord will
make us pure. He entered the impure temple of his time, to make it pure. Today,
let us allow Him to enter into our lives in order to make us pure.
Upon proper reflection on today’s gospel, one could easily make a number
of considerations, but we would like to divide the passage into four parts thus:
●The first part (vv. 22-24) describes the
presentation of Jesus in temple. Jewish law prescribed that all first born
of man and animal be offered to the Lord (cf.
Ex 13:1-6) and again the male that opened the womb is to presented to the
priest and be ransomed by the payment of five shekels (cf. Num. 18:16), for children could not be sacrificed so they were
ransomed. The parents were to bring to the priest an animal without blemish in
place of the child (rich families offer lamb, poor families offer pigeons). The
parents of Jesus kept the law, his was a
poor family and so they offered two pigeons. This serves as a good example
for parents, Joseph and Mary did not do more than their means, they did not offer lamb because others were
offering lamb, and instead they recognized and accepted their poverty
irrespective of so many things that have been said about this Divine Child.
Parents should learn this virtue of making effort to live within one’s income.
What people may say should not condition us in being who we are and living
according to our pocket. This could be a
wonderful Christian education in our families today. ●The second part (vv. 25-35) is the heart of today’s
gospel. Therein we see the gesture of
the old man Simeon full of meaning: he takes the child from the arms of the
parents and presents him to the whole world. Simeon is the symbol of the people
of Israel who for centuries have been expecting the Messiah. An exemplary old
man, he was righteous and devout. Later he made the second prophecy that the
child would be a sign of contradiction and indeed his prophecy portrays Mary as
a true symbol of Israel. He revealed the destiny of suffering awaiting Mary.
●The third part (vv. 36-38) presents another elderly person, a
prophetess: Anna. She was 84 years old (this figure is the product of 7x12:
7 means perfection while 12 stands for the people of Israel). Anna was a devout
widow, in the words of the evangelist she “never left the Temple, serving God
night and day with fasting and praying” (v.37).
Anna stands for us as model of a
faithful Christian who remains firm in God no matter the storms that come her
way. She was also faithful to the husband, as she refused to remarry after
the husband’s death. She stands as a
symbol of Israel who after fulfilling his mission waits for the coming of the
Messiah. ●The fourth part (vv.
39-40) ends with the return of the holy family to Nazareth and with the
remark of the growth of Jesus in age and wisdom. Already Simeon revealed the
future of this child, and for its realization wisdom and God’s favour were
bestowed on him. The revelation of Jesus
as a sign of contradiction was the beginning of the suffering of Mary and the
doors of an experience that will culminate on the Cross was opened.
Going back to history lane, in connection with this Gospel periscope
early enough in the Orthodox Catholic Church a feast called Hypapantè
was introduced, that is encounter. And in the IV century, it was extended to
the Roman Catholic Church, and here it was enriched with a penitential
procession. And later on, the rite of blessing of candles was introduced, it
was perceived as a feast of light popularly known as Candelora. The candles
serve as an expression with a visible sign, of the faith in Jesus Christ as the
“light of the world”. As a matter of fact, in order to bring out the
significance of this great feast, we would like to make reference to the two
names given to the feast by the Orthodox Catholics and the Roman Catholics: hypapantè and candelora: that is feast of encounter and feast of light
respectively.
First, the encounter of Jesus with Simon and Anna in the temple of
Jerusalem appeared to be the symbol of a more great and universal reality: The
encounter of Humanity with its Lord in the Church. In the first reading we
listened to the words of prophet Malachi, who preannounced this encounter.
“Behold I send my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you
seek will suddenly come to his temple”. In the temple Simeon recognized the
long awaited Messiah, Jesus and he proclaimed him the Savior and Light of the
world. He understood that from that
moment onward, the destiny of every man is decided based on one’s attitude
towards Him; “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in
Israel”. In the words of John the Baptist: “His winnowing fan is in his hand;
he will clear his threshing floor and gather his wheat into his barn; but the
chaff he will burn in a fire that will never go out” (Mt. 3:12).
This episode is repeated in a
different level, even today, in the new temple of God, which is the Church,
where men and women encounter Christ, they learn how to recognize Him, they receive Him in the Eucharist, like
Simeon who took Him in his arms, his words becomes for them light and his body
strength and nourishment. We make live this experience each time the Holy
Eucharist is celebrated. Indeed, at the beginning of our celebration, the
faithful together with the priest entered the Church with lighted candles and
songs, as a sign of going to encounter Jesus, who is calling us in his Church, with the hope of going to meet Him one day
in the Eternal Encounter, when we
will be presented by Him to the Father. The feast we are celebrating today is
no doubt a moment of an encounter between God and man, but also a call to
prepare for our own presentation before God.
Second, with regards to the second name given to this feast, as a feast
of light, it signifies that truly Christ
is the Light of the world. The candle above everything else remains the
symbol of Christ. Be that as it may, the candle light of today brings to our
consciousness; the mystery of God made flesh, the true light of salvation. St
John captured it in a glaring manner when he affirms thus: “The Word was the
real light that gives light to everyone” (Jn.
1:9). At the second level, it
entails that we have to be light of the world as well. For “no one lights a
lamp and puts it in some hidden place or under a tub” (Lk. 11:33, Mt. 5:15), likewise Christ did not light our lamps at
Baptism in order for us to hide it, but for us to give light to those around
us. Let us reflect a bit on our own light, what has happened to our light? What
has happened to that candle that Christ lighted on the day of our Baptism? Who
has been able to maintain the light? Christ says “I have come to bring fire to
the earth” (Lk. 12:49), He was not talking about a material fire
that burns and destroys, but a fire that warms: that is Love. His life was
a flame of this fire, but men allow him to blaze a little, little wonder, he
desires to entrust this light to his disciples so that men will not be ignorant
of this light. The light he has entrusted to us is found in the precept of
love: Love one another”, “love your enemies”. This indeed is the light we have
to carry in a renewed manner with us, every time from the Church, in order to
enlighten those around us and those we encounter in the course of our day. We are thus invited to radiate and
enlighten others with the fire of love, thereby burning every form of hatred
and injustice.
In conclusion, the Feast of today
calls to mind the efficacy of God’s word, for God will never fail to fulfil his
words and promises. It reminds us that observance of the law is important
in our relationship with God and the models of Simeon and Anna are existential
invitations to us to be steadfast and patient in waiting for God’s promises. We
need to ask ourselves: what is the import of this feast for us today? We need
to rediscover and recognize Christ as the Light of the world, the light that
dispels every form of darkness and the light that inflames us to radiate love
and goodness. As we celebrate the Feast of the Lord’s Presentation we pray that
we may continue to radiate the light of Christ and allow the rays from Jesus
the light to radiate in every corner of our hearts and in every corner of our
world. Amen!!!
(Fr.
Vitus M.C. Unegbu, SC)
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