Sunday, February 2, 2025

A feast of fulfillment

 Homily: The Presentation of the Lord

          In today’s celebration, we remember the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple in Jerusalem.  The fact that we are celebrating this on a Sunday in Ordinary Time is a “happy coincidence” in that the date of this feast (February 2) lands on a Sunday; and since it is a “feast of the Lord” it takes precedence over the Ordinary Time Sunday in the “hierarchy” of feasts.  This, of course, happens regularly as the days cycle through the week, year after year.  Nonetheless, it happens infrequently enough that it still feels novel each time it happens.  I’m grateful whenever it does so that all of us have a chance to celebrate it together.

          The significance of this event was much greater, perhaps, for the early Christians, especially those Christians who were converts from Judaism.  For them, the presentation of Jesus as an infant in the Temple was much more than a demonstration of Mary and Joseph’s faithfulness to the Law of Moses; it was much more even than a proof that Jesus was a valid descendant of King David.  For the first Christian converts from Judaism, the presentation of Jesus in the Temple was a return: the return of the presence of God to the Temple, which had been without His presence for nearly six hundred years.

          This was important for them because the Temple was not only the place to offer right worship to God, but it was also the place of communion with God—of entering his presence.  When the Israelites were sent into exile in 571 BC and Jerusalem was overthrown, the original Temple that king Solomon built was destroyed and the presence of God left Jerusalem and the Temple mount.  After their return from exile—and even after rebuilding the Temple—the presence of God did not return.  And so, while the Temple still remained the place of right worship of God—the proper place to offer sacrifice and prayers—it was no longer the place of communion with God—of entering his presence.  That is, until Jesus is presented there, 40 days after his birth.

          Today, this significance is not something that we Christians find particularly compelling.  We should, but it’s understandable that we don’t.  With the coming of Jesus—God, made man—and with the sending of the Holy Spirit—who dwells within the baptized—the Temple is no longer necessary for us enter into communion with God—into his presence.  Rather, his presence is available to us at all times and in all places.  Still more, Jesus himself said to the Samaritan woman at the well that, “the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem” and further, “the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth”, indicating that the Temple is no longer necessary to offer right worship to God.  Nonetheless, this feast still has something to tell us. (I mean, I hope so; or else we’re wasting a whole Sunday on it, no?)

          While this feast is truly a “feast of the Lord”, I see it also as a “feast of the Holy Family.  Perhaps, therefore, we can look to them to see what lessons they can teach us in this celebration.  As I consider this, I see three “words” that speak to us: “obedience”, “poverty”, and “apostleship”.  First “obedience”.

          The Scripture tells us that, “When the days were completed for their purification according to the Law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord…”  Mary and Joseph were obedient to the Law of the Lord.  Even though both of them had received special revelation from the angel of God about who this child was, they never saw themselves, or their child, as being above the Law.  Rather, they submitted themselves to it, knowing that if this child was to fulfill God’s plans that it would be through the observance of the Law, not outside of it.

          For us this lesson remains.  Even though Jesus has fulfilled the Law and has opened up the law of grace, by which we have been saved, we nonetheless are beholden to a law: the law of charity—to love God and our neighbor—which we do when we worship God reverently each Sunday—in our appearance, our attentiveness, and our participation at Mass, and in the prayerful rest that we observe as a gift from God—and when we serve others’ needs before our own—especially our neighbors whom we find in need.  Just as with Mary and Joseph, it will only be through our observance of this law of charity that God’s good plan of saving all will be fulfilled.

          Second “poverty”.  The Scripture then goes on to tell us that Mary and Joseph offered “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.”  While true that this was in accordance with the Law of the Lord, the offering of two birds for sacrifice was an accommodation in the Law for those who could not afford to offer a larger animal.  In other words, the offering of two birds was the offering that poor people made.  Again, Mary and Joseph did not look on their poverty and say, “Our offering is so small and meaningless; what difference would it make if we decided not to offer it?”  Rather, they humbled themselves before the Lord to offer what they could afford for the atonement of their first-born Son.  They didn’t feel like they had to prove themselves to God by waiting until they could offer something greater, but rather trusted in God, who understood their poverty, that he would receive their offering graciously.  In this way, they remained in “right relationship” with God: the very thing that the Law was meant to protect.

          Again, the lesson for us remains.  Even though we may be poor in this world, God looks upon our offerings as precious gifts and he is pleased to receive them.  Indeed, no matter how rich we may be in this world, we can never offer anything to God that he couldn’t obtain for himself.  God receives our offerings for our own benefit, not his, [REPEAT] because he knows that these keep us in “right relationship” with him, which is something he greatly desires.  Thus, we should never despise our offering, even if it be poor.  Rather, we should offer it with joyful hearts to our God who delights in receiving it.

          Finally “apostleship”.  This one is specific to Mary.  One of Mary’s greatest marks was that of “Apostle of Jesus”.  In a real way she was the first apostle as she was the first to present Jesus to a people who were waiting for the coming of the Messiah.  First, after Annunciation, she went to her cousin Elizabeth, who rejoiced in the Spirit when Mary, carrying the Incarnate Son of God in her womb, came into her presence.  Now, Mary continues that work as she carries her Son into the Temple and encounters Simeon: the man whom God promised would see the Messiah before he died, and Anna, the prophetess who waited many long years in the Temple, hoping to see the same.  They, too, recognize the Incarnate Son of God in Mary’s hands and they, too, rejoiced in the Spirit that God’s promises to them has been fulfilled.  As an apostle, Mary continually brought Jesus to others.

          This is our mission as disciples of Jesus: to be an apostle and to bring Jesus to those who are seeking salvation: either directly, through the hope of achieving eternal life, or indirectly as they seek answers to the problems and sufferings that they experience in their daily lives.  We bring Jesus when we bring to them our prayer, our accompaniment, our encouragement, and our invitation to come and experience the Lord, himself, present to us here in this place.  Through our apostleship, like Mary’s, many will rejoice in the Spirit for having encountered the one for whom their hearts have longed. ///

          “Obedience”, “poverty”, and “apostleship”: three words that add fullness and dimension to our celebration today.  May the prayers of the Holy Family, sustain us as we seek to embody these words in our own lives.  And may our Lord keep us filled with the light of his grace so that all who seek his light will see it and will come to know the joy that we have come to know and to hope for: the joy of complete fulfillment found in his presence in heaven.

Given at St. Joan of Arc Parish: Kokomo, IN – February 2, 2025

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