by Fr Gabriel Allan Boyd
Forty days after Christmas, when Jesus was just a forty-day-old baby, Mary and Joseph brought Him to the Temple, according to the custom of Jewish law, as a sign of dedicating Him to God. These two-thousand years later, this event is celebrated as one of the Church’s Twelve Great Feasts (The Presentation of Our Lord and Savior in the Temple)…and it’s good to reflect upon why our Church Fathers thought it was so important for us to commemorate this event yearly. Is there some theme in this event that has significance for those of us who live in twenty-first century America?
In the Kathisma Hymn of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, we sing: “Now the Ancient of Days becomes an infant for me. And the most-pure God now shares purification with me, to show that truly He assumed my flesh from the Virgin. And Symeon was led to know the mystery and recognized as God the One he saw in the flesh. And he embraced and kissed Him as life itself, and he rejoiced as an elder and cried aloud, Let me depart now, for I have seen You, O Lord, the life of all things.”
In the hymn above, there’s an interesting juxtaposition between two realities: the mystery that happens in the scene where Jesus—“the Ancient of Days”—is brought to the Jewish Temple…and the mystery that happens when Jesus—“the Ancient of Days”—is brought to the temple of my soul. So, what does happen…and why?
First, we should begin with what the Church says about Our Lady the Theotokos. The Church Fathers want us to realize that it edifies our lives when we experience all of our twelve great feasts through the eyes of Jesus’ mother, Mary…in her shoes (so to speak). Her meaningful encounters with her Son in various circumstances inform us about our encountering of Him everywhere. Her sense of awe and wonder at the Holy work of the Divine, her obedience to God, and her courageous alliance with Him in bearing His Son forth into the world is especially instructive for how we are to be unified with God. Mary, is the ultimate example of what it means to be a follower of her Son, Jesus. For this reason, we give her a place of honor as the number one saint in the Church…referring to her as the “First Among Equals.”
So how do we experience this feast through the eyes and the heart of the Theotokos? Let’s remember that this feast is happening forty days after Christ’s incarnation. But in the forty days prior to Christmas, we prepared ourselves along with Mary, like a woman in pregnancy, in contemplation of what it means to care for the Christ being formed in us. So, like an expecting mother, we engaged in a practice of spiritual disciplines, changing the things we put into our bodies, feeding ourselves the spiritual food of the divine services and prayer and the contemplation of the scriptures and holy writings. Since, within our hearts the Self-offering One was being newly-formed, we increased our self-offering almsgiving and (in confession) became more mindful of the ways in which we too easily become self-absorbed. And at His Nativity, because of the new ways that our Lord was formed within us during that time, we’ve now begun to bear Him forth anew from our lives, with more joyful enthusiasm. Now, these 40 days after His Nativity, it’s important to remember with Mary that the nurturing and care for that child is of utmost importance.
What did Mary do for the nurturing and care for that Child she bore forth? She brought Him to the Temple as an offering to God; first, to receive the blessing of the temple priest—setting Him apart unto God to be raised according to His purposes…but then afterwards, continuing on, keeping Him in the presence of the temple and synagogue liturgies, having Him engage with the teachers of God’s word, growing in the knowledge and experience of worshipping His Father in Heaven. Saint Luke tells us that “Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Even for our Lord Himself (as a human child) it was necessary for Him to go through a process of maturing…growing in wisdom as He was being exposed to the scriptures in the atmosphere of the temple’s offerings and worship. Mary made sure that He was in an environment that cultivated that in Him.
In the icon of the feast (just as described in the Gospel Reading for the day Luke 2:22-40), we have the Mother of God placing her Son into the arms of the elderly temple priest, Symeon, while nearby stands the elderly prophetess, Anna. Joseph stands just behind Mary, carrying, for her sake, an offering of two turtledoves for the temple according to God’s instructions. His instructions were (Leviticus 12:8) to bring an offering of two doves and a lamb for the forty-day blessing. And that’s exactly what Mary brings…two turtle-doves and her Son, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
Likewise, this feast now encourages us to ensure that the Lord born-forth from our lives continues to be nurtured in the temple—in our Orthodox worship services and the sacramental life of the Church—so that the “Christ in us” can “continue increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” It’s true, we can and should worship anywhere and everywhere…on a trail in the woods; watching the waves on the beach; in our time having recreation with friends; and even through the way we do our jobs…all those things are actually supposed to be done as acts of prayerful, self-offering worship. However, nothing prepares us for life’s struggles like our own purposeful engagement with the liturgical and sacramental life of the Church—bringing ourselves constantly to the temple—welcoming God’s entrance and His presence into our hearts. Nothing else can so unify us with God, other than our participation in this holy work. That’s why I’m constantly encouraging you to get to Divine Liturgy on time each Sunday, so that you can engage with our Lord from the very beginning of our Doxology, when we affirm with the hymn, “Glory be to You who showed the light. Glory in the highest to God. His peace is on earth, His good pleasure in mankind.” That’s why I keep reminding you how important it is to hear and engage-with and internalize the unique hymns of the day at the Small Entrance (when the priest enters the Nave with the Gospel Book). That’s why it so important to be there for the Liturgy of the Word, when the Epistle and Gospel Readings are being read and to hear the related homily after them. Whenever you do these things—being Orthodox on purpose—then, like the elder Symeon, you’re welcoming salvation and light into the temple of your heart. And what’s that light and salvation for? If we regard it selfishly, believing that it’s only for us to keep to ourselves, then we’ve missed the point entirely.
Remember, Symeon didn’t keep Jesus only for his own private salvation. After being blessed by the presence of our Lord, he (and the Temple) gave Christ back to His parents…and through them, to the world…a light to enlighten the nations. Arriving at this Great Feast, are you, like Mary, bringing the Christ in you to be nurtured in the temple? And then, as the temple offers Christ back to you, do you then offer Him to the world? May it be blessed!