Feast of the Presentation of the Lord – Year C
February 2, 2025 – 10:30 AM
Saint Cecilia Catholic Community, Palm Springs, CA
Sadrac Camacho
Malachi 3:1-4 | Psalm 24:7, 8, 9, 10
Hebrews 2:14-18 | Luke 2:22-40
+In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, AMEN.
It’s Christmas. Well–kind of. 40 days after Christmas. Today’s liturgical feast of the Presentation of the Lord wraps up the Christmas story, 40 days after the fact, at least as far as the Gospel of Luke is concerned. In this feast of the Presentation of the Lord, we celebrate the moment when the Holy Family–the Baby Jesus and the Virgin Mary and St. Joseph her spouse—present the Holy Child to the Temple in Jerusalem as prescribed by Jewish Custom and Mosaic law. Turning to Leviticus 12, you can see the very basis for the completion of this ritual. There you’ll find that a woman who gives birth to a son is “ceremonially unclean for seven days,” that the child is to be circumcised on the eighth day, and that only after the 40th day is she finally “pure” enough to touch “anything sacred or go to the sanctuary.” Now, instantly, there are probably some alarm bells going off. Is there not something incongruous with us thinking of the Mother of God, the New Ark of the Covenant, the New Eve–the Virgin Mary–as somehow being made unclean in the process of carrying and birthing our Lord, our Redeemer, the Son of God, God Incarnate, Jesus Christ? Yes. Yes, there is. That is incompatible, and it is incompatible because it conflates, blurs and muddles, what is actually going on in the narrative provided by St. Luke.
For many of our Protestant brothers and sisters, the completion of this very ritual indicates the ordinariness of that woman who we regard as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. And really such a logical leap is not so far-fetched. After all, what is one to make of the fact that Mary took the steps of making herself “ritually pure,” if not that she was actually a sinner no different than us? Well, here, I’d like to appeal to something quite admirable about many of our Protestant brothers and sisters. They often preach about a personal relationship with Jesus. We are told to walk with him, to know him, to love him, to understand that he is not some distant ruler, to internalize that he calls us and speaks to us in the most intimate of ways and that because of that we are able to forgive, heal, and transform. Taking a page from that book, I am empowered to know who Jesus was, historically, and who he is. And understanding that, personally knowing Jesus, allows me to likewise ascertain that this is a narrative about our Jewish Messiah and his Jewish Holy Family. It allows me to see that the Holy Child was born to a loving Jewish mother in Bethlehem and that now, in Jerusalem, that Jewish family was going to follow Jewish customs. Indeed, using the Presentation as a way of demoting Mary misses the point that she was a Jewish woman and she was going to live as the women of her time and culture lived and that simply engaging in such customs is not an invitation to strip her of her titles.
Think back to just a few weeks ago when we celebrated the Baptism of the Lord. We understood then, as we do now, that our Lord is perfect and sinless. That unlike us, his Baptism with Water and the Spirit did not wash away any sin. That instead, he inaugurated for us a beautiful Sacrament to draw the whole of his people into one Body. I see the Presentation of the Lord as no different. The Presentation of the Lord is not a marker of Mary’s uncleanliness or sinfulness or anything of the sort; it is an inauguration. The Mother of God brings the Holy Child as salvation to the world. She brings the Son of God, God Incarnate, to the Temple–to the House of God. And in doing so, this woman who had been chosen to bear this child now brings him to the world to save all who might listen and believe and follow him, just as prophesied. Indeed, if you take a look at our First Reading from Malachi you’ll see that the people of God were anticipating what had been foretold, that “suddenly there [would] come to the temple the LORD whom you seek… the Lord of Hosts” was coming to “purify the sons of Levi,” such that the “sacrifice of Judah and Jerusalem [would] please the LORD.” But there’s a twist. The words of the Roman Missal tell us the Lord “outwardly was fulfilling the Law, but in reality he was coming to meet his believing people.” That, in fact, in this Jewish Custom, this noble, humble, not-wealthy Jewish family, who could not afford a lamb for sacrifice, and their Holy Child, were bringing salvation not only to “purify the sons of Levi,” not only to redeem the People of Israel but to bring salvation to the whole world.
And, really, that theme–the universality of what Jesus had come to do–jumps right off the page of today’s Gospel reading. You see tender age and old age. You see man and woman. You see the promise given to both Gentiles and Jews. No person is made an outcast before the Lord. Nobody. Before he can even utter a word, everyone has been invited in this inauguration of our salvation to come before him and rejoice in his promise. This narrative includes everyone. I am in the words of this text. So are you.
When the elderly Simeon finally sees the Holy Child, the Baby Jesus, he recognizes him as “a light for revelation” for the people of God, echoing those very words in Matthew describing Christ as the “the light of the world;” here you are mentioned in every way but name. Because either old or young, we are presented before Jesus Christ to make a choice. The Virgin Mary comes as a “sword [that] will pierce so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.” And what will the thoughts of our hearts be now that we have seen the Lord’s light? Will we use that light as a way to guide us into lovingkindness and goodwill and into loving God with all our hearts, minds, and souls? Will it empower us, whether 10 years old or 90 years old, to serve him every single day of our lives? Or, will the Blessed Virgin instead, with her sword, reveal our apathy, our self-deceit, our hypocrisy, our false love for Christ only in name but not deed?
And then Anna, a prophetess and widow of 84 years, who had never left the temple since the loss of her husband, likewise came before the Lord and “gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption.” Think about it; this woman was 84. This was before modern medicine and advances in the medical care of the elderly. It was probably quite difficult to be that age at the time, and this woman, of an age that was anomalous, who was likely in some capacity frail, was certainly not weak. Because despite her advanced age, she took time to thank God and then spread the message to everyone she could about the coming salvatory redemption that could be found in Christ our Lord. Here again, the Blessed Virgin comes as a sword to reveal the thoughts of our heart, which however painfully we might attempt to hide, will come to be revealed. And as is she uncovers the reality of what we think, a question is prompted. What have you done to serve the Lord? Do you think you have nothing to offer? Anna was 84, yet she offered everything. She surrendered herself completely, Do you think it is better not to talk to Him, to walk with Him, to know Him? Everyone is able to serve God. Everyone. Everything. Even in nature, in its beautiful harmony, in the falling of leaves and the rain, do I see love and service for God. And so everyone is empowered to follow that Light and be that Light themselves.
So the question is, how will you, a Protagonist in today’s Gospel reading, serve God today? Amen.