Luke
2:21-40
Baby Jesus
Is Taken To The Temple By Joseph And
Mary
The Christmas Story
2:21
And when eight days had passed, before His
circumcision, His name was then called Jesus, the
name given by the angel before He was conceived in
the womb.
22 And when the days for
their purification according to the law of Moses
were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to
present Him to the Lord
23 (as it is written in
the Law of the Lord, "EVERY firstborn MALE THAT
OPENS THE WOMB SHALL BE CALLED HOLY TO THE LORD"),
24 and to offer a
sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of
the Lord, "A PAIR OF TURTLEDOVES OR TWO YOUNG
PIGEONS."
25 And there was a man in
Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was
righteous and devout, looking for the consolation
of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
26 And it had been
revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would
not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
27 And he came in the
Spirit into the temple; and when the parents
brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him
the custom of the Law,
28 then he took Him into
his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29 "Now Lord, You are
releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace,
According to Your word; 30 For my eyes have seen
Your salvation, 31Which 32 A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO
THE GENTILES, And the glory of Your people Israel."
33 And His father and
mother were amazed at the things which were being
said about Him.
34 And Simeon blessed them
and said to Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is
appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and for a sign to be opposed--
35 and a sword will pierce
even your own soul--to the end that thoughts from
many hearts may be revealed."
36 And there was a
prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the
tribe of Asher She was advanced in years and had
lived with her husband seven years after her
marriage,
37 and then as a widow to
the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple,
serving night and day with fastings and prayers.
38 At that very moment she
came up and began giving thanks to God, and
continued to speak of Him to all those who were
looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
39 When they had performed
everything according to the Law of the Lord, they
returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth.
40 The Child continued to
grow and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and
the grace of God was upon Him.
-
This
is the Word of the Lord ... It is meant to
change the way that we think, and the way that
we live.
Commentary
by Bob Pardue
The Presentation Of Baby
Jesus
Something that most of us
don't think about is; Jesus was Jewish! His customs
were Jewish, He was a Jew in every aspect of life
including going to the temple, worshiping as a Jew,
obeying the laws of Moses and yes, making
sacrifices to God.
So, we can forget about the
pictures we see of the fair skinned, blue eyed
Jesus or the black Jesus for the African American
culture, or any other conception of what we believe
he looked like. He was Jewish.
With that said, Jesus was
taken on the eighth day to follow the Jewish
ceremonies including being named and circumcised
which sets aside Jews from the Gentiles.
Jesus was also treated as any
other firstborn and presented to God at the age of
one month redeeming or buying the child back from
God by giving an offering.
There were several other
events from Jewish tradition mentioned in which
Jesus and His "family" would have participated. The
main point is that Christ came to live among us, as
one of us -- To live, feel joy, feel pain, and to
die just as we do.
Mary and Joseph carried out
these traditions according to Jewish law even
though Jesus was God's Son.
Being the Son of God, why
would it be necessary for Jesus' earthly parents to
present Him in the way of an ordinary
human?
There is but one answer --
The reason Jesus was born was to fulfill the law,
not to live above it. And He did it without
flaw.
It's interesting to note that
Simeon and Anna both knew exactly who Jesus
was and what He would do.
Simeon called Jesus God's
"salvation" and had never given up on seeing the
Christ before he died.
Will you see the
Christ before you die? Go
to this page to find
out.
-
-
Love in
Christ
- Bob
If you have never made the
commitment to receive the love and life-changing
experience of Jesus Christ, please take a moment to
go
here and take the
first
steps to salvation.
Bob
Pardue is a member of
First Baptist Church in Lancaster, SC. He is
ordained from Rich Hill Baptist in Lancaster. The
website is at http://www.makingchristknown.com
Want
to place this passage and commentary on your
website or e-zine for content?
This article about the
Christmas story and the presentation of baby Jesus
may be freely reprinted or distributed in its
entirety in any e-zine, newsletter, blog, or
website. The author's name, bio, and website links
must remain intact and be included with
every reproduction of this report.
Bob
Verses are from New American Standard
Bible
Comments are welcome. Please email
me with any questions or comments you
may have.
|