The presentation of Jesus

 The Spirit of God

2/2/25

This week in the Liturgy we are celebrating the presentation of Jesus at the temple following his birth. This trip to the temple in Jerusalem was a significant moment in the life of a young Jewish family. However, this particular presentation, of this child, was more significant than any other. Jesus was not just a newly born child, he was the fulfillment of a promise. The Holy Spirit was the power behind that promise. Today we will look at how the Spirit was at work in the lives of people before Jesus’ birth, and we get a view of how that will change as a result of Jesus’ life.

While we can say this in grand terms, Jesus being the promised Messiah to the Jewish faith, it was also the fulfilment of smaller promises to specific people. Today we are reading from the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2:22-40. While Jesus is present, we are going to focus on some of the other people at the temple that day. And while God was present, in the incarnation of the Word, Jesus, we are going to be talking more about the Holy Spirit today. We are also going to take a closer look at the Old Testament passage for today, Malachi chapter 3:1-4.

I noticed right away when reading the passages for this week that we had just read Malachi 3:1-4 not long ago. It had been one of the Old Testament options on the second Sunday of Advent. In a liturgy designed to expose us to a majority of the scripture over the course of a year, it seems a little odd that this passage was being repeated so soon. I think this passage gives us great insight into the events that happened at the temple that day. 

When I talked about this passage the second week of Advent, I drew a line from the messenger in the passage to John the Baptist. I implied that John came to prepare a way that was described in this passage. This time we are going to take another look at the messenger.  The full passage reads:

Malachi 3:1-4

1See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.

I still believe that reading this passage as a glimpse at the future ministry of John is valid. I think it is also a clear message about the Ministry of the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God is the true, and eternal messenger, sent to all mankind. He has been in the world, preparing the way, since the moment of creation. So today, we are going to step back from a prophetic viewing of this scripture. We are not going to think about who it may have been pointing to in the distant future, but about what it has to say about the Holy Spirit. And then we are going to see how that ties into today’s Gospel reading.

The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, has been the present and moving force in the universe. When God spoke the world into creation Genesis tells us the Spirit was moving over the earth. When God was ready to get Moses' attention he sent the Spirit to appear before him in a burning bush that was not consumed by the fire. A burning fire is also part of the description we have here. The messenger came like a refiner’s fire. A fire with the singular purpose of burning away the dross to produce pure gold or silver. The fire is not to destroy what is valuable, but to refine it. Similarly the Spirit of God does not come to destroy the wicked, but to refine them, if they are willing.

The result of this refining is to make the recipient pure, to prepare then to make offerings to God in righteousness. The sidebar here is that God does not need our offering. He is not sending the refiner to create someone who can make an offering to him, because he needs something. God wants our offering, because God is willing to accept our fellowship. He does not need it, therefore he does not want it, in the way we want things. He will accept it and accept us into his favor, but in order for our offering to be the doorway to fellowship, it must be offered in righteousness. God is not looking to trade his favor for our trinkets. He is offering his fellowship, but only if we seek it wholeheartedly. To do that we must come before Him as best we can. That is the message, and ministry, of the Holy Spirit in the lives of people. He is here to help us prepare to make a sacrifice that is “pleasing to the Lord as in days of old.”

So, what does this have to do with our Gospel passage? After telling us that Mary and Jesus have arrived at the temple for their purification, Luke pauses to tell us about two people they meet on their way in.

First we meet Simeon. Luke tells us straight away, “this man was righteous and devout” and says the Holy Spirit “rested on him.” It does not tell us why Simeon is devout, only that he is. It does tell us that the Holy Spirit rests on him. This is how the Old Testament speaks about the Spirit. He visited, spoke to, and rested on those whom God shared fellowship with. So the Messenger of God has been with Simeon, has prepared him to be righteous, and has even made him a promise. He promised Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. A personal, specific promise that resulted from the fellowship shared between God and Simeon, a fellowship empowered by the Spirit.

As the family approaches Simeon steps out and takes the child. He declares him to be Messiah, and to be the fulfillment of the personal promise of God to Him. He blesses the family and passes Jesus back to his mother and father who were amazed.

While they were still processing this event Anna, a prophet, approached them in much the same way. The passage does not tell us directly the Spirit of God rested on her. However, by calling her a prophet it was certainly implied. Unlike Simeon, who was said to be righteous with no explanation about his life, Luke tells us something about Anna. Anna is an 84 year old woman, who was widowed after just seven years of marriage. That means that likely some time in her 20’s Anna’s husband dies. The passage then tells us that as a widow Anna never left the temple. It says she spent her days and nights in the temple in worship of God through fasting and prayer. Fasting and prayer was a way the Fuller’s soap was used by the messenger in Malachi. 

Both Anna and Simeon had a special relationship, a fellowship, with God. A fellowship that came from their continued offerings, in righteousness, empowered by the Holy Spirit. Not only did they know the Messiah was coming, when Jesus approached the temple, they were certain he had arrived. This certainty, at the sight of a simple babe in arms, can only be through the Spirit of God.

So today we have seen the power and ministry of the Holy Spirit. It informed them. It even rested on Simeon. However this is different from the relationship that Jesus made possible for us. Jesus told us he would send the Spirit to live in us. Through his choice to come down as God Incarnate in the form of man he closed the gap that had formed. No longer did the messenger come just to rest on us and refine us from without– no, he has come to indwell us. We are filled with the Spirit unlike the generations that came before us, because Jesus, the final messenger, has created for us the righteousness that is required to make an offering that creates with God.

We have seen the messenger arrive at the temple. We have heard his message and witnessed the result in the lives of Simeon and Anna. We are invited into fellowship so close with God that he no longer rests upon us, but lives in us. We are called to be the church and walk out that fellowship each day. We have the opportunity to look at ourselves and notice if there are impurities that are impacting our fellowship. But most importantly, we have direct access with the refiner that can take away those impurities and make us worthy of the fellowship.

Thanks for reading.

David

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You can find this week’s reading Here.