To us, living in the 21st century, this may seem harsh and demeaning for Mary. After all, Mary has just given birth to the Messiah. How can she be thought of as unclean? Beyond the whole messiah thing, why should any woman be thought of as unclean after giving birth?
But, when I have talked theologically with Jewish friends, they tell me that these forty days of seclusion are a Godsend, and may just be the beginning of what we now call maternity leave. During these days of seclusion, the new mother was held away from men and their entertainments. She was cared for by other women who were also in their time of unclean confinement. The new mother was in charge of caring for herself and her newborn only and was able to involve herself in the activities of the others as she chose. No, it wasn’t a vacation, but it was a time when normal social pressures were relieved.
At the end of confinement, as required by Mosaic law, the new mother would present herself to the local priest or go to the temple to be purified. She would pay the sacrificial ransom, and, if her child were a first-born boy, present her child. This sacrifice goes all the way back to the first Passover in Egypt, when every first-born male, human and animal, died except for the houses that had the blood of a sheep or goat spread on the door post of the house. The sacrifice would have only been required for the first-born, male child, and, as such, Jesus’ other brothers and sisters would not have had this presentation done for them.
Oddly enough, Christians still recognize this 40th day after the birth of Jesus. On the liturgical calendar it is known as Candlemas. In many churches, people on this day bring candles to worship and light them from the Christ candle during worship. They then take this flame from the Christ candle home with them to bless and sanctify their homes for God’s work in the coming year. This was common practice for almost 1500 years until the Reformation came along and this day of reverence was excluded from many faith traditions.
The end of this forty-day period after Christmas, February 2nd, marks the halfway point between Winter solstice and the Spring equinox, when the lengthening days can be markedly appreciated. Fortunately, Punxsutawney Phil and Jimmy the Groundhog thought that forty days after Christmas was a good time to crawl out of their holes to check out the weather. So, although we do not usually celebrate Candlemas, as Lutherans here in the United States and Canada, we do get to celebrate Groundhog’s Day.
So here we are really out of place in time, observing the 40th day after Jesus’ birth, when the days of cabin fever are about to end, ready for a wonderful time of celebration. What better way to celebrate than with the presentation of Christ and Mary’s purification. In Simeon’s words, one can almost feel the death of winter and the dawning promise of the new ways of living in Christ. Indeed, there seems to be a real need to celebrate something.
Whether we have the day right, or even the month right, this text is for us a time of transition from what was to what is going to be. This day marks a time of transition for us as we move from one year to the next, and it shows us how others have dealt with changing times as we live through our days of change. Indeed, this text raises some real changes.
First, Simeon enters into the temple at the time of the presentation. He takes Jesus in his arms and makes this amazing statement of who Jesus is: the salvation of the world for all nations and the glory of God’s people, Israel. Then, just when all is well, Simeon blesses Mary with words of struggle and spiritual torment: her child will be the cause of the falling and rising of many; people will oppose him; their inner thoughts will be revealed; and Mary’s heart will be pierced with the sword of sorrow.
With these words, our understanding of who this child is, this messiah, the Christ, who is the salvation of the world, is turned upside down. This salvation will not be an easy thing. Salvation will be the cause of struggle and pain, of falling into the depths of death and being raised up into new ways of living; it will be a time of discomfort and delight, repentance and redemption.
If that is not enough, Anna enters and begins to talk about the glory of the one who will redeem Jerusalem. Again, for our 21st century world, this doesn’t seem to be such a big deal, but, while there is a long tradition of women as prophets in the Old Testament, this is the first public proclamation of the Gospel made by a woman in the New Testament.
This unusual woman is one of the models of women in God’s service and has been used as an example for the ordination of women in the Church today. Women were welcomed into the public ministry of the ALC and LCA Lutheran churches in 1970. Some other denominations made that decision earlier, and some have made that decision later. More conservative Lutheran churches and the Roman Catholic church continue to wrestle with this question, but, for us in the ELCA today, this question of public proclamation begins with these words of Anna.
This text is also one of several pondering texts Mary has received. Elizabeth, when Mary came to visit while pregnant, was the first person to recognize the beginnings of change. The angel from heaven and the choir of angels have announced Jesus’ birth to the shepherds, and the shepherds have come to tell Mary and Joseph what they have heard. Now Simeon declares Jesus as the savior, and Anna amplifies the message. She praises God and speaks “about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”
If this were your child, wouldn’t you be just a little shocked? We, with Mary, are called upon to ponder the meaning of this child’s life—to consider what it means to us and how the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus affects what we say and do today. With Mary and Joseph, we marvel or are astounded at what is happening.
Into this time of transitioning change, where God demonstrates God’s intent for all of humanity to be saved and the proclamation of the word is not reserved only for men, comes the last layer of meaning for us. How does the life of this child change the way we know and worship God?
One of my professors always started his class with a poem. Some of them were nice nature poems; some were challenging image poems; and some really hit me in the midst of my pondering heart. As we consider all that is going on in this passage today—of naming and circumcision, presentation and purification; of who has the authority to publicly proclaim God’s good news to the world—I want to share with you one poem that particularly struck me.
Did the Woman Say?
Frances Croake Frank
Did the woman say,
When she held him for the first time in the dark of a stable,
After the pain and the bleeding and the crying,
‘This is my body, this is my blood’?
Did the woman say,
When she held him for the last time in the dark rain on a hilltop,
After the pain and the bleeding and the dying,
‘This is my body, this is my blood’?
Well that she said it to him then,
For dry old men,
brocaded robes belying barrenness
Ordain that she not say it for him now.*
There is much to be pondered in the words we have heard both today and in the past weeks, of who this Jesus is and who the Gospel claims him to be. He is the one who continues to carry us forward, to instruct us, to heal us, to model for us the ways of God’s intentions for the salvation of the world. May we also ponder those words Mary pondered as we come forward and again hear, “This is my body. This is my blood.”
* From the essay Mary, the Virgin Priest? by Dr. Tina Beattie, on the website Women Priests - the Case for Ordaining Women in the Roman Catholic Church
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