This coming Sunday is the Feast of the Holy Family. The gospel is part of the infancy narratives of St. Luke and this week is the story of the “Presentation in the Temple.”  Luke is the one gospel writer who makes his narrative intentions clear from the beginning prologue:

 “Since many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the events that have been fulfilled among us, 2 just as those who were eyewitnesses from the beginning and ministers of the word have handed them down to us, 3 I too have decided, after investigating everything accurately anew, to write it down in an orderly sequence for you, most excellent Theophilus, 4 so that you may realize the certainty of the teachings you have received.” (Luke 1:1-4)

Luke wants to capture the testimonies, the stories, and accounts – all from the earliest of days – and write it all down in “an orderly sequence” so that the good news can be handed on with accuracy and received with certainty.

Luke then begins with the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist to Zechariah and Elizabeth, a couple who were “were righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly” (Luke 1:6) This is followed by Luke’s account of the Annunciation to Mary: “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus” (vv. 25-38). Immediately we hear the narrative of the Visitation when Mary, pregnant with Jesus, and Elizabeth, pregnant with John, meet in the hill country surrounding Jerusalem (Luke 1:39-45). The focus of the story then shifts back to Mary as she proclaims the prayer now known as the Magnificat/Canticle of Mary (vv. 1:46-56). The focus then returns to Elizabeth and Zechariah upon the occasion of the birth of John the Baptist – upon which we hear the Canticle of Zechariah (Benedictus; vv. 57-80).

In the 2nd Chapter, Luke turns his attention and the focus of the narrative to Jesus in the familiar accounts of the Birth of Jesus (Luke 2:1-15), the arrival of the Shepherds (vv. 14- 21), and on the 8th day after the birth, the Circumcision and Naming of Jesus, told simply in a single verse (v. 21). It is at this point our gospel reading begins: “When the days were completed for their purification according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord” (v. 22).

A lot going on

In a matter of two verses (vv.21-22) Luke presents a host of religiously themed action: circumcision, naming, purification, presentation, consecration. He writes as though this was an orderly flow of events of what you would do in the Jewish tradition upon the birth of a child. It seems as such to the modern reader unfamiliar with 1st century Jewish birth traditions – as they perhaps were to Luke, by tradition a gentile convert to Christianity.

The sequence raises several questions for modern Scripture scholars. Why wait until the eighth day to name the child? Zechariah named his son “John” on the day of his birth. Why speak of their purification, when the purity law applied only to Mary? Why relate the presentation (2:22b) to a scriptural text concerned with consecration and redemption? Indeed, why mention the presentation at all? Apart from these questions, Luke’s focus remains clear. He presents Jesus’ family as obedient to the Lord, unquestionably pious.

(1) they circumcise Jesus on the eighth day (Gen 17:9–14; Lev 12:3);

(2) they give the child the name mandated by the Angel Gabriel (Lk 1:31); and

(3) they act according to the law with regard to purity following childbirth (Lev 12),

(4) bringing Jesus to Jerusalem (Exod 13:2, 12, 15) and

(5) offer the sacrifice for Mary’s purification (Lev 12:8).

The Book of Exodus required the presentation and redemption of the first-born son because the first-born sons “belong” to the Lord who saved them when the Egyptian first-born were destroyed at the Passover (Exod 13:15). Leviticus described the ceremony for the ritual purification of the mother forty days after giving birth (Lev 12:1–8). On this occasion she was to offer a lamb and a pigeon or a turtledove, but a poor couple was permitted to bring only two pigeons or doves.

Joel Green [140-141] writes: “In effect, Luke highlights not what they do but why they do it, and the results of their actions: (1) Their piety is disclosed… and (2) the child is called Jesus.. and designated ‘holy.’  Hence, these ‘normal’ occurrences are laden with narrative purpose, redirecting attention to the plan of God, revealing again that Mary and Joseph are willing supporters of God’s aim, and certifying that Jesus will operate from within God’s purpose.”

Image credit: Giotto di Bondone, Presentation of Christ in the Temple | Lower Church in the Basilica of San Francesco, Assisi | PD-US