Candlemas And How The Service Didn't Go As Planned

Presentation of Christ in the Temple

Story: I came across this interesting snippet the other day on the web for the computer buffs among you.

At a recent computer expo, COMDEX, Bill Gates reportedly compared the computer industry with the car industry and is reputed to have said:,

"If General Motors kept up with technology in the way that Microsoft has, we would all be driving in cars costing $25.00 with a fuel consumption that was 1,000 miles to the gallon."

In response to Bill's comments, General Motors issued a press release stating:

If GM had developed technology like Microsoft, we would all be driving cars with the

following characteristics:

1. For no reason whatsoever, your car would crash twice a day.

2. Every time they repainted the lines in the road, you would have to buy a new car.

3. Occasionally your car would die on the freeway for no reason.

You would then have to

pull over to the side of the road,

close all of the windows,

shut off the car,

restart it and

reopen the windows

before you could continue. For some reason you would simply accept this.

4. Occasionally, executing a manoeuvre, such as a left turn would cause your car to shut down and refuse to restart, in which case you would have to reinstall the engine.

5. Macintosh would make a car that was powered by the sun, was reliable, five times as fast and twice as easy to drive - but would run on only five percent of the roads.

6. The oil, water temperature and alternator warning lights would all be replaced by a single "General Protection Fault" warning light or a "You have performed an illegal operation."

7. The airbag system would ask you, "Are you sure?" before inflating.

8. Occasionally, for no reason whatsoever, your car would lock you out and refuse to let you in until you simultaneously

lifted the door handle,

turned the key and

grabbed hold of the radio antenna.

9. Every time GM introduced a new car, car buyers would have to learn to drive all over again because none of the controls would operate in the same manner as the old car.

10. You'd have to press the "Start" button to turn the engine off.

Today is Candlemas, the day when we celebrate the Presentation of Christ in the Temple.

And like the Microsoft car the Ceremony didn’t quite go the way it was expected to go.

Luke in Chapter 2 of his Gospel mentions three Jewish ceremonies –

i) The Circumcision of Christ,

ii) The Purification of Mary (from which the Book of Common Prayer “Churching of Women after childbirth is based) and

iii) The Presentation of Christ in the Temple.

1. Introduction

I would like to look at the third ceremony today, which was known as “The redemption of the firstborn.”

2Luke 2: 2-23. When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took (Jesus) to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord)"

To understand this ceremony we need a little background.

"The ceremony, consisted of the formal presentation of the child to the priest, accompanied by two short benedictions

? the first one for the law of redemption

? the other for the gift of a firstborn son,

after which the redemption money was paid."

The basis for the ceremony was that, in the Old Testament, the firstborn were "consecrated" or “holy" – which means set aside for God.

The word in the Greek that is translated as "consecrated" (NIV) in Luke 2:23 is hagios, which means "consecrated to the service of God”.

However their service to God was fulfilled by the Levites. In the book of Numbers we read:

"The Lord … said to Moses, 'I have taken the Levites from among the Israelites in place of the first male offspring of every Israelite woman.

The Levites are mine, for all the firstborn are mine.

When I struck down all the firstborn in Egypt, I set apart for myself every firstborn in Israel, whether man or animal. They are to be mine. I am the Lord.' " (Numbers 3:11-13)

However, since the Levites performed all the Temple duties instead of the firstborn, the parents of the firstborn non-Levites were required to pay a redemption fee, which was set at five shekels. (Numbers 3:46-47; 8:16-18; 18:16; See also Exodus 13; 22:28-29; 34:19-20; 18:15-18; Deuteronomy 15:19-20).

Story: The idea of the redemption fee might at first blush seem a bit strange to us in 21st Century Britain.

We don’t have conscription in the UK (yet!), but we do have it in Switzerland.

Every Swiss male, resident in Switzerland- when he reaches the age of 20, is required to join the Swiss military.