Jesus & the Temple

Hans A. Holbein c.1500

The Feast of the Presentation for Christians was really a Jewish custom.  The first born male, the first fruits of the family, was take to the temple and a sacrifice was made in thanksgiving for his birth--and to purify the mother after the rite of Moses.  The bottom line?  God blessed the whole family through its first fruits--the first born son.  But the Christian ceremony of the Presentation, celebrated on Sunday as the principal feast when it occurs then--turns the ancient tradition on its head.  Now, God blesses everyone through Jesus, his first born son.  The old law has become transformed for Christians into the means of grace.

But mark these words!  Jesus will return over and over to the temple and each time conflict breaks out because he will not be accepted for what is worship--as the revelation of God.  Soon, he will turn the tables of the money changers over--and that will lead to his death...and we quickly add, his resurrection through which people of all ages are blessed with the gift of his life. 

Some have pointed out this observation--the two woman in the back left appear to be pregnant, a sign of grace passed on through the human race....the expectancy of Emanuel, God always with us and saying "yes" with the birth of each child.