By A and K, serving in an East Asian country

22 ‘When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”” Luke 2:22-24

As you read these verses, you may have noticed that three times Luke mentions how Jesus and his family went to Jerusalem to fulfil the ‘Law’. There are two laws mentioned in particular: the law of consecration for Jesus and the law of cleansing for Mary.

Consecration – a reminder of slavery:

In verse 23, Luke tells us that ‘Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord’, quoting Exodus 13. God had saved Israel from slavery in Egypt, and so, as a reminder that they now were no longer slaves to a foreign king, but instead God’s children, they were to consecrate their firstborn sons. They were no longer slaves, but free. However, Joseph and Mary must have felt a certain irony entering Jerusalem, a city now occupied by another foreign king, Caesar. They were slaves again, because of Israel’s rejection of God. Jesus’ consecration was a reminder of the slavery of sin.

Cleansing – a reminder of sin:

Mary and Joseph came also, in verse 24, ‘to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons”’. Here, Luke quotes from Leviticus 12, a chapter that deals with laws for cleansing after childbirth. If you’ve ever witnessed a child being born, you’ll know that it is a very messy business – a miracle of life of course, but a messy miracle! Among other things, there is a lot of blood, and in the Old Testament blood is a reminder of our uncleanness before God. Mary’s temple cleansing was a reminder of the stain of sin.

And so, as Joseph and Mary, like thousands of other families, came to Jerusalem, they were reminded of the slavery and stain of sin. They, like thousands of other families, came for consecration and cleansing. But this time, when this family came, the consecration and the cleansing was different…