Luke 2: 22-40; Blood and the Presentation at the Temple

This little exercise of posting thoughts on the reading for the day has helped me to understand the liturgical calendar more and more.

For the past few days, the Gospel readings have walked through the early chapters of Mark and then suddenly, today, the reading is about the presentation at the temple. So a grown-up Jesus is suddenly a baby again.

But of course the reason that's celebrated today (breaking momentum as it were) is because it's the 40th day since Jesus' birth and this was the time prescribed for the sacrifice of a lamb and a dove or two turtledoves (so that's where it came from!) which symbolized the consecration of the firstborn son and the purification of Mary after forty days of not being able to touch anything sacred.

Seen in the light of this sacrifice of turtledoves and Mary's purification, I can't help but think that there was a lot of blood involved in this little story. Right before this was a single line on Jesus' circumcision which happens on the 8th day after a boy's birth. (I learned that there used to be a Feast of the Circumcision and the Holy Name of Jesus on January 1 but that was changed to the Solemnity of Mary in 1969.) Circumcision involves blood and symbolizes the renewal of God's covenant with his people.

The birth of Jesus involved a lot of blood as all births do. And that blood required Mary to go through a purification period of 40 days and she was not allowed to touch anything sacred. Ironically, she was touching the most sacred thing that could be touched- God himself which just goes to show that God came to (touch and) be touched, and rules of exclusion are set aside.

Then there is the sacrifice of the turtledoves. The turtledoves are offered by the priest to make atonement for the woman who gave birth. In one entry in the internet, a claim is made that the blood of the turtledoves are spread on the sides of the altar of the sacrificial lamb.

All this serves as a preview to the crucifixion, the climax, as it were of blood-letting. The Sacrificial Lamb covered in blood, atoning for humanity's sins, and establishing a perfect covenant.

And a mother, who once held a bloody baby upon his birth holding a bloody son after he was taken down from the cross.

Mark 6: 1-6 Subverting Our Sense of Place

In today's Gospel, Jesus returned to his native place (which we'll assume to be Nazareth) and taught in the synagogue. Those who listened to him were astonished and while they recognized his wisdom and probably heard of his wondrous deeds, they took offense at him. The commentary in Matthew chapter 13 verse 54 says that the Nazarenes probably found Jesus to be pretentious. A carpenter suddenly speaking with authority in the synagogue.

Elsewhere, I have written that there are two kinds of what we Filipinos call "yabang" roughly translated in English as arrogance or pretension. One kind is when you claim more about yourself than you really are. But a second sense is when a person speaks even when his social position does not permit him to speak given prevailing social norms. A person, as it were, who does not know his place.

I think it is the second sense that riles his fellow Nazarenes. It seems they were amazed by Jesus' wisdom and his wondrous deeds. But they still took offense because he was a carpenter and the son of Mary and not the son of someone like Zaccheus or Nicodemus. In other words, it wasn't what Jesus said that made them cringe but who he was and his audacity to claim to have the authority to preach (with authority). They probably thought of Jesus as an embarrassment for not knowing his place.

But if there is anything about Jesus' ministry, it is that it there are several instances when he subverts the prevailing sense of place. This is one such instance, a carpenter preaching in the synagogue. Those who are first who will be last and those who are last who will be first. A God-man who washes the feet of his disciples.