Homily for Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Homily for the Feast of the
Presentation of the Lord

Feb. 2, 2024
Luke 2: 22-32
Provincial House, New Rochelle

Presentation of Jesus
(OL of the Valley Church, Orange, N.J.)

“Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord” (Luke 2: 23). Luke there is quoting from Exodus 13 (vv. 2, 12), which refers to the salvation of Israel from the 10th plague in Egypt, in which the angel of death slew the 1st-born of man and beast among the Egyptians but passed over the houses marked by the blood of the paschal lambs.

And that’s all Luke says here of Jesus’ consecration.  According to the Law (Num 3:47-48), the 1st-born son had to be redeemed by payment of 5 shekels to a priest.  Luke doesn’t mention that.  The offering of 2 doves or pigeons (2:24) was for Mary’s ritual purification after childbirth.

Luke does refer further to Jesus’ consecration to the Lord.  E.g., after his baptism, “The Holy Spirit descended upon him in bodily form like a dove” (3:22), and in the synagog he read from Isaiah, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings to the poor” (4:18).  The rest of Luke’s Gospel will show Jesus living his consecration until his life culminates when he hands his spirit over to his Father (23:46).

Jesus’ total consecration to God effects the redemption of Israel, as the disciples on the road to Emmaus had hoped:  “We were hoping that he would be the one to redeem Israel” (24:21); and not only Israel, but also the Gentiles, as Simeon foretold:  “a light for revelation to the Gentiles” (2:32).  The one redeemed in the Temple by being bought back from God leads Israel and the Gentiles back to God, a reverse redemption.

We observe today World Day of Consecrated Life, celebrating all those whom God has consecrated to his service.  Like aged Simeon, consecrated women and men are filled with the Holy Spirit and “await the consolation of Israel” (2:25).  We live in God’s service, pointing toward the redemption Christ has won for all of humanity and toward its completion “in the sight of all the peoples” (2:31). We “rejoice to encounter [God’s] salvation” (preface), to present the human race to God, and to remind the world that all of us still wait in hope for the consolation of Israel, for the coming of “the messenger of the covenant whom [we] desire” (Mal 3:1).