He shall purify the sons of Levi, part 2
We often forget in the life of Our Lord Jesus just how much of the promises made about the Messiah were fulfilled in the context of his own cultic commitments as a pious Jew. There are so many great writers who address this topic. Benedict XVI did so most recently in his series Jesus of Nazareth, especially in his analysis of the timelines of Holy Week as found in the Synoptic Gospels and Saint John. Recently I had the pleasure of reading Michael Hessemann’s enchanting book, Jesus of Nazareth: Archaeologists Retracing the Footsteps of Christ, as well as Jaroslav Pelikan’s excellent Jesus Through the Centuries: His Place in the History of Culture. I mention these works by name because all three have the remarkable strength of being able to interpret the events in the life of Christ through the broader milieu of his time, and none of them fall into the sort of compulsive nit-picking so common among academics. Christians until quite recently have always interpreted the New Testament with the help of the Old Testament, and especially its prophecies and archetypes.
Tomorrow marks the reappearance of one of my favorite “Feasts of the Lord”; The Presentation, otherwise known as Candlemas in English. In my preparation for this feast, I am always delighted to read the Prophet Malachi. I find it interesting that this same reading appears both just before the Christmas Season starts, on December 23rd, and it also bookends the Christmas ‘super-cycle’, if I may call it that, on February 2nd. I think that this ordering is providential, both in terms of the Liturgy of the Church and also in the unfolding of salvation history.
In the December 23rd readings, the Gospel concludes with the naming of Saint John the Baptist by his father Zechariah. This is very fitting, because the precursor of the Christ is introduced strongly in the season of Advent, especially during the Second Sunday of that season. Also, we recall that the whole story of John the Baptist’s infancy revolves around two visitations, much like Christ: Zechariah, like Mary, receives the visit of the angel, and in not believing its word, he becomes mute. His son, who would become “the voice crying in the wilderness”, becomes able to speak when he names his child as the angel commanded him. I think there are also subtle parallels with the purification of the lips of the Prophet Isaiah, who was prepared for his ministry by being cleansed on his mouth by a coal from the heavenly altar of incense. Zechariah, elected to offer the customary incense in the earthly sanctuary, by his doubt becomes unclean. His son, by his encounter with the unborn Lord, becomes himself purified, consecrated in the womb of Elizabeth.
The Presentation, then, is a feast full of encounters. Sensing this, even the Byzantine Rite names the day the hypopante, or ‘meeting’. In it, the infant Savior first enters the Temple of his Father, with the Ark of his Mother. Simeon and Anna meet the infant Lord, representing the pious aspirations of the Jewish people, as well as their prophetic tradition. The pathos of the oracles of Judaism, now grown old in their long waiting, meeting the young Messiah, is patent.
How, then, does the infant Lord’s visit fulfill the prophecy of Malachi, and what does that mean today? First, there is the most obvious sense, in which the Lord literally visits the temple for the first time. Interestingly, much like his own baptism, our Lord does not come to fulfill the Law of Moses as much for his own sake, but for our own. His circumcision and status as a firstborn son both situates him as a full member of the Jewish people, and as one consecrated who opens the womb, in accordance with the Law. Also, we remember that the circumcision would be the first known time in which Our Lord would have bled, and in doing so in the circumcision, would foreshadow the one who would be cursed according to the Law, who would hang upon the tree. Simeon, with piercing prophet insight, must have foresaw this when he told her that her Son would be the one who would be the sign of contradiction.
Our Lord, by truly entering the temple with his mother, thus inaugurates the transfer of covenants, as the Old and the New meet in a holy embrace. Our Lord purifies the sons of Levi by sharing in “blood and flesh”, as the Epistle to the Hebrews reminds us tomorrow, willing to share in every way their condition. Our going forth with lit candles tomorrow should inspire us also to “keep our candles” alight in the spiritual order, so that when we come to that great encounter with the Lord in eternal life, the aspirations of our long waiting, and the fulfillment of all promise, may, at long last, coincide in joyful exaltation.
A note to readers: After a bit of a break, I will be returning to more regular writing. Good ideas often take time to mature, and I hope I have some offerings which you will find enjoyable and inspirational. I do not view myself as a “content creator”, enslaved to algorithm and the grind of self-marketing. So writing comes when it comes. May this beautiful Feast be for all of us a real invitation to have that encounter with Christ. God Bless you.
