The Embodied Temple: Candlemas

O Zion, open wide thy gates,
Let symbols disappear;
A priest and victim, both in one,
The Truth Himself, is here.

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple is an oft-neglected feast of the church, despite being a “red-letter day.” Although forgotten or overlooked by busy Anglicans and utterly foreign to non-liturgical Christians, this day is a hearty proclamation of the gospel. The “priest and victim, both in one” is visiting His people where they worship Him.

Entering into the presence of His own temple is the God who is the embodied temple. Not since the building of the first temple have the people of God experienced God’s presence within His holy temple. The conquest and destruction of Jerusalem by Babylon included the destruction of the first temple. And despite Nehemiah’s, Ezra’s, and even wicked King Herod’s efforts, the second temple is incomplete, a shell of the first one’s glory. More importantly, speaking of glory, unlike the first temple, this second one never experienced the descent of the glory of the Lord upon it – compare 2 Chronicles 7:1–3 with Ezekiel 10:1–22 and Ezra 3:12.

The glory of the Lord departed the first temple (Ezekiel 10), never to return. Despite the faithfulness and hard work of Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra 3), the end result of the second temple was weeping, which was the opposite of the incredible occasion of God’s filling His temple during Solomon’s dedication (2 Chronicles 7).

Yet today, the glory of the Lord enters the second temple for the first time. The temple of stone made by hand is filled by the embodied temple of flesh made by God: the Christchild.

No more the simple flock shall bleed;
Behold, the Father’s Son
Himself to His own altar comes
For sinners to atone.

“Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, ‘Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me.’ ” (Hebrews 10:5, KJV). Jesus is presented within the very temple where He is worshipped. He comes to His people and their temple to prepare them for a new covenant. He who created the stars and the earth where the temple is His footstool, He is the eternal temple where once and for all satisfaction shall be made.

Into the world God has entered, and within the world He shall deliver us: “The Lord is in his holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before him” (Habakkuk 2:20).

Conscious of hidden deity,
The lowly virgin brings
Her newborn babe, with two young doves,
Her humble offerings.

Every mother under the Mosaic law was required to bring a burnt offering and a sin offering after childbirth, A lamb for the burnt offering and a pigeon or turtledove for the sin offering (Leviticus 12:6). Those who could not afford a lamb, however, could bring two pigeons or two turtledoves for the burnt and sin offerings. Commentators have long noted that St. Mary the Virgin brings two turtledoves for her purification. But we should not miss that she brings the greater gift and only offering that cleanses and makes us whole: the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In her poverty, the Virgin brings two young doves so she may re-enter the temple of the Lord; in her richness, St. Mary brings the embodied temple of God Himself, so that we sinners may boldly approach the throne of grace and enter into the presence of God.

The agèd Simeon sees at last
His Lord, so long desired,
And Anna welcomes Israel’s hope,
With holy rapture fired.

There is no better canticle to sing and chant this day than St. Simeon’s song. We find it eloquently presented for us to feast upon in joy and praise every time we pray Evening Prayer. St. Simeon awaited his entire life upon God’s promise that he would live to see his Savior and our Savior. The Holy Ghost prompted Simeon’s attendance at the temple this fateful day, and without pause he recognized the Christchild and scooped Jesus into his arms. Can you fathom holding God in your arms? The One who wills your existence and gives life to your breath held within your arms.

Dear Church, when we gather and hear the gospel preached, we are dismissed as servants who may “depart in peace, according to thy word” (Luke 2:29). When we meet Christ in the blessed sacrament, we may rejoice that our “eyes have seen thy salvation.” (Luke 2:30). As we depart into the world, we reenter it as ambassadors of Christ filled by His Holy Ghost to share what He “has prepared before the face of all people; a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel” (Luke 2:31–32).

But silent knelt the mother blest
Of the yet silent Word,
And pondering all things in her heart,
With speechless praise adored.

Ponder anew, beloved in Christ, the joyous occasion of this truth: the same God who entered His temple this day, he enters you through faith, claimed you in your baptism, feeds you with His body and blood, lives within you by His Holy Ghost, and empowers you to serve Him forevermore in the good works He created you to walk in.

Therefore let us heed Anna’s direction in Luke 2:38, and may we enter into Anna’s ministry by serving “God with fastings and prayers night and day” (Luke 2:37). For our call to walk in faithfulness begins by speaking “of Him to all that looked for redemption” beginning in Jerusalem and extending unto our homes, our families, our vocations, our towns, our nation, and the ends of the earth. Hidden in plain sight in our ordinary lives is a fellow mortal who is looking in anticipation for the redemption that hails from Jerusalem. Be the ambassador that Christ is calling you to be by speaking of God’s salvation that you believe in your soul, have seen with your eyes, and tasted with your lips by faith.

On this feast day, we praise the Almighty Father and pray that “as thy only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in substance of our flesh, so we may be presented unto thee with pure and clean hearts” (Collect of the Day). Therefore, may Jesus’ pure and holy body make our bodies clean and willing to perform the holy works for which He saved us. As Christ is presented in the temple of our bodies, may we be purified through the faithful offering of His body.

Christ Jesus lives and eternally dwells in the embodied temple He took on upon His incarnation. The little babe held by Simeon and prophesied over by Anna meets us this day through His Gospel proclaimed, His sacraments celebrated, and His Holy Ghost’s descent into those who believe. Therefore, as temples of the living God, let us praise the One who dwells in us, walks with us, and promises, “I will be their God, and they shall be my people” (2 Corinthians 6:16). As living temples, may our bodies, our souls, our minds, our hearts, and our lips join in praise and raise our voices in chorus:

All glory to the Father be,
All glory to the Son,
All glory, Holy Ghost, to Thee,
While endless ages run.