I have the privilege to be working through a Bible study that focuses on the life of Christ. I just finished a life changing study on Paul, so starting one on Christ seemed like a natural step. What I couldn't have planned on was the amazing way that I started this study heading into the Christmas season, meaning I began with the birth of John and then the birth of Jesus... I grew up hearing these stories all the time. Every Christmas morning, my father reads Luke 2 and my family fills in the words he leaves out. We all know this historical account very well, so I expected this study to produce the same results. This was a fail on my part. The Lord never ceases to open my eyes to new truths and show his love in new ways, and that was exactly what occurred in the first days of my study. I made it as far as Luke 2:22 until I could not help, but pause in the wonder of the love of Christ.
This account details the days immediately following Jesus' birth, explaining that after eight days he was circumcised and named Jesus as the angel had proclaimed (Luke 2:21). Then according to Leviticus 12:1-8, Mary needed to continue the purification set forth in the law for another 33 days. So finally, 41 days after the birth of Christ, he is brought to the temple to be presented to the Lord (Luke 2:22). Luke then briefly explains the law, but we get more details if we refer back to Exodus 13 and Numbers 18. Basically in these passages, the Lord requires that the first-born male be set apart and offered back to the Lord, but then for the price of 5 shekels, the parents may "redeem" their son. (According to the sources I found, this act of buying their child back from the Lord is still a custom among many Jews that continues today.) So based on the combination of Luke's account and the Levitical law, we get this amazing picture of the infant Christ being brought to the temple to be offered back to His Father. I'm not a parent, so I may not fully understand the agony of this situation, but here's how I see it: Mary and Joseph are just following the practice that they have been taught, but imagine God the Father. His tiny infant son is offered back to him. The Father knows the plan set before Jesus. The pain and suffering of the cross that will end Jesus' life on earth. Yet even in this moment, when His son is offered back to Him, He doesn't take him back and say that this plan isn't worth the pain. No, instead he allows Mary and Joseph to redeem the Messiah.
I can't even imagine the heartbreak of God, knowing that He is giving his son, his firstborn son, to a sinful broken world that would crucify him, so that Jesus might redeem us. What unreal love! That while we were at our darkest in sin, not even seeing our need for a Savior, God is willing to offer his son to pay the price for us.
The awe and wonder of this passage has become fresh again as I consider the sacrifice in a new light. How can I do anything, but stand in amazement and gratefulness to a Savior who paid the ultimate price for me. I pray that I never lose this broken worship in understanding the depth of my sin, yet the even greater depth of His love.
"For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:6-8 (NASB)
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