Amy C Walters

Jesus Presented at the Temple – Luke 2:21-40

At first glance, this passage can seem like three different stories smooshed together. But the author Luke ties them all together with a repeated phrase: “according to the law of the Lord.” Through this, Luke shows us that Jesus fulfilled the law.

This story is a tricky one to tell, because it’s really long. It almost feels like three stories squished into one.

It’s also tricky because Luke, the author, punctuates the story throughout with this repeated phrase, “according to the law of the Lord.” We see it at the beginning, when Joseph and Mary take Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, “according to the law of the Lord.” And to offer sacrifices, “according to the law of the Lord.” 

And then in the middle, after we’ve met Simeon, we’re told that Joseph and Mary brought Jesus to the temple to do everything for him, “according to the law of the Lord.” That’s when Simeon met them.

And then at the end, after Mary and Joseph have met Anna as well, then they return home, and it tells us that “after Mary and Joseph had done everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.” 

So beginning, middle, and end, we see this phrase repeated.

And it’s really interesting because Luke does not use this phrase at all in the rest of the entire book. It’s just this concentration of it right here in this story. And that tells us that this is a really important idea to Luke right here, and that he wants us to understand that Jesus is fulfilling the law of the Lord.

Let’s think back to the beginning of this story when we’re told that “eight days later, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was given the name Jesus, the name the angel had given to him before he was conceived.” That reminder of Jesus’ conception might bring to mind the fact that he was conceived before Mary was even married. We know that this is a miracle of the Holy Spirit doing this work, but other people did not. Other people at that time would have assumed that Jesus was a result of immorality, of law breaking by Mary. And so there’s an assumption for many people that Jesus was a law breaker.

Think about it too, that it must have been hard for Joseph and Mary to go to the temple in Jerusalem when people think that they have broken the law and have been immoral, going to the very pinnacle, the most important place for their religion and their law. That’s the place where they would most be criticized, potentially. But Mary and Joseph are obedient and are following the law of the Lord.

Let’s also think about Luke’s audience. We know that he’s writing to Theophilus, and other people of this day would also be reading Luke’s account of Jesus. Many of those people have probably also heard about Jesus. If they had heard about him, they had probably heard about his death by crucifixion. That is a criminal’s death. That’s the death of someone who has been a law breaker. So again, Luke is probably confronting these notions that Jesus is a law breaker.

So Luke emphasizes over and over again, no, Jesus is not a law breaker. Jesus fulfills the law. Even as a little baby. 

This is really important because Jesus is the only one ever who has perfectly fulfilled God’s law. Everyone else in all of history, even all of Israel’s heroes, broke the law. You and I, we break the law. We cannot keep the law perfectly.

And this is not a problem with the law itself. Because the law shows us who God is, it shows us his holiness, and it shows us our need. We need someone to live that perfect life and to save us. And that was Jesus.

Luke is showing us right here that yes, the angel has said, Elizabeth has said that he is the Messiah. And now Luke is showing us that Jesus is qualified for that role of Messiah, because he fulfills the law. All of it.

In fact, in the book of Matthew in Chapter 5, Jesus tells us that he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. That is his mission.

So right here, in this story, we get this glimpse of Jesus, the law-fulfiller, the only one who lived a perfect life, which makes him capable of saving us from our imperfect life, our sins.

Without him, we are trapped in those sins.

Without him, we are stuck in that imperfection.

Without him, we are just trying to be good enough.

Does that sound familiar to you, trying to be good enough? There are lots of people who think that by being good enough, they can earn God’s favor, they can earn their way into heaven. But God’s perfect law shows us his holiness and his perfection. And only perfection is good enough for God.

That’s impossible then for you and me, isn’t it? 

The good news is that Jesus made it possible. Jesus lived the perfect life. And then he died on the cross, a criminal’s death which took the punishment that we deserve on himself. So that if we trust him and his sacrifice for us, we can have salvation, we can have relationship with God. We don’t have to be good enough because Jesus already was.