Forty Days after Christmas

Redeemer Lutheran Church - LCMS
Charleston, WV
February 2, 2020 The Purification of Mary and the Presentation of Our Lord (YrA)

Message presented by Rev. Frank C. Ruffatto

Psalm 84
1 Samuel 1:21-28
Hebrews 2:14-18
Luke 2:22-40

Forty days after Christmas, everything changes when Jesus comes to the temple for us.

It’s forty days after Christmas. In keeping with the Torah, Mary and Joseph have brought the forty-day-old Jesus to the temple to present Him to the Lord. Big things happen on this day — more than Ground Hog’s Day and more than Super Bowl Sunday. A man waits, even into old age, for a promise by the Holy Spirit to be fulfilled: Simeon — his life will be changed forever. And eighty-four-year-old widow who spent her life in the temple, “worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day (Luke 2:37): Anna — her life will be changed forever. And Mary and Joseph — their lives will surely be changed forever. So, for you and me, and for every Christian man, woman, and child, everything will change.