Sunday: The Purification of Mary & Presentation of Our Lord
Date: February 2, 2014
Old Testament Reading: 1 Samuel 1:21-­‐28 Epistle: Hebrews 2:14-­‐18
Gospel: Luke 2:22-­‐32
Designed as a “Service” of about 30 min. for nursing homes & other off-site church worship
Intended to be followed by a time of visiting/conversation/fellowship for 20+ minutes
Feel free to print, modify, or duplicate anything within this resource to fit your needs.
Greetings: Introduce yourselves and ask everyone’s name.
Opening Prayer (Doubles as Confession): Read by___________________________
Dear heavenly Father, we are so thankful that you have brought us together again, for this time of
worship and meditation in your Word. The Bible tells us “how good and pleasant it is, when brothers and
sisters live together in unity.” As we gather together Lord, we are reminded that we are here because
You have called us out of darkness into Your wonderful light. Assure us Lord, of Your mercy and
ever present forgiveness. Help us to look to the cross and remind us that Your Son Jesus Christ
died and rose again, to give us the victory over our sins, over the devil and over this evil world.
Help us to walk in Your path, the path You have set before us in Jesus Christ. Keep us close to You
and close to one another. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
Absolution: Read by __________________________________
Dear friends, God’s Word tells us that “if we are in Christ, we are a new creation, the old has gone
and the new has come.” Because of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, His death and resurrection, God
assures you that your sins are forgiven. In the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
Hymn: “All Glory Be to God Alone” (LSB 948, TLH 238, LW 210)
Old Testament reading: 1 Samuel 1:21-­‐28, read by ______________________________
Hymn: “All Glory Be to God on High” (LSB 947, TLH 237, LW 215, LBW 166)
New Testament reading: Hebrews 2:14-­‐18, read by _____________________________
Hymn: “All Glory, Laud, & Honor” (LSB442, TLH 160, LW 102, LBW 108)
Gospel reading: Luke 2:22-­‐32, read by ___________________________________
Devotional written by Willis McCall read by ________________________________
Hymn: “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” (LSB 549, TLH 339, LW 272, LBW 329)
Lord’s Prayer or other closing prayer, led by __________________________________
Visit! Get to know one another and remind people that they are blessed in the Lord!
The Purification of Mary & The Presentation of our Lord
Text Luke 2:22-40
Rev. Willis McCall of Resurrection Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, TX
Stay clean! Many a mother has shouted those words to her children as they rush outside to play. Even
with that reminder from mom, staying clean is one of the things that children and even some adults have trouble
remembering. No wonder! There is a lot of cleaning to do throughout the day! Cleaning up for dinner.
Washing your hands when you come inside after playing. Taking a bath or shower before bed. Hand sanitizers
are every twenty feet in hospitals and stores reminding you to…that’s right, stay clean! It seems that we are
always trying to get clean or remain clean. Even if we forget to wash up there is usually a parent or a spouse or
someone to remind us. I’m reminded of the scene in the Disney movie “Snow White”. Snow White has just
prepared dinner for the seven dwarfs and calls them all to the table. In their haste to eat they sit down and
forget to wash up. Snow White though realizes none of them have cleaned up yet and she will not be serving
dinner until they are clean. She politely tells them that there will be no dinner until they go wash. In the end all
hands are washed and dinner can proceed. But how easy it is, like the dwarfs, to forget to clean ourselves up
every time we get dirty!
Don’t get me wrong, being clean is important and trying to stay clean isn’t a bad thing by any means.
Dirt means germs, diseases, and all sorts of other things that can be harmful to us if not taken care of and
washed clean. Unclean hands spread the flu. Unwashed people are not all that pleasant to sit near. The Jews of
Jesus day understood this as well. Many of the cleanliness laws God gave to them were on one level simply
good hygiene. Blood carries diseases so the Israelites were to avoid it. Pork is harder to prepare properly and
cook than cattle or sheep so you don’t eat it. But there was also a different aspect to their washing rituals and
cleanliness. It was not just for hygiene or sanitary issues that they were to remain clean, it was for spiritual
purposes as well. Many of the things they were to avoid contact with also made them spiritually unclean. They
were pagan practices or reflective of ungodly culture. That was a kind of “dirt” that didn’t come off with soap
and water. After contact with those unclean things not only did you need to wash your hands, but a sacrifice
had to be made as well in order to be clean in spirit and pure once again before God.
That kind of cleanliness is actually what we see going on in the text for today. During the process of
giving birth, Mary had come in contact with blood and that had made her both physically and ritually unclean.
It was one of the things that God said needs to be addressed both physically and spiritually. No doubt Mary
washed herself and her hands with soap and water after the birth of Christ. Yet having come in contact with
blood she was still unclean in a spiritual sense. Something needed to be done about that in order to make her
pure again in God’s eyes. A sacrifice had to be offered on her behalf to atone for her impurity. So on this day it
is not just Jesus being presented in the temple, it is Mary who is coming as well to be purified. Mary coming to
make her offering of two turtledoves in order to be pure and right and clean before God.
This uncleanness and need for an atoning sacrifice was true not just for Mary on this day only, but for all
Israelites. Spiritual cleanliness was not a one-time thing. Every time one of God’s people would sin or come in
contact with unclean things a sacrifice would need to be made in that persons place in order to cleanse them, to
make them pure again in God’s eyes. As often as needed one would come into God’s house, into His presence
and make this sacrifice so that they could be pure again in God’s sight. That is what Mary comes to do this very
day.
Ironically what Mary brings with her to the temple today is a greater sacrifice than those two turtle
doves. She brings the ultimate sacrifice. Her son, Jesus Christ presented that same day is the pure and
sacrificial lamb of God. The very son she presents, Jesus Christ, is the sacrifice who will eventually be given
for all mankind when He willingly goes to the cross and gives up His life there on Calvary’s hill. By His blood
shed there all men will be made clean. No further sacrifices will ever be needed. Because of Christ Jesus
sacrifice the full atonement for sins, for all that makes mankind unclean, is made. Jesus took all the dirty and
unclean sins of the world, yours and mine, into Himself and paid the price for them all. So that you and I might
be pure in God’s eyes.
We certainly need that spiritual cleanliness, that righteousness, that purity that Jesus won at the cross so
that like Mary we can stand before God pure and clean. So how do we get clean? We certainly can’t rid
ourselves of all the sin, guilt, and shame. We can’t scrub hard enough or in any of the right places. God knows
that and so God takes matters into His own hands and washes us Himself. Where? How? In Holy Baptism.
Not as a removal of dirt from our bodies but “as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God with angels, authorities,
and powers having been subjected to Him.” (1 Peter 321-22) In Baptism you have been washed in the blood of
Christ and all that made you sinful and unclean and impure in God’s eyes was covered over with the
righteousness of Christ. That same Jesus Christ now sits at God’s right hand and says to His Father, “You see
that one there? He/She is clean. Pure. How do I know Heavenly Father? Well, they were baptized, washed,
into my name, through water and Word.”
Because of Christ Jesus you now stand before God your Heavenly Father clean and pure. This day in
our text Mary came into God’s presence seeking to offer a sacrifice that would make her pure in His eyes. As
you stand before Him this day and each and every day rejoice in knowing that Christ Jesus has given Himself as
your sacrifice. In Him, in His righteousness given to you in Baptism, you stand in God’s presence pure and
holy and clean.