Education in Faith
In Sunday’s gospel Jesus was presented in the temple by his parents following two different rituals.The first was the ritual of purification when a baby was presented in the Temple place forty days after birth. The second ritual involved redeeming a first-born son through tribute to the Temple. Mary and Joseph took the opportunity of attending the Temple to bring Jesus into the presence of God who, according to tradition, dwelt in the Temple.
There is a great contrast between the forceful entry into the Temple by the Lord at the end of his life as the humble entry of the baby Jesus into the Temple. It reinforces the way in which throughout his ministry Jesus confounded many of the expectations about the Messiah.