Sermon Audio

Dear hearers, when we first encountered this text 36 days ago, we heard of the presentation of Jesus at the temple as being part of His redemption from Himself as a remembrance that the Israelites were led by the hand of YHWH out of slavery in the land of Egypt following the Tenth Plague—the death of all firstborn sons of man and beast. Leviticus 12 was cited as the method by which firstborn sons were redeemed from YHWH, by the sacrifice of a lamb or a pair of small birds. Upon closer reading of that text, though too close of a reading is unnecessary, it becomes apparent that the sacrifice is not intended to be on behalf of the son, but for the mother:

When the days of her purification are fulfilled, whether for a son or a daughter, she shall bring to the priest a lamb of the first year as a burnt offering, and a young pigeon or a turtledove as a sin offering, to the door of the tabernacle of meeting. Then he shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement for her. And she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who has borne a male or a female. And if she is not able to bring a lamb, then she may bring two turtledoves or two young pigeons—one as a burnt offering and the other as a sin offering. So the priest shall make atonement for her, and she will be clean. (Leviticus 12:6-8)

The priest makes the sacrifice on the mother’s behalf—a lamb and a turtledove or pigeon, or two turtledoves, or two young pigeons—and she will be clean, or purified.

So, when Mary offers the pair of birds for the sacrifice, unable to afford to bring a lamb (yet still bringing the Lamb), the sacrifice is made for her purification, for having given birth. The sacrifice does not redeem Jesus from Himself, as you heard this man in the pulpit proclaim just over a month ago. For preaching a fact which was in error, he begs your forgiveness. You, however, are still a firstborn son of God by way of His only-begotten Son’s sacrifice on your behalf, reconciled to the Father by the Son, who came in the likeness of your flesh, placing Himself under His law, in order to redeem you to life from death.

But, that begs the question, “How are firstborn sons redeemed from YHWH?” In other words, under what law did Jesus place Himself? After all, Exodus 13 says that the Israelites were to sacrifice all males that open the womb, but of the firstborn of their own sons, they redeem. (cf. Exodus 13:15) It had to have been known through the time of the Exodus, for certainly there were firstborn sons among those in exodus and of the time shortly after, but the price for redemption isn’t made until the book of Numbers.

Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Take the Levites instead of all the firstborn among the children of Israel, and the livestock of the Levites instead of their livestock. The Levites shall be Mine: I am the LORD. And for the redemption of the two hundred and seventy-three of the firstborn of the children of Israel, who are more than the number of the Levites, you shall take five shekels for each one individually; you shall take them in the currency of the shekel of the sanctuary, the shekel of twenty gerahs. And you shall give the money, with which the excess number of them is redeemed, to Aaron and his sons. (Numbers 3:44-48)

The price for the redemption of firstborn sons, not of the tribe of Levi, (and in Numbers 3, only those in excess of the number of the Levites) was five shekels of silver. The Levites are YHWH’s, his priests—from that, they need not be redeemed.

And so it happened that the mother gave birth. She longed for a son: “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.” (1 Samuel 1:11) Surely the sacrifice was made on behalf of the mother once the days of her purification were complete, but she would not take the child to present him and fulfill her promised until he was weaned. Once Samuel was weaned, Hannah took him and an offering, but you’ll notice that the five shekels were not taken. She begged God for a son, she conceived and bore a son, and then brought that son to tabernacle in Shiloh to present him to YHWH, and give him over to God for tabernacle service—Samuel may or may not have been a Levite in the line of his mother, though he certainly was in the line of his father; still, by bringing him without the five shekels of silver, he was essentially handed over to the Levites in order to serve in the tabernacle.

And so it happened that the mother gave birth. She was told that she would bear a Son, and the name He was to be given was Jesus—for He will save His people from their sins. (cf. Matthew 1:21) Forty days later, the time of her purification complete, she and Jesus and Joseph go to the temple in Jerusalem. They bring with them a pair of birds for her sacrifice. St. Luke is careful to mention the birds, as is typical for the evangelist—this is the man, who at the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, sought to find every detail in order to record the Gospel of Jesus Christ for Theophilus. But you’ll note that Luke makes no mention of five shekels. Did He omit this detail? Was this not part of Jesus’ presentation in the temple? Was Jesus really not redeemed from Himself?

Based on what we know of Luke and the fact that five shekels were not mentioned, we must conclude that Joseph and Mary did not bring the ransom as they presented Jesus in the temple. Much like Samuel was presented by Hannah without the five shekels, this means that Jesus was presented in the temple as consecrated, set aside, for service to YHWH—Jesus was essentially being handed over to the Levites for priestly duties. In other words, Joseph and Mary acknowledge that this Jesus will save His people from their sins by being their redemption for them—that He will be Priest for His people.

And then Simeon’s words later that day indicate to them that He will be the Sacrifice for His people. John’s words, some 30 years later, point out that Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. (cf. John 1:29) Jesus will save His people from their sins by being the once-for-all sacrificial Lamb.

For, now, however, He stands in their place as He is presented in the temple. There, instead of being redeemed for the price of five shekels, He is marked as the redemption of mankind as being Levite for them. Jesus is the firstborn of Mary and is made the firstborn for mankind, fulfilling the redemption for mankind from YHWH for being led by the hand out of the land of slavery to sin.

That is to say, dear hearers, especially you sons who opened your mother’s wombs, you no longer need to be ransomed from YHWH or sacrificed because Jesus is the fulfillment of that law for you—Jesus is your ransom from YHWH. Furthermore, as the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, Jesus is the fulfillment of all of the law as He is the sacrifice for your sins. Your sins are covered by the blood of the Lamb and you are redeemed from sin to YHWH—a bit of a reversal there: Jesus is your ransom to YHWH! All firstborn males are His, as He declares in the Pentateuch. Now, through the redemption won by the blood of Jesus, you are YHWH’s own child, declared so to you through the waters of Holy Baptism where first was applied to you the merits of Jesus sacrifice and presentation on your behalf!

Now, while money did not change hands at Jesus’ fortieth day, at His presentation, money did change hands as a price was put on His head at His thirty-third year. The cost of your redemption was set, settled on by the chief priests and one of the twelve:

Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him. (Matthew 26:14-16)

Jesus was presented to the priests for 30 pieces of silver—30 shekels. 30 shekels of silver is the value affixed to a dead slave. (cf. Exodus 21:32)

How interesting! The price put on Jesus’ head is that of a dead slave. And so, the price paid for His sacrifice is what you, as a slave dead in sin, are worth. So, for 30 pieces of silver, Jesus is brought before the Sanhedrin, where he is put on trial, where like a lamb before its shearers, He is silent. Jesus opens not His mouth before His accusers, because, as a dead slave, in the place of dead slaves, He bears the Sanhedrin’s accusations in your place—that is to say, Jesus receives the accusation and sentence due you. You are the blasphemer that they call Jesus. You are the liar that they call Jesus. You are the sinner that they call Jesus. And Jesus receives it all in your place. If there is one place where you can see your sins leveled upon Jesus, here it is! And out of His great love for you, He opens not His mouth, taking their anger on your behalf, deflecting the angst and sentence of death from you upon Himself. (cf. Isaiah 53:7)

Therefore, He was led like a Lamb to the slaughter. Jesus bore the weight of your sin as He walked to Golgotha, and there died the slave’s death—the slave to sin...30 pieces of silver. Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. Look upon the cross and there see your Priest and King, sacrificing Himself on the throne of His cross. There, your Lamb, your Priest, your King, dies in your place, suffering the full wrath of God, bought for the price of a dead slave, and you don’t. Thanks be to God that you are spared all of what Jesus bore for His sake, because He bore it on your behalf! This your Prophet declares to you from His Holy Word.

Therefore, dear hearers, you are bought with a price. The cost that was set in order that your redemption would be won was 30 pieces of silver. However, the price for which you were redeemed was not paid with gold or silver, but with Jesus’ innocent suffering and death and with His holy, precious blood. You were bought back from death to life, from sin to holiness, through the shedding of Jesus’ blood and His innocent, pure suffering and death. Jesus was obedient to the will of His Father, consecrating Himself as your Great High Priest, to the point of death, anointed to be your substitutionary Sacrifice. Therefore, as was said, your sins are covered, you are bought back, and you are made a son of God, your robes are washed clean and made pure in the blood of the Lamb, you are forgiven for all of your sins.