MARY DIDN'T HAVE A LITTLE LAMB ...

Luke 2:22

And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.

In the twelfth chapter of the Book of Leviticus we are told"

'If a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days. As at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean.  And on the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Then she shall continue for thirty-three days in the blood of her purifying. She shall not touch anything holy, nor come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purifying are completed’ (Leviticus 12:2-4).

Luke ties this verse to the birth of Messiah when he says, "And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to Adonai" (Luke 2:22). 

Miriam therefore came to make an offering at the end of the days of her purification as was prescribed by Moses and that is when she meets Simeon (Luke 2:25). Luke actually makes sure to tell us how Miriam and Joseph did everything according to the Levitical process.

It is important here to note that even though most English Biblical texts relate to Miriam’s post-natal state as unclean and therefore having to present an offering at the Temple; her condition has nothing to do with moral deficiency or spiritual unworthiness. A woman giving birth actually performs one of the highest of Hashem's commandments. She fulfills what she was created for. What the Torah refers to as the ritual unclean state is solely the reality of being human and therefore impure before. Ceremonial contamination is solely Temple related.

We are told in the Gospel of Luke that,

When the time came for their (Miriam and Joseph) purification according to the Law of Moses, they  brought him (Yeshua)  up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." (Luke 2:22-24).

We see in Luke’s rendering of the story that Miriam and Joseph brought "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons."’, and that is because they could not afford a lamb (Leviticus 12:6-8).

Little did young Miriam know, oh how little did she know that whereas she could not afford to bring Lamb to the Temple for her purification, she actually brought with her the ultimate Lamb, he  who would end up purifying not only her, but the whole world with her!

P. Gabriel Lumbroso

www.thelumbrosos.com

For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.http://www.amazon.com/Under-Fig-Tree-Messianic-ebook/product-reviews/B00ANS40FK/ref=cm_cr_dp_see_all_btm?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1&sortBy=bySubmissionDateDescending

ARE YOU MORE HOLY THAN YESHUA?

Acts 10:15

What God has made clean, do not call common.

            It seems that in the days of the Master Israel had taken the considerations of Leviticus 11 to such an extreme that it rendered fellowship with common folks and non-Jews impossible. In a way, it may have been the actual idea behind the commandment.

            There is nothing wrong with giving due diligence to the Commandments; Yeshua himself taught extreme measures in order to avoid breaking them (Matthew 5:27—30). In all ussues though, Yeshua was helping the leaders of Israel to apply these commandments in balance with other ones, especially concerning their universal mission to the world, which required fellowship and contact. What he was teaching was the idea of, “These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others" (Matthew 23:23). Yeshua personally spoke to Peter about it in a vision telling him, “What God has tahor-ed, (consider ceremonially fit) do not tamei (consider ceremonially contaminated) (Acts 10:15). This allowed Peter to go to the house of the Roman centurion Cornelius. By obeying the Master's vision, Peter initiated a revolutionary theological break with the Judaism of his day.  He was throwing the newly-born Nazarene movement into its universal mission of teaching Torah to the gentile world, move that Paul followed in Syrian Antioch, later in Turkey, Greece, and finally, Rome.

            Peter was the one chosen to challenge the stiff religious status quo of his day. As great as a disciple as he was, his weakness often surfaced. We saw him denying the Master the night of his arrest, and again in Antioch, to Paul’s horror, withdrawing himself from fellowship with Gentiles (Matthew 26:75; Galatians 2:11—14). In both cases Peter yielded to peer-pressure and fear. He was afraid to stand up because he valued the opinions of men.

            It is easy to blame Peter, but what the Master was teaching here was of utmost importance. Whereas Yeshua retained the Torah ideas of holiness, of being kadosh דושק, set-apart for Hashem, he was teaching it in an application that did not hamper the mission of being a light to our brothers, and to the world. The Master in effect was saying, "Do my will and trust me for your ceremonial sanctity; you can never attain it anyways!”; “These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others" (Matthew 23:23).

            Sad to say, I meet many today who in an undue attention t these things separate themselves from even their relatives. I have seen people even divorce on the same sort of imbalanced religious grounds. If he were there, the Master would be rolling in his grave, but we know that he is not there, praise be Hashem. He actually sadly watches us wondering how come he, he who is the holiest one of Israel, he who was set-apart for Hashem from creation, Hw come he was not afraid to put on the tamei  (ceremonial contamination) of the world in order to reach us but we, we are too holy  do it in order to reach out to our peers?

            Even though Peter denied the Master in front of men (Matthew 10:33), the Master forgave Peter and reinstated him (John 21:15—18). Later Peter also repented from his self-righteous separatism in Antioch and died as a martyr while ministering to the believers in Rome, Jews and Gentiles. May we also like Peter and Paul learn from Yeshua's teachings and properly balance the commandments. A wise man may learn by his experiences, but a wiser man learns by the experiences of others!

P. Gabriel Lumbroso

 For P. Gabriel Lumbroso's devotional UNDER THE FIG TREE in Kindle edition click here.