Son Beholding the Would-be-Mom

Grace to you!
 
Have you ever heard, has it been told to you before, that the mother of a child was received by the child in a Holy Temple even before the child was born? This is neither a fairy tale nor one of those imaginative stories in modern-day Hollywood movies. This is for real.
 
Never before has it been seen that a child welcomed the mom, when the mom was still a child.  The child of the mom is the Lord of the mom, and the mom of the child received a blessing from the would-be-son. It only happened once, and would never happen again. It broke a world record and that record has never been broken again. It changed history; generations after generations would make reference to what it ushered.  
 
This took place more than 2000 years ago. It began in a little town of Nazareth and culminated in the Temple in Jerusalem, at the very spot where the dome of the Palestinian Mosque and the West Gate of the remaining ruins of the Jerusalem Temple is currently located.
 
There were so many things unique about the young girl. Her name is Mary. Her parents, very devout, were Anna and Joachim. We read from historical books that they had constant divine revelations about how unique their baby would be. They may have thought it was one of those parent-child feelings, but it wasn’t. God anointed their baby in the womb to be the mom of the Messiah.
 
So, the presentation of the child in the Temple was the presentation of the would-be-mom of the Savior, to her Savior and our Savior. Think of what may have been happening in the heavens – The Son smiled, the Father rejoiced, the Sprit was thrilled - because Mary’s presentation in the Temple was the first affirmation, through her parents, that: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38).
 
Being present in the Temple was being present to the Lord. It’s a dedication and a pledge of loyalty to God: “Lord take me and use me. Lord, I am here for you.”
 
The presentation in the Temple was the first outing the mom would make; it was to the Temple, to meet her Lord and her Son. So it happened that the first entrance of God into the world in human flesh would be into her womb, the human Temple of God. Thus, in Mary we see a pattern of divine incarnation among us and final homecoming for the ark of the new covenant (Mary) – from the mother to the Son; from the Son to the mother; and finally at Assumption, from the mother back to the Son.
 
This cycle is the Trinitarian cycle of the redemption of Man. God created us. We belong to God and we find our fulfillment in him – “in whom we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).
 
May Mother Mary pray for us to live in God, and finally die in God. Amen.
 
God love you.  God bless you.

​Fr. Maurice Emelu