Ninth Day of Christmas
Posted on January 2, 2024 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 2:22-24 (NKJV)
2:22 Now when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male who opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
Devotion
The Lord Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all the Old Testament. The Old Testament Law commanded that every firstborn male, either man or animal, was to be given to the Lord. However, a son was not to be sacrificed, but redeemed—that is, bought back. This taught them that there was something unique about first-born sons. It pointed to the person of the Christ—the Savior of mankind—who is both the only begotten Son of God and the first-born Son of Mary.
It also taught that there is a sharp difference between man and animal. You absolutely do not sacrifice human children, because human life is infinitely more sacred than animal life. For, the Son of God did not become any animal, but He became Man. He has not redeemed the animals, justified the animals, or promised the resurrection of the dead to animals. But all these promises are offered to man through the Gospel. This is not because of any inherent goodness in man, as though God thought we were “worthy” of saving, for all men are born and corrupted with sin. Instead, it was God’s merciful choice from the beginning that man should be the special object of His love, and sin is not able to cancel it. For this reason, He taught the Israelites to redeem their children, because God had chosen to redeem mankind by the obedience and death of the Christ in man’s place.
Collect: Almighty and Everlasting God, direct our actions according to Thy good pleasure, that in the Name of Thy beloved Son, we may be made to abound in good works; through the same Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
