{"id":208,"date":"2012-02-02T08:27:36","date_gmt":"2012-02-02T13:27:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=208"},"modified":"2012-02-21T08:32:02","modified_gmt":"2012-02-21T13:32:02","slug":"purification","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/?p=208","title":{"rendered":"Purification"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/font><\/p>\n

Presentation of the Lord<\/o:o:o:p><\/span><\/h3>\n

Mal 3: 1-54; Heb 2: 14-18; Luke 2: 22-40<\/o:o:o:p><\/span><\/h3>\n

Deacon Larry Brockman<\/o:o:o:p><\/span><\/h3>\n

\u00a0<\/font><\/o:o:o:p><\/span><\/h3>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Purification!\u00a0 <\/span>That\u2019s what the Presentation of the Lord is all about.\u00a0 <\/span>For 40 days after birth, a Jewish woman was considered unclean.\u00a0 <\/span>And so, the mother and baby visited the temple for a purification rite at the end of those 40 days, and the mother offered a ritual sacrifice to the Lord.\u00a0 <\/span>That is what Mary did in this morning\u2019s Gospel.\u00a0 <\/span>So, the Presentation of the Lord is all about Purification.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Now in the first reading, we hear of the promise of a messenger.\u00a0 <\/span>Sometimes this passage points to the promise of the messenger John the Baptist.\u00a0 <\/span>But today, the meaning is quite different.\u00a0 <\/span>Because our first reading also says something about purification.\u00a0 <\/span>In fact, the rhetorical question is asked- who can stand such purification?\u00a0 <\/span>Indeed, this purification is so extreme that Malachi\u2019s promised messenger will engage in that it can\u2019t refer to John the Baptist, but rather to Jesus himself; and in the role of Jesus second coming- as the Judge of all.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Now in the letter to the Hebrews we hear about people being subject to slavery because of their fear of death; and that this plays into the devil\u2019s hands.\u00a0 <\/span>Isn\u2019t that the truth?\u00a0 <\/span>Just look around you for the truth of that statement.\u00a0 <\/span>People will do anything- literally anything, to preserve their human life, but even more to the point, to achieve a certain quality of life.\u00a0 <\/span>Sometimes, they do so in such a way that it is clear that they don\u2019t believe there is anything except human life.\u00a0 <\/span>And that is the point.\u00a0 <\/span>Some people will seek extraordinary measures to achieve comfort; and some people submit to medical procedures that prolong life, even at the expense of the quality of their own life; and some people do whatever it takes to enhance the quality life, even if it means that it hurt others.\u00a0 <\/span>In doing so, they are demonstrating that they are slaves to the flesh and to death- the works of the devil.\u00a0<\/span><\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n

Now don\u2019t get me wrong.\u00a0 <\/span>I\u2019m not suggesting that we shouldn\u2019t be concerned about our physical well-being.\u00a0 <\/span>But I am suggesting that there is more to our life than life in this world as we know it.\u00a0 <\/span>All of us need the proper perspective on what the meaning of this life is all about.\u00a0 <\/span>If our life is oriented to self- that is, self-preservation and self-satisfaction, then we are slaves to the flesh.\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus came into the world just like all of us- born in flesh and blood.\u00a0 <\/span>But he suffered- suffered the consequences of human life.\u00a0 <\/span>Jesus lived the balance between living life in this world as a human and pleasing God.\u00a0 <\/span>We have got to learn to die unto ourselves in order to be purified in the sight of God.<\/font><\/p>\n

\u00a0 <\/span><\/o:o:o:p><\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font>The choice is ours- just like it was Jesus\u2019 choice.\u00a0 <\/span>If we learn to live life with that balance now then we need not fear judgment when we die.\u00a0 <\/span>Otherwise- \u201cWho will endure the day of his coming? \u00a0\u00a0<\/span>And who can stand when he appears?\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Presentation of the Lord Mal 3: 1-54; Heb 2: 14-18; Luke 2: 22-40 Deacon Larry Brockman \u00a0 Purification!\u00a0 That\u2019s what the Presentation of the Lord is all about.\u00a0 For 40 days after birth, a Jewish woman was considered unclean.\u00a0 And so, the mother and baby visited the temple for a purification rite at the end […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[113],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=208"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=208"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=208"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.deaconlarry.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=208"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}