The Presentation: An Anglican Perspective

Feast Day: February 2

The Anglican calendar is ordered by a hierarchy of holy days, each carrying a different weight of observance. At the top sit the seven Principal Feasts — the highest days of the liturgical year. Below them are the Red-Letter Holy Days, appointed in the BCP 2019 with their own collects, propers, and lectionary readings, listed on page 688. They are called Red-Letter Days because, in the tradition of printing church calendars, these days appear in red ink, distinguished from the Optional Commemorations which appear in ordinary type. The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple, observed on February 2, is one of these Red-Letter Holy Days — a feast that closes the Christmas and Epiphany arc of the liturgical year exactly forty days after Christmas Day.

February 2 falls forty days after December 25. In the Mosaic law, a woman was considered ceremonially unclean for forty days after the birth of a son, after which she was to bring a burnt offering and a sin offering to the temple for her purification. At the same time, the law required that every firstborn male be consecrated to the Lord — a rite of presentation and redemption rooted in the Exodus, when God spared the firstborn of Israel. These two observances — the purification of the mother and the presentation of the firstborn — came together forty days after Jesus’ birth, when Mary and Joseph brought the infant to the temple in Jerusalem. The Feast of February 2 commemorates that journey and the extraordinary things that happened when they arrived.

In the wider Western tradition, this feast is sometimes called Candlemas — a name that recalls the ancient practice of blessing candles on this day in honor of Simeon’s declaration that the child was a light for revelation to the Gentiles. The BCP 2019 does not use this name in its calendar, but the theology behind it is present throughout the appointed readings and the collect.

The Biblical Event

The account is in Luke 2:22–40, the appointed Gospel for this feast. Luke frames the visit in terms of the law’s requirements: “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 (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, ESV) Luke’s repeated insistence that all of this is done “according to the Law of the Lord” is not bureaucratic detail. It is a theological claim: the Son of God, who will one day fulfill and transcend the law, enters its requirements willingly from infancy. He comes to the temple as the law demands, brought by parents who are themselves formed by the covenant of Israel. And the offering they bring — two turtledoves rather than a lamb — is the offering appointed for those who cannot afford the full sacrifice. The Lord of all creation enters the temple in poverty.

Into this scene of ordinary covenant obedience steps an extraordinary figure. Simeon is described simply as a righteous and devout man who was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and upon whom the Holy Spirit rested. He had been promised by the Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. When Mary and Joseph bring the child into the temple, Simeon takes him in his arms and speaks the words that the Church has prayed every evening ever since:

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29–32, ESV)

This is the Nunc Dimittis (pronounced “Nunk Di-MIT-iss,” Latin for “Now you dismiss”) — one of the great canticles of the Christian tradition, used at Compline and Evening Prayer in the Anglican rite from Cranmer’s first Prayer Book in 1549 to the BCP 2019.

Then Simeon blesses the parents and turns to Mary with a word that cuts through the joy of the moment: “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed — and a sword will pierce through your own soul also.” (Luke 2:34–35, ESV) The shadow of the cross falls across the presentation. The light that Simeon has waited a lifetime to see is also the light that will be extinguished on Good Friday. Mary is told, from the beginning, what the journey will cost her.

Anna the prophet enters the scene in verses 36 through 38. She is eighty-four years old, has been a widow most of her adult life, and has spent her widowhood in the temple, fasting and praying night and day. When she sees the child, she gives thanks to God and speaks of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke does not record her words, but he records her action: she spoke. Anna is the first person in Luke’s Gospel to proclaim Christ publicly to others. She is a prophet and an evangelist, and she is eighty-four years old. The feast of the Presentation is, among other things, a feast of what faithful old age looks like — still alert, still in the temple, still ready to recognize the Lord when he arrives.

The Theological Significance

The Presentation carries a weight of theological irony that is easy to miss on a first reading. The Lord of the temple is being brought to the temple. The one who met with Moses above the mercy seat, between the cherubim in the Holy of Holies (Exodus 25:22), is now forty days old in the flesh, wrapped in linen, carried in his mother’s arms through the temple courts. And deeper still: John’s Gospel will later record Jesus saying, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19, ESV) — and then John explains: “he was speaking about the temple of his body.” (John 2:21, ESV) The infant carried through the courts of the Jerusalem temple is not merely the Lord of the temple. He is the true Temple — the meeting place of God and humanity, the place of sacrifice and atonement, the dwelling of God among his people. The building he enters is a shadow of what he himself is. When Simeon takes him in his arms, the old covenant and the new covenant meet in the arms of an old man in the courts of a building that is already obsolete.

Malachi 3:1–4, the appointed Old Testament reading from the propers, is fulfilled in this passage with startling literalness: “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.” (Malachi 3:1, ESV) And so he does — the Lord comes suddenly to his temple, carried in the arms of his mother, forty days old in the flesh, brought by two poor parents who can afford only the offering of doves. The Lord of hosts arrives at his own house in poverty and infancy, and an old man waiting in the courts is the one enabled by the Spirit to recognize him.

Hebrews 2:14–18, the appointed Epistle, provides the theological explanation for why the Son of God submitted to these covenant requirements at all: “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” (Hebrews 2:14–15, ESV) And then verse 17: “Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.” (Hebrews 2:17, ESV) He had to be made like his brothers in every respect. This is why he was circumcised on the eighth day, presented in the temple on the fortieth, and obedient to the law his entire life. The high priest who would one day offer himself as the sacrifice had first to enter fully into the life of those on whose behalf he would offer it.

Psalm 84 is the appointed psalm, and it is the psalm of the pilgrim who loves the house of the Lord: “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.” (Psalm 84:1–2, ESV) The psalm is sung by one making a pilgrimage to the temple — which is precisely what Mary and Joseph are doing. And the one they carry is the Lord of the temple they are entering. The pilgrim psalm and the presentation narrative hold together the human journey toward God and the divine journey toward humanity: we go to the temple; the Lord of the temple comes to meet us. In Christ, the true Temple, both journeys end.

The BCP 2019 Collect and Preface

The BCP 2019 appoints the following collect for the feast on page 626: “Almighty and everliving God, we humbly pray that, as your only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in the substance of our flesh, so we may be presented to you with pure and clean hearts by Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.” The collect draws a direct parallel between the historical event — the Son presented in the temple — and the present petition: that we may be presented to God with pure and clean hearts. The presentation of Christ in the temple is not merely an event to commemorate. It is a pattern to inhabit. As he was brought before the Lord, we ask to be brought before the Lord. As his parents came with the offering appointed by the law, we come with the offering he has made on our behalf.

The Preface of the Presentation, found on page 153 of the BCP 2019, is used at the Eucharist for this feast: “Because in the mystery of the Word made flesh, you have caused a new light to shine in our hearts, to give the knowledge of your glory in the face of your Son Jesus Christ our Lord.” (BCP 2019, p. 153) The preface places the Presentation within the mystery of the Incarnation, naming the theological reality that Simeon’s declaration makes visible: a new light has shone. The Word has become flesh and brought the knowledge of God’s glory into the world. This is the same preface shared with the Circumcision and Holy Name on January 1, linking the two feasts as different facets of the same mystery — the infant who entered the covenant at eight days and is consecrated in the temple at forty is the one in whose face the glory of God is revealed.

The Presentation in Anglican Worship

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple has been observed in the Church of England since the early medieval period. It marks the close of the Christmas and Epiphany arc — not liturgically, since the season of Epiphany continues until Ash Wednesday, but theologically. After February 2, the calendar turns toward Lent, and the themes of purification, sacrifice, and priestly offering that the Presentation introduces will deepen through the penitential season ahead.

The Nunc Dimittis has been sung at Evening Prayer and Compline in the Anglican tradition from the beginning. Every evening the Church takes Simeon’s words and makes them its own. This is the prayer of the Church at the end of each day — having seen Christ in the Word and sacrament, having been held by the one who holds all things, we can be let go in peace. The Presentation is the feast that gave the Church this prayer.

The feast also speaks with particular force to the faithful elderly. Simeon and Anna are the theological heroes of Luke 2:22–40, and both are old. The Church that observes this feast is reminded that faithful waiting is itself a form of ministry, that recognition of Christ is not limited to the young and vigorous, and that the one who has spent decades in prayer and fasting may be exactly the person God has positioned to see what others have not yet seen.

Observing This Feast

February 2 falls within the season of Epiphany. When it falls on a Sunday, it may be observed on that Sunday or transferred to the nearest following weekday according to the rubrics on page 689 of the BCP 2019.

To observe the feast: pray the collect from BCP 2019, p. 626. Read Luke 2:22–40 slowly, pausing at the Nunc Dimittis (pronounced “Nunk Di-MIT-iss”) in verses 29–32 and praying it as your own prayer. Read Malachi 3:1–4 and sit with the image of the Lord suddenly coming to his own temple as an infant in his mother’s arms. Read Hebrews 2:14–18 for the theological account of why the Son had to be made like his brothers in every respect. Pray Psalm 84 as the pilgrim’s song. And let the day close with the Nunc Dimittis at Evening Prayer.

Conclusion

The Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple is a feast of recognition — the recognition of the old man who had waited a lifetime, the recognition of the old woman who had prayed through decades of widowhood, the recognition of the covenant community that was meant to be watching for exactly this arrival. The Lord whom Israel sought suddenly came to his temple. He came poor and small and dependent, carried by two young parents who could afford only the offering of doves. And the ones who saw him were the ones who had been faithful long enough, and patient enough, and present enough, to be there when he arrived.

The collect prays that we might be presented to God with pure and clean hearts — brought before the Lord as the infant was brought before the Lord, consecrated and offered through the one who made the final offering on our behalf. The true Temple has come to the shadow temple. The feast of February 2 is both a historical commemoration and a present invitation: come to the courts of the Lord. Wait with Simeon. Watch with Anna. The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come.

“For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:30–32, ESV)