Reckon

"The parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law," Luke 2:27.

What's with this custom of the Law? It's kind of complex, but here's the quick of it. Two things. Thing 1: Jesus, first-born male to open Mary's womb, had to be redeemed by killing an animal, usually a lamb, in sacrifice. (This expressed Hebrew cultural memory of freedom from Egyptian slavery, right?). Thing 2: Every Hebrew woman, after giving birth to boy or girl, had to separate herself from certain religious activities for several weeks, and then had to sacrifice two animals, a lamb and a pigeon, in purification and sin-offering rituals so that she might re-assume all her privileges. So, now, Jesus about 6 weeks old, it's time for all those sacrifices. They're presenting the animals that the priest will sacrifice at the temple. Oh, and the law allowed that if you were poor you killed pigeons instead of lambs. They were poor. This snapshot gives a tiny slice of everyday life under the Law's detail. It tells of deeply purposed effort to buy redemption, to secure purification, and to reckon for sin.

With a brother or sister today we live in a new covenant with God because of Jesus' complete yielding to all the customs of the law. And, together, we rejoice in praise to our God for his grace that covers all our sin.