Contemplative Bible Reading

Leviticus 12:6-8 (New International Version)

⁶ ” ‘When the days of her purification for a son or daughter are over, she is to bring to the priest at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering. ⁷ He shall offer them before the LORD to make atonement for her, and then she will be ceremonially clean from her flow of blood.
” ‘These are the regulations for the woman who gives birth to a boy or a girl. ⁸ If she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. In this way the priest will make atonement for her, and she will be clean.’ “

Per the Old Testament law, a woman who gave birth would come to the temple and bring an offering to become pure again. Verse 6 states that the offering would be

a year-old lamb for a burnt offering and a young pigeon or a dove for a sin offering.

If, however, the woman and her husband were poor, verse 8 tells us that they could bring

two doves or two young pigeons

instead of a lamb and a bird.

Let’s move forward a few centuries and read about a couple who recently gave birth to a boy. The couple came to Jerusalem…

to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

This couple was poor as they offered the pair of birds instead of a lamb and a bird.

What verse is this? Luke 2:24. The couple was Joseph and Mary, and the child was Jesus. You see, Joseph and Mary were poor. They made the offering of the poor. Jesus, their son, was born to a poor yet righteous family. Jesus spent his life with the poor.

Jesus wouldn’t fit in my neighborhood – middle-class America. I don’t know if anyone at my church, again middle-class America,  would notice Jesus if he walked in the door.