The law was clear. Seems strange today, but it was understood back in the first century what a woman was required to bring to the temple forty days after the birth of a son: a lamb for the burnt offering and a young pigeon or dove for the sin offering. That was the standard. That was what was expected of every new mother who could afford it. No baby showers or reveal parties, just good Old Testament rules and sacrifices.
But the law included a provision. It's easy to miss if you're reading fast. For those who were poor and could not afford a lamb, two doves or two pigeons would be acceptable instead. You’d be shamed by people, but God would take it. When Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple for her purification, they brought two doves, the offering of the poor.
Think about what that means. The family that God chose to raise His Son could not afford a lamb. They arrived at the temple that day as a young couple of modest means, presenting the minimum the law allowed, in a city full of people who would have judged the size of the offering before they bothered to look at the child. And yet, in that same moment, in that same crowded temple courtyard, two people saw them immediately.
Simeon was an old man who had been waiting his entire life for this. He walked straight to them, took the child in his arms, and began to worship. Then Anna, an elderly widow, came to them at that same hour. She gave thanks to God and began telling everyone who would listen that this child was the redemption Jerusalem had been waiting for.
Nobody announced Jesus and they didn't judge the two doves. They weren't looking for a lamb, the young mother was carrying one, and they knew it.