Luke the Gentile, is at pains to record Jesus setting out in life with his parents faithfully observing Jewish ritual at the Temple. They come to ‘do what is required of them’ by Jewish Law, forty days after Jesus’ birth. An obedience to the Jewish Law which once more leads to another presentation of Jesus to the world, in Simeon and Anna’s astonishing declarations.
At the time of Luke’s writing of his gospel, the growing Jewish Christian sect was being pushed out of the synagogue in no uncertain terms ~ witness Paul’s murderous intentions towards them before his conversion! The emergent Church was becoming ever more Gentile by the day. Nevertheless, the Christ whom Gentile Luke has given his life to follow, is Jewish, and his family observant of Jewish Law. A fact that the Church has mostly chosen to ignore until around seventy years ago now, following the Holocaust. It was Holocaust Remembrance Day last Thursday and its good for us to remember at this time, the reality that as Christians our roots are Jewish.
To come back to our story, what do we learn from Anna and Simeon’s sensitivity to the moving of the Spirit which brings them face to face with the longed for Messiah! This baby who is born to be ‘light to the Gentiles and for the glory of Israel’! How can they know this? Both are steeped in prayer, meditation and fasting down many long years.
Anna a widow in the Temple, and Simeon living a devout and righteous life from his home. They have patiently been listening, waiting for the word of God to come to them. They have been hungry to hear the word of God revealing God’s wisdom and purposes to them. Simeon we are told, has never lost hope of a mighty revelation! He believes the word he has heard, that he shall see God’s salvation before he dies.
Each have open minds and hearts, they have the inner freedom to perceive the presence of God in the most unexpected of places. How could they be sure that this tiny baby, a mere 40 days old, would become the man to set Israel free? This tiny baby born to the most ordinary of couples, so poor they could only afford a pair of doves and not the customary lamb? Yet Simeon and Anna do perceive greatness to come for this child they behold.
Let us return to Mary and Joseph and remember for a moment the turbulent events surrounding Jesus’ birth. How must his mother and Joseph have been feeling at this point. Almost certainly for both of them, they were troubled and perplexed. Their lives have been turned upside down by the coming of this unplanned baby.
Can they really believe the understanding that they have come to share about his birth? Or have their bewildered and exhausted minds simply come up with some fantastical notion rather than reality, something to pacify and soothe their racing heads? As is always sensible in difficult circumstances, they get on with what is needed to be done: try to stop your mind whirling with the known round and maybe order will emerge.
And order does emerge. Two strangers who know nothing of Mary and Joseph’s vision and dream confirm all that they have come to understand and believe themselves! They are not losing their grip on reality after all! Their child does have a special place in God’s plans for humanity! God has not just brought comfort and joy to Simeon and Anna in the sight of this child, through their faithful listening God has brought reassurance and comfort to his parents. How thankful to them Mary and Joseph will be forever! Mary we are told, pondered these things in her heart. And no doubt as Jesus was growing up she gently revealed the story to him. To Jesus and to others, for we are remembering the story 2000 years later.
Simeon of course goes on to warn Mary of fierce struggle and pain ahead. She was going to need great courage as she lived with her first born son. It is not joy that is Simeon and Anna’s gift to Mary. It is faith and self-belief and courage to take hold of life to the full no matter her circumstances.
Today we conclude our Christmas celebrations! Matching and preceding the 40 days of Lent, today marks the end of 40 days of celebrating Christmas, in the grand finale of Jesus’ presentation in the Temple! Forty days of Christmas which remind us that God is just as much concerned with celebration as with the testing and discipline of forty days of Lent.
Jesus’ presentation in the Temple stands at the moment of movement from one to the other. And it holds within it the full range of passion: exultation, glory, joy – and the very real presence within all the heightened emotion, the reality of conflict and sorrow to come. The joy of nurturing this incredible child will be costly indeed for Mary. In the joy of presenting her new baby to God in the Temple, Mary also has to face the reality that her child is born into difficult and complex circumstances, that the mission to which God has called him will draw him into jealousies and persecution, and though she cannot see it now, ultimately take him to the executioner’s tree. But first, there is joy and assurance, faith and courage as Jesus grows in wisdom and maturity. And nothing, nothing, can defeat the love of God revealed in him.
In the story of the Presentation, is held before us the realities of joy and pain, so often mixed together, and the promise that within all the tensions of our lives, God is waiting to meet us with promise and hope. As we reflect on this story how can we make time for prayer and reading, time to deepen our faith, hone our listening skills, find courage to follow the Spirit as did Simeon and Anna. For it is God’s will to bring our lives to fulfilment. Amen.