Presentation of the Lord - - Lectionary 524
When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
When the parents brought in the child Jesus,
he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
“Now, Master, you may let your servant go
in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel.”
Simeon said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
-and you yourself a sword will pierce-
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
There was also a prophetess, Anna,
of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
a widow until she was eighty-four.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
They returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him. Luke 2:22-40
Note that these two deeply religious figures, Simeon and Anna, are ordinary people, like you and, in some ways, like me, too. Yes I am a member of a Religious Community, the Sisters of Mercy, but I am still a “lay person.” In this Presentation of Jesus in the Temple story, there is no temple official or high priest mentioned. All we hear about are two elderly persons, a man and a woman. What we are told of them is, “This man was righteous and devout and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” And “She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.”
St. Luke, the Evangelist, who wrote many of the Gospel passages that we will be hearing during this Liturgical Year, is giving us an opportunty to ponder stories in which we can will see Jesus showing far more interested in us, the ordinary people, than he was in the Priests, Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes or in the political rulers. Luke’s primary purpose was to give his readers, then and now, a sound understanding of Jesus’ life and teachings so that they would be able to live day-to-day lives according to Jesus’ instructions. Luke is giving us a chance to see ourselves as the ones God has ordained to bring healing and an awareness of God’s loving care into the lives of the people of today.
These Lucan Gospel stories are of Jesus teaching his growing crowds of disciples (That’s us!) about themselves and about their two-sided relationships with God and each other. (Examples: The Sermon of the Plain, the Love of Enemies, Judging Others, The Barren Fig Tree.)* These stories are meant to be read and heard by us, first in a silence attuned to how they draw us into our deepest, God-centered heart, letting God’s Spirit speak personally and draw us to new growth through, with and in Jesus. And then to come to Mass and listen again to the Scriptures with our fellow disciples, all of us called to be the Simeons and Annas of today, letting our “eyes see the salvation which God has prepared,” and seeing it “in the sight of all the peoples,” meaning, in our sight, our more Jesus-like sight of those around us, a sight that includes a vision of them becoming all that the Father created them capable of becoming. It is through us ordinary people that God intended from the beginning that a Kingdom of God on earth would be a reality. Let us listen to this Liturgical Year’s reading seeing our role in God’s plan. May we be open to allowing these stories of Jesus to train us to be his disciples.
Sister Loretta
Comments or Questions:
- From INTRODUCTION TO THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE (https://bible.usccb.org/bible/luke/0)
The stated purpose of the two volumes, The Gospel According to Luke and The Acts of the Apostles, is to provide Theophilus and others like him with certainty—assurance—about earlier instruction they have received (Lk 1:4). To accomplish his purpose, Luke shows that the preaching and teaching of the representatives of the early church are grounded in the preaching and teaching of Jesus, who during his historical ministry (Acts 1:21–22) prepared his specially chosen followers and commissioned them to be witnesses to his resurrection and to all else that he did (Acts 10:37–42). This continuity between the historical ministry of Jesus and the ministry of the apostles is Luke’s way of guaranteeing the fidelity of the Church’s teaching to the teaching of Jesus.
By presenting the time of the church as a distinct phase of salvation history, Luke accordingly shifts the early Christian emphasis away from the expectation of an imminent Parousia to the day-to-day concerns of the Christian community in the world. He does this in the gospel by regularly emphasizing the words “each day.” . . He is more concerned with presenting the words and deeds of Jesus as guides for the conduct of Christian disciples in the interim period between the ascension and the Parousia and with presenting Jesus himself as the model of Christian life and piety.
Luke calls upon the Christian disciple to identify with the master Jesus, who is caring and tender toward the poor and lowly, the outcast, the sinner, and the afflicted, toward all those who recognize their dependence on, but who is severe toward the proud and self-righteous, and particularly toward those who place their material wealth before the service of God and his people. No gospel writer is more concerned than Luke with the mercy and compassion of Jesus. No gospel writer is more concerned with the role of the Spirit in the life of Jesus and the Christian disciple, with the importance of prayer, or with Jesus’ concern for women. While Jesus calls all humanity to repent, he is particularly demanding of those who would be his disciples. Of them he demands absolute and total detachment from family and material possessions. To all who respond in faith and repentance to the word Jesus preaches, he brings salvation and life.
