Luke 2:22-40
I got in the car. I drove to the car park. I parked the car. I got out of the car. I walked over to the ticket machine. I realised I didn’t have any cash on me. I ran into the shop. I went to the cash machine. I took the money from the cash machine. I walked into the shop. I picked up a Kit Kat. I paid for the Kit Kat. I walked back to the ticket machine. I put the coins in the ticket machine. I got the ticket. I realised I could have paid by card. I sighed. I walked to the car. I opened the car. I put the ticket on the dash board. I locked the car. I began walking. I started eating the Kit Kat. I realised I had no idea where I was going. I asked an elderly man for direction. I listened carefully. I continued to listen carefully. I’m still listening as he is giving me very detailed directions including many completely irrelevant details. I thanked the man. I walked in the correct direction. I entered the shopping centre. I finished the Kit Kat. I dodged the crowds. I took a left at the end of the shopping centre. I walked towards the sunlight. I spotted my destination. I walked up the ramp. I put on my mask. I held the door open for an outgoing pushchair. I walked towards the desk. I said hello. I booked my appointment in at the desk. I was shown the waiting area. I waited. I waited. I waited. I heard my name being called.
Hello! You’re here to register the birth of your daughter aren’t you?
Yes I am, I said.
Follow me.
I followed him.
Despite what it sounds like, I really didn’t have to do all that much in order to register the birth of our youngest daughter just before Christmas. In fact, rather than offering anything, we were given things to take away. A smart certificate. A bright yellow reusable bag. Some children’s books and couple of leaflets about baby swimming or pilates or goat yoga...something like that anyway.
This was not the case for Mary and Joseph in our reading today. Of course, they were not in the temple to register Jesus’s birth in a modern day sense, but they were there in order to fulfil the specific requirements of the time. In fact, unlike in our situation where we were focussed solely on our child, this story is only in part about Jesus. Both Jesus and Mary needed to go to the Temple that day in order to comply with the various religious customs.
You see, forty days after birth a Jewish woman was required to present herself to the local temple in order to prove that she was fit to re-join society. I know that might jar with our 21st century ears, but there’s no getting away from why Mary and Joseph were at the temple that day. Maybe in today’s equivalent we might liken this to a new Mum visiting the GP for their 6 week check up.
Now, in order to prove her suitability to re-enter the community, the mother is required to offer a sacrifice. A lamb is the usual offering for a first born son, but Mary and Joseph don’t offer a lamb. Instead, they give a pair of doves or two young pigeons. Why, I wonder?
Quite simply it was because they were poor. The bird offerings were there as an alternative; for those who simply couldn’t afford to bring the regular sizeable giving. There are to be no goat yoga classes for Mary and Joseph. They could not afford the luxury.
And so the day arrives and Mary and Joseph travel to the temple in order to satisfy the requirements.
But suddenly the focus shifts, doesn’t it. As the narrative unfolds we are no longer thinking about Mary and her sacrificial giving, but rather this remarkable child who is recognised for who He will become.
Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.’
These amazing words are spoken by the prophet Simeon. We know very little about Simeon other than what we’ve heard today, but I wonder if like me you can sense the sound of relief and joy in his voice. Simeon was an elderly man and had been promised by God that he would see The Messiah, the saviour, before he departed this world. The sound of euphoria as he gazed upon the ‘light for revelation to the Gentiles’. Simeon recognises Jesus as the Messiah long before anyone else does. If we had a bible timeline here we’d see that The Wise Men haven’t yet arrived and the Shepherds only recognised the Christ child with a little (or a lot) of help from the heavenly host of angels giving them some pretty clear directions.
Simeon recognises Jesus as He is and is to be. The Saviour of the world. The hope for the nations. The light for the Gentiles.
It’s truly wonderful and it doesn’t stop there. Prophets, it seems, are very much like London Buses. You wait around all day for one and then two come along at once. Before the Holy Family leave the temple, they are greeted by Anna, another prophet and another of God’ messengers. Not only did Anna recognise the Christ child but she went one further. She told people about Jesus too…
It says:
Anna gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
She was not only a prophet but also an evangelist.
I wonder what people thought of her as she shared this joyful news. I wonder how many really took any notice of her, or whether they dismissed her and Simeon as barmy old people on some kind of religious trip.
There’s a lot to think about here. A wonderful passage of scripture of which I cannot do justice in 7 minutes. So let’s just do a little bit.
I wonder...where have you recognised God this week? Think of the moments when God has felt very close to you. Was that an expected or unexpected moment in your day? Was it where you thought it would be? Or perhaps God hasn’t seemed to be all that close this week at all? That’s ok, sometimes these things take patience. One of the things I find most satisfying about this story is not that Simeon and Anna recognised Jesus today, but I think about all the days that they spent in the temple and around the town just watching and waiting, praying and listening. Ready for God to speak, but not willing to jump the gun on seeing the Messiah. I wonder how long they had been waiting and whether, as seemingly very elderly members of the community, they contemplated whether they still had a part to play in God’s great story?
“Surely we must be getting too old for this”, they might have thought.
God is always willing to use us, irrespective of our age and stage in life.
All of this makes me think about where I might have seen God this week, but also about all the moments where I failed to recognise Him because I was in too much of a rush.
It makes me think about all the times I have missed an opportunity to spend time in the presence of God because I was being too lazy or distracted or anxious or stressed or self-absorbed. I fear I may well have missed quite a lot of Godly presence due to my own failings.
Perhaps this week I will try to remind myself to lift my eyes and look for God in amongst all the busyness and commotion of daily life. Where might God be present in my life today and tomorrow? Perhaps I will pray for the strength and longevity of Simeon and Anna, for faithfulness like them when I feel like giving up and going home. Perhaps I ought to pray for the perseverance of Mary and Joseph, a poor young couple with very little to give, who nonetheless turned up and did what was required of them. In that moment of faithfulness, they were astounded by the Godly encounters that played out before their very eyes.
Perhaps this week I will pray to be in God’s presence and crucially, be able to recognise it.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
Loving God, be present with us here this week. Amen.
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