THE PRESENTATION IN THE TEMPLE
22And when the
time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought
him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23(as it is written in the Law
of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the
Lord”) 24and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the
Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”
25Now there was
a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and
devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon
him. 26And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see
death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
27And he came in
the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to
do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28he took him up in his arms and
blessed God and said,
29“Lord, now you
are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word 30for my eyes
have seen your salvation 31that you have prepared in the presence of all
peoples, 32a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people
Israel.”
33And his father
and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34And Simeon blessed them
and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and
rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35(and a sword will
pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be
revealed.”
36And there was
a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was
advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was
a virgin, 37and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She did not
depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38And
coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him
to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
39And when they
had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into
Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
40And the child
grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.
LUKE
2:22-40
COMMENTARY
This story occurred
before the Maggi came to visit Jesus, and before the Holy Family fled to Egypt.
At forty days
from the birth of the Lord, Joseph and Mary went to the Temple to offer the
sacrifice prescribed by Moses for the religious cleansing of natural birth, and
to present Lord Jesus to God (Leviticus 12:1-4; Exodus 13:1-2).
The Law prescribed
a Lamb and a bird for the sacrifice, but if the person could not afford a lamb,
two birds could be offered instead (Leviticus 12:6-8), which was the case of
Mary and Joseph, indicating the level of poverty the Holy Family experienced,
even though they were not totally dispossessed, since the option for the
poorest was a single flour offering (Leviticus 5:11-13), where the ‘burn
offering’ was avoided, due to Lord YHWH’s generosity.
There was a holy
man in Jerusalem in those days, called Simeon, who was guided by the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit guided him to the Temple that day to meet Lord Jesus as
He had promised him before his death, that Simeon would not die before seeing
the Messiah (Luke 2:26).
This is
important passage because it denotes the personhood of the Holy Spirit. If the
Holy Spirit would be only an ‘energy’, the author would have said only that GOD
had promised to Simeon, but not the Spirit Himself. The Bible calls the Holy
Spirit, the ‘Spirit of God’ (1Corinthians 3:15; 2Corinthians 3:17), and here we
see Him working independently, which is a proper characteristic of the Holy
Trinity.
When Simeon saw
Jesus, he made a prophesy, praising God that allowed him to meet the promised Messiah
who will save the whole world and honor Israel, and told Mary that Jesus was
destined to ‘the fall and rising’ of many in Israel, speaking about the welcome
of some, and the rejection from others, which He will provoke, and that this
will ‘reveal the thoughts of many hearts’, referring to the spiritual condition
pre-existing on those who would reject Him. That is also why John says:
“Light has
come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their
deeds were evil.”
(John 3:19)
Simeon, also
warned Mary:
“A sword
will pierce through your own soul”
(Luke 2:35)
As announcing Jesus’s
passion, and how much this will hurt Mary who will see it.
Why only Mary
and not Joseph?
Joseph disappears
soon from the gospel narratives, which seems to indicate that Joseph passed away
and will not get to see the passion of our Lord. But St Mary did.
A prophetess,
Ana, a widow who lived in prayer by the Temple, also was there, and saw our
Lord, and testified about Him being the Messiah. He was one of those, who
consecrated their lives in singleness to God, since she had lived only seven years
married, and many more decades, single, for her own choice, in prayer and worship
to God (Luke 2:36-37).
Verse 39 to 40 refer
to a period posterior to the visit of the Maggi. When the Maggi came to see the
Lord, they met Him at Bethlehem, and this passage speaks of the Holy Family living
in Nazareth, which only happened after they returned from Egypt (Matthew
2:21-23).
There, Lord
Jesus grew strong, and wise, as any normal boy, according to his humanity.
Omar Flores.
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