Who among us has ever been to an important meeting? Such a meeting could
have been through work, or with family, or some other social encounter.
Today, the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, we have been invited
to attend a very important meeting. Every time we come to Mass, we come to meet
the Lord in the context of the celebration of the Eucharist. And who here can
think of many times outside of the Mass when we have met the Lord, perhaps in
prayer or through being with someone we know who stands out to us as holy and
Christ-like?
On this Feast of the Presentation of the Lord, we remember and give
thanks for the times we meet the Lord in the Eucharist and also in one another;
especially the times when our meetings with the Lord have been through
unexpected people or events. Let us remember also the meetings that have been
upsetting, challenging, or even contentious. Many of us have been through these
kinds of meetings!
We remember and give thanks for the Presentation of the Lord Jesus in
the Temple of Jerusalem; a meeting with the Lord that, although it happened
almost two thousand years ago, may not be as distant as we think from our own
experience.
In Eastern Catholic and Orthodox traditions, the Presentation of Jesus
of which we hear in today’s Gospel reading from Luke is often simply called
“the meeting.” Who are the main invitees to this meeting that occurred forty
days after Jesus’ birth?
We hear of Mary and Joseph, of Simeon and Anna, and of the infant Jesus
at “the meeting” in the Temple. Since the earliest centuries of the Christian
Church, some of you may know, Mary has been called “God bearer” for having
carried God’s Son in her womb. Even fewer of us may know, and I learned within
this past week, that Simeon is called “God receiver” in many of these same Eastern
Christian traditions because Jesus was presented to and blessed by him in the
Temple.
When we think of bearers, or carriers, and receivers (especially those
who are football fans) we might think of another significant meeting; the great celebration of sport
happening this weekend: the Super Bowl. You have my blessing and my prayers for
a safe, fun celebration tomorrow/tonight should you be about to partake in…
this much less important celebration than the Mass, of course… Go Broncos!
More significantly, though, let us return to the first meeting between “God
bearer,” Mary, and “God receiver,” Simeon. Mary, along with Joseph, arrives for
the meeting to present Jesus in the Temple. Mary and Joseph also present “two
turtledoves or… young pigeons.” Although, as Luke says, this would have been an
acceptable offering under the Law of Moses for a poor family upon presenting
their newborn child, it would have been an unexpectedly simple offering for a
couple presenting, say the Son of God. Wealthier families would usually offer a
lamb at the presentation of a child.
Imagine this as though someone wealthy were to arrive at a formal
business meeting unkempt and in shabby clothes. This
might be expected attire for a poor person. And yet this is how Mary and Joseph
have, to this point, shown up for important meetings of which we hear in our
Gospels: First in a stable in Bethlehem, when they met the Magi at the
Epiphany, and now at the Temple of Jerusalem with Simeon and Anna. Many people,
not realizing that they were in the presence of God in the flesh, would
probably have dismissed Mary, Joseph, and Jesus as just another poor family.
Fortunately, Mary the “God bearer,” Joseph, and Jesus meet Simeon the
“God receiver,” an old man disarming in his simplicity, and Anna. How many
would have recognized Simeon, a man whom Luke says was “righteous and devout”;
a man in whom “the Holy Spirit” dwelt, as any more than a poor, elderly man?
How many would recognize Anna as a “prophetess”; as more than an elderly woman
who spent her time in the Temple? How many Simeons and Annas; Marys and Josephs
do we recognize among us today?
How are we also called to be “God bearers” and “God receivers”; devout and
yet humble; recognizing holy events and people who bring the presence of God into
our midst?
The “God bearer” meets the “God receiver,” and then something even more
remarkable happens: Simeon recognizes that this child Jesus is God in human
flesh. He has the once-in-a lifetime chance to meet his God; our God; to cradle
the Savior of the world in his arms!
To be sure, the beauty of this moment does not overcome the unsettling
turn that this meeting in the Temple then takes. This child is to bring
contradiction. Jesus will bring “the fall and rise of many in Israel,” Simeon
prophesies. His greatest disciple, Mary, will suffer most deeply as her Son is
rejected; mocked; humiliated; put to death on a cross!
And yet how many of us have ever avoided confrontation? How many of us
have resisted doing or saying what is most true or most just, for fear of being
“a sign of contradiction” as our Lord was; for fear of standing up for our
faith; for fear of ridicule? I am not saying that we should be counter-cultural
and divisive for the sake of being counter-cultural and divisive. There is much
to celebrate in our culture, for example Americans’ industriousness and
generosity that is admired here and abroad, which partisan squabbling too often
prevents from shining forth.
Mary, importantly, does not avoid the confrontation and contradiction
that her Son will cause, nor does she go looking for it. She does not storm out
of this meeting upset, as I wonder if she were tempted to do, but she remains and
ponders Simeon’s words. Years later, she will be there at the foot of the
cross, “God bearer” to the end: “And you yourself a sword shall pierce.”
For now, Mary, Joseph, and Jesus will go back to everyday life in
Nazareth as the child grows. Simeon sends the Holy Family and himself on their
way with a prayer that I would recommend for any meeting. Indeed, since the
ordained and religious and many laypeople pray Simeon’s prayer at night before
going to sleep, I would recommend this for all Christians as a prayer to end our
day.
Last week, my father asked me if I knew of a suitable prayer for an
upcoming meeting in the parish where I grew up near Edmonton, Canada. Dad is a captain
of ushers in our parish and prayer leader for his next meeting. I did not
immediately think of this when Dad asked me for a prayer for his meeting. But
imagine this prayer at a parish meeting; and even more if it were prayed every
day, as we recognize that every day and at all times we are “God bearers” after
Mary and “God receivers” after Simeon.
And so let us make Simeon’s last prayer our own, as we recognize that
every day for us is a meeting; an invitation to encounter our God:
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.
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