The Presentation of the Lord celebrates a moment that was precious
to Mary, the mother of Jesus. We hear
about it in the Gospel of Luke, which has a very Marian flavor to it. The encounter with Simeon and Anna at the
Temple 40 days after the birth of Jesus was etched into the memory of Mary and
she pondered it often in her heart.
Fulfillment of the precepts of Jewish Law was a value to
Joseph, who is identified as a “just man.”
He and Mary experienced the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem under unusual circumstances. Coming to the Temple could serve to put
things back on an even path. Instead,
the visit opened up a moment of prophecy, which is always at least slightly
unsettling.
A sacrifice to redeem the firstborn connected the story of
this small family to the history of Israel and the Exodus. Simeon associated the Child’s presentation as
the fulfillment of the Holy Spirit’s personal promise to him that he would not
die before seeing the Messiah, the Light to the Nations and the glory of the
People of God. Anna, watching the proceedings,
was able to see that what the ordinary folks were waiting for was beginning to
happen.
God has invited the world to receive the gift of a
relationship with Him. In Jesus Christ, separate
worlds and intimate promises experienced in personal prayer are brought
together. Dreams are fulfilled when we walk
the journey of Faith according to the plan God has mapped out for us.
Are you able to recall moments of grace in your own life
where everything came together for you, when you glimpsed in an instant the
past, the present and the future and you knew everything would be okay? Who has been with you in that experience? How does it serve you now when you call it to
mind? What new light do you see?
The Presentation is about presenting the perfect human
nature of the Son back to His Father.
God has claimed us as His own through Jesus Christ. What does that mean for our life
together? What do you hear God inviting
you to be and us to be together? Let us give
our own humanity to God that He may bring us all to unity in Christ.
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