Gospel Notes by Michael Whelan SM
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 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:22-32 – NRSV).
This is the shorter version. The longer version – with verses 33-40 – may be used.
Introductory notes
General
Luke situates the birth of the Messiah firmly within the Jewish tradition. This traditional context has already been indicated. For example, Mary’s Song of Praise – Luke 1:46-55 – clearly echoes the Song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1-10. In today’s Gospel there are five references to the fulfilment of the Mosaic Law – see verses 22, 23, 24, 27 and 39.
Specific
purification according to the law of Moses: The need for purification applies to the mother. “According to Lev 12:2–8 a woman who bore a male child was considered unclean for forty days; after seven days the child had to be circumcised (on the eighth), and the mother had to wait at home for thirty-three days, ‘until the days of her purifying were completed’ (12:4), befor she could touch anything sacred or enter the Temple courts. The time was doubled for a female child, fourteen + sixty-six days. After the fortieth (or eightieth) day she was to bring to a priest serving that week in the tent/Temple a one-year old lamb for a whole burnt offering (or holocaust) and a young pigeon or turtledove for a sin-offering to make expiation. If she could not afford the lamb, then she was to offer two turtledoves or two young pigeons” (Joseph A Fitzmyer, The Gospel according to Luke I–IX: introduction, translation, and notes (Vol. 28), New Haven; London: Yale University Press, 2008, 424).
to present him to the Lord: Luke is not always precise in his linking the rituals associated with Jesus birth and the traditions of the Mosaic Law. (This may be explained by the fact that Luke is neither Jewish nor Palestinian.) We are reminded of the presentation of Samuel by his mother, Hannah, in 1 Sam 1:22–24. Then Luke seems to imply that this in accord with the Mosaic Law. In Exodus 13:1-2 we read: “Yahweh said to Moses, ‘Consecrate to me every firstborn—whatever is the first to open every womb among the people of Israel, both human and animal, is mine’.” However, the primary focus for Luke is the “presentation of the child in the Jerusalem Temple, a custom about which nothing is said either in the OT or in the Mishnah. Such a custom for a firstborn son is simply unknown in Jewish tradition. Moreover, there is nothing either about the need of a purification of the firstborn son” (Joseph A Fitzmyer, op cit, 425).
a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon: Simeon was the name of one of the sons of Jacob – see Genesis 49:5 – and of one of the tribes of Israel – see Numbers 1:23. The description of Simeon as “upright and devout” “places him, along with Zechariah and Elizabeth, Joseph and Mary, and Anna, among the representatives of faithful Jews of Palestine in the period immediately preceding the birth of Jesus” (Joseph A Fitzmyer, op cit, 426).
looking forward to the consolation of Israel: Luke not only looks back, drawing on the traditions of the Mosaic Law, he looks forward to what Israel expects of God. The faithful of Israel trusted God’s promise to redeem Israel. And so the prophetess Anna “began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (2:38). Later we meet Joseph of Arimathea: “He came from the Jewish town of Arimathea, and he was waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God” (23:51). “Luke does not further explain the ‘consolation of Israel, but it is to be understood as the postexilic hope for God’s eschatological restoration of the theocracy to Israel” (Ibid).
the Holy Spirit rested on him: The Holy Spirit of God book-ends Luke’s Gospel – the Holy Spirit comes upon Mary at the Annunciation (1:35) and the disciples are clothed with “the power from on high” (24:49). Then Acts records the beginning of the spread of the Good News with the Pentecost event (2:1-10).
Reflection
The Jewish writer and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel (1928-2016), tells a story from the (Jewish) Hasidic tradition. The story ends with the enigmatic observation: “God made man because he loves stories” (The Gates of the Forest, New York: Avon Books, 1967, 10). Doesn’t our lived experience bear this out? We all love a good story – if our minds have not been so corrupted by the mythology of rationalism that dominates our culture. Stories make deeper truths available to us, truths that so-called evidenced-based thinking simply cannot access. Does this mean evidence-based thinking is to be dismissed? Absolutely not! Evidence-based thinking is useful, even necessary at times, especially so in the laboratory. But when we are in search of the deeper truths of life, stories – in one form or another – must take us where evidenced-based thinking cannot go.
The American journalist, Fulton Oursler (1893 – 1952), is probably best known for his 1949 classic, The Greatest Story Ever Told: A Tale of the Greatest Life Ever Lived (Doubleday). This novel of the life of Christ, is still available as a Penguin paperback. The actual story of the life of Christ is still available too, in our own lives, in the lives of the people around us and in the events of our world. Oursler is one of many who have tried to tell the story over the years, beginning with the Gospel writers. In today’s Gospel – Luke 1:1-4 and 4:14-21 – we read the opening sentences of Luke’s Gospel. Luke tells us that he is putting in writing things that “were handed on to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and servants of the word”. Those “eyewitnesses and servants of the word” have passed on accounts of historical events surrounding the man, Jesus of Nazareth. Ironically, there is evidenced-based thinking here. But that only gives the context, not the text. Every text must have its context to be rightly understood. The story of Jesus Christ will be told and re-told until the Last Day – more or less well, more or less badly.
We can think of ourselves as participants in that story – the greatest story ever told. We are story-tellers in the way we turn up for life each day, in the way we respond to life’s gifts and tasks, the way we open ourselves to His Presence in each moment – or we don’t. We must never forget that the ultimate story-teller is God and the ultimate – the final – story is the story of the victory of love over hate, good over evil, the truth over the lie.
When we make a mess of our part of the story, that is never the final word, never the end of the story. To believe that would be to despair. The real story, the enduring story, the unending story, the greatest story ever told, is the story of Jesus of Nazareth. He is Lord! We are baptized into His story. And that can never be changed.
What is religion?
In today’s Gospel – Luke 2:22-32 – we are given a glimpse inside the religious world of Mary and Joseph and their newborn baby: “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 . . .” All human beings exist within four interdependent relationships – with “God” – however with name “God” – with our selves, with other people and with the events and things of our world. Religion is one structure that enables us to live well within these relationships. When religion forgets its raison d’être, and becomes, for example, too focused on organization and ritual, doctrine and law or power and prestige, it shifts from being religion to being an ideology. History rightly teaches us to be afraid of ideologues who have God on their side.
Jesus’ ministry will be significantly shaped by the struggle to call the people back to the truth of their religion grounded, as it is, in the Covenant. That Covenant is the very heart and soul of Judaism and it is first and foremost God’s initiative – out of love God chooses to relate with this people and through them with the whole of humanity. The religion of the people then is a response to that choice: “For you are a people holy to the Lord your God; it is you the Lord has chosen out of all the peoples on earth to be his people, his treasured possession” (Deuteronomy 14:2).
God is saying: “Will you let me love you?” That invitation is enfleshed in Jesus. Discipleship is our “Yes!” to him – a “Yes!” that must be renewed many times every day. And our repeated “Yes!” gradually comes to shape everything we are, everything we do. Thus, our relating to ourselves changes, our relating to others changes, our relating to the events and things of our world changes. The key is that most radical of all human possibilities offered in the invitation: “Will you let me love you?”
Three times the Holy Spirit is mentioned in this religious scene of Jesus’ Presentation: “The Holy Spirit rested on (Simeon). It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple . . .” The heart and soul of the religion that springs from Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, is the Holy Spirit of God. God’s Spirit and our spirit work together (see Romans 8:16). There we find both the energy and direction of our religion as Christians.
We are not Stoics who simply seek the fruits of rational arguments, personal will and self-discipline. St Paul reminds us that we are people baptized into Christ (Romans 6:3). In him is the healing of all relationships: “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17-19).
What is my understanding of religion?