We often say that Christmas is for children.This little story brings the infant Jesus with an old woman and perhaps a man facing death ( but we do not know his age) Simeon is waiting for the comfort/consolation of Israel. In Greek his name sounds like a sign, so we get a word play when he speaks to Mary. From Hebrew it would mean being heard or listening. Anna is related to John, so grace or favor. Mention is made of her tribe. it was blessed in Dt with all sorts of blessing, and the name itself means happy.The tribe is on the margins, however as it did not have the martial capability of driving out the inhabitants of its share of the promised land. Phanuel means face of god, and in later literature was an archangel's name.
I have always loved this little story in Luke’s gospel. I love how it is framed by both the old and the 8 day old child. I always feel a tinge of sadness, as Luke presents it as the couple slipping away like the way we picture the old year giving way to the infant 2015. Nonetheless they glory in seeing this child, and their thrill is similar to that of Is. 7-8 in the birth of a royal child. It may have been different than they expected, for they receive revelation it appears, but they catch sight of a lifetime hope before their own lives close.
We do well to pay attention to entry points in a gospel and then keep an eye out if they are placed into an ending frame. Purification ritual for Mary alone from Leviticus , or it could be that the family or mother and child are in need of ritual cleansing/purification. By the time of Jesus the link to Adam and Eve in Eden and the temple as holy space was clear. So we are in quite a thicket here, a holy child, in a holy place, needs to undergo the same ritual of purification as everyone else.The sacrificial offering was a adjusted for poverty here. This is the clearest evidence from Lu,e that Mary and Joseph were not well off.
Jesus is circumcised and the rite of purification here is a bit muddled, perhaps. To be of god’s people included a phsycial mark on males very quickly, after the first week fo their young life.In our time, we have resistance to it as causing some pain or a sense of disfugurement ot boys, but we see it as a public health measure an dhav elost its relgious significance unless one is Jewish. He is marked as one of the people, but he is also marked for suffering. Life carries pain with it. Today, circumcision has the prayer for the speedy arrival of Messiah. It has a prayer for the child’s well-being, marriage, and good deeds and reverence for God. blood is drawn from the wound.the bit of blood required of him at 8 days prefigures the blood pouring from him at the end of his young life. What does it mean to require a bit of flesh from God’s own? Jesus is made part of a people, a Jewish citizenship if you will. He is connected by an ancient, even primitive act.8th day and resurrection??
The year is closing on the calendar. In the church marking of time,we are well into a new year.Look back over the past year and decide that some things deserve to be cast aside and tossed out.Look with care at what is being born,what is generative in your life.
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