“A Community emerges from Waiting” Luke 2: 22-38

The Sunday after Christmas. The presents have been unwrapped. The Christmas dinner eaten. The relatives are on their way home. And it would seem like there is nothing left to say or celebrate - the candles have been lit, Christmas hymns sung, and now we just get back to life as normal.

But that isn’t true at all for those of us in the Christian faith. The celebration doesn’t end after Christmas day. In fact, some of my favorite narratives surrounding the birth of Jesus are yet to come. They are just often forgotten in the Christmas hustle and bustle.

We pick up on the story of Jesus’ life today about forty days after he was born. Thirty-two days after he was ritually circumsized. Now he and his parents are back at the temple again, this time for Mary’s ritual cleaning, the sacrifice of two doves or pigeons, or if she was of wealthy means a lamb, that would allow her to enter the sanctuary again, worship, and handle sacred things. 

I always find this part of the story humorous in a way that only God could have designed. Mary is now allowed to handle sacred things, yet in her arms she holds the most sacred person in history. In the words of author Liz Curtis Higgs, “Think of it! Mary brought no sacrificial lamb, yet in her arms she bore the Lamb of God”. Mary held the very one who would be the sacrificial lamb for us on the cross. And Jesus, the very son of God, is being presented like all other first born male children before God. Higgs comments, “There is something wonderful about Jesus the Son being presented to God the Father”.

Mary and Joseph were still located in Bethlehem at this point - a five or six mile walk from the temple in Jerusalem. So they gathered their infant and their sacrifice, heading in the early morning hours for the temple. Maybe they were thinking of the much longer journey they had taken just a few weeks earlier that resulted in the birth of Jesus. Maybe they were still caught in awe of everything that has happened - the shepherds, the angels, the star. But nothing could have prepared them for the community they would encounter in the temple that day.

As Joseph presented the sacrifice of the birds to the priest, Jesus and Mary would have waited in the court of women. As Joseph approached, a movement caught their eye - an uncommon sight, an old man rushing towards them. Simeon isn’t described in scripture as a priest or a prophet, yet that is how he acted that day as he approached the couple. We are simply told that he is righteous and devout. We know nothing else about him other than the meaning of his name, “he has heard”. And he has heard, he has heard the call of the Holy Spirit within his heart prompting him to be at the temple that day. Somewhere along the time line of his life he had been told by God that he would not die without seeing the Messiah, and something tugged at his heart to tell him that today would be the day.

On one hand, Simeon seems eccentric, picking up the infant Jesus and holding him in his arms as a stranger. But sometimes the Holy Spirit leads us to do eccentric things, things other people won’t understand when we are so filled with the joy of the Lord. And Simeon was surely filled with such joy. We know his spiritual condition. Know that he was open to the movement of the Holy Spirit. And as he held the baby Jesus, words that must have shocked his parents started to flow. First he started with a blessing for both parents, telling them that this day he was beholding the Messiah with his very eyes, just as God had promised. Jesus was only about six weeks old at this point, yet in him Simeon saw eternity and salvation. 

He went on to declare that this child would be the consolation of Israel. To console is to comfort, especially in the face of grief, and Israel surely has much to grieve. They have wandered into sin, even as God’s chosen people. They have doubted God’s promises. Broken God’s covenant. They have sought after salvation through Kings, prophets, wars, and the law, instead of seeking the heart of God. Now Jesus, would offer them true salvation, true restoration in their relationship with God. And now that Simeon knew that, now that he had laid eyes on the promised Messiah, he could die in peace.

Watching people as they approach their death bed can either be enlivening for our spirits or heartbreaking. Sometimes you see people who just cannot let go, cannot leave their bodies behind because they feel that they have unfinished business, unspoken words, or unkept promises. Simeon was not like this - he now believed that he had been blessed by God and could die in peace. He had witnessed the one who would restore Israel. 

After Simeon finished praising God he offered a prophecy just for Mary, albeit not a comforting one at all. He told her that her son would be disliked by many and that her soul would be pierced. Could you imagine as a young mother hearing these words, especially on the day when you are dedicating your son? What must Mary have felt as she left Simeon’s presence? Had she been blessed or cursed?

But shortly after meeting Simeon, Mary and Joseph were greeted with joy by the prophet Anna. As a female prophet, Anna was very rare. When I imagine Anna, I think of the quintessential story tale crone, very old, filled with wisdom but marginalized by society. Anna was marginalized because she was only married for seven years before her husband died. She didn’t bear any children, which we heard was seen as a sign of God’s displeasure when we studied the character of Elizabeth during Advent. Yet, Anna did something very odd in her widowhood at an early age - she didn’t try to remarry or have children, instead in the words of Higgs, she “ran to God, giving her broken heart and her service”. 

How many of us would do the same things? Run to God with our heartbreak and strive to serve the Kingdom of God first, even in our grief? We are told that Anna never left the temple, she worshiped and prayed and fasted night and day. What I love about this passage of scripture is that the words served and worshiped are used interchangeably, they were one and the same to Anna. 

We don’t know if Anna overheard Simeon’s blessing, or if her heart too was tugged on by the Holy Spirit, but either way she began to praise God for Jesus. In fact, as soon as she opened her mouth, praise sprung forth. She was one of the first evangelists, telling everyone about this child. 

Mary and Joseph surely left the temple in shock from the prophecies and blessings. They entered to perform a standard sacrifice, just like Zechariah, but left filled with messages of hope and unsettling words of what was to come for their son.

During the season of Advent we talked about what it means to wait in community. To wait for that which we cannot quite grasp, but know is to come. To wait with accountability, love, and challenge. Now as Advent has ended and Christmas has erupted, we see even more beauty that community has to offer - words of wisdom, hope, and promise. Consolation when prophecies are difficult to hear. Men and women who are lead by the Holy Spirit to be in our lives for a purpose, that we may or may not understand. A community that shouts with joy and proclaims that the Lord’s favor rests on us.

Community can come in unexpected places - maybe a worshipping community or a small group. Maybe around the dinner table. Or maybe in the words of a stranger. The question is - are we willing to open ourselves up to such community? Are we willing to stick it out and see what emerges from the seasons of waiting? And are we willing to be open to the movement of the Holy Spirit, so through community, we can be the Simeons and Annas in other people’s lives - speaking words of hope and promise at just the right times and places? Amen.