Luke 2:22-40

Gospel according to Luke 2:22-40

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph brought the child Jesus 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 it 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 Christ of the Lord. 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 blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thought of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” When Mary and Joseph had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

Reflections

The Gospel narrative took place between the eight days after the birth of Jesus, when, according to Jewish law, his parents brought him to the temple to be circumcised, and the fortieth day, on which Mary was also purified, and could return to her usual activities after childbirth. The offering that was required for this occasion was a lamb, or, if the parents could not afford it, two small birds, such as pigeons or turtle doves. Today’s reading tells us that Jesus’s parents could not afford a lamb, and so they offered two small birds.

We know that during the circumcision, they gave the newborn the name “Yeshua,” or “Savior,” just as the Angel Gabriel instructed Mary. The name Jesus was common among Jewish people at that time, and the meaning of it is the “Rescuer,” or the “Savior.” On the fortieth day, Mary had ritual bath, called Mikvah, with a prayer and blessings. This completed “everything required” by the law following the birth of a child.

Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph, followed everything as it was prescribed in the law concerning the traditions and laws that had to be observed about the newborn. Although Jesus did no need to be purified, and neither his mother Mary, they fulfilled all their obligations under the law, signifying that the life of Jesus as a newborn was as ordinary as that of any other newborn at that time.

Yet, how can one expect that Jesus’ life would be ordinary after his miraculous annunciation and conception? There was a miracle here to be observed in the everyday life of this seemingly ordinary family, presenting their newborn to the Lord in the temple.

Simeon, a very old a wise man, led by the Spirit, visited the Temple at the same time when Jesus’s parents brough the baby there to be circumcised. He held the baby in his arms and thanked God for allowing him to live to see the Lord’s salvation. He also warned the parents that there will be many challenges and suffering to come before the God’s plan will be completed. Mary remembered these words because she did not understand them at the time, and she kept pondering what the meaning of Simeon’s words may mean.

At the end of the narrative, we find the Holy Family returning to Nazareth, where the child continued to grow. This gospel narrative does not make reference to the perilous journey to Egypt that Joseph and Mary had to make under the cover of the night to save the life of their baby from being murdered in Betlehem by the soldiers sent by the jealous King Herod. It does not cover the ten years that followed living in Egypt after which the Holy family returned to Nazareth when Herod died. It only reassures us that after some time, Jesus’s life continued in safety and security with Mary and Joseph, and he “grew in wisdom because the favor of the Lord was upon him.”

Despite the trials and tribulations, the times of great anxiety and danger, the Holy Family kept living their promise to God. They lived an ordinary life that was not at all ordinary in many ways. The nurturing and providing for a child like for any human child, in extraordinary circumstances, made the life of the Holy Family seemingly ordinary. Raising God’s Son in His constant presence and under His protection, made it extra-ordinary.

We can contemplate our lives in these terms of ordinary and extra-ordinary. Our everyday responsibilities are the ordinary happenings that make up the chain of events in our lives. Our connection in spirit, and whenever we are “moved by the Spirit,” makes up the extraordinary part.

Beyond thinking that one part is ordinary, and the other is extraordinary, we can conceptualize that everything ordinary hides a manifestation of the extraordinary or can potentially invite the extraordinary to enter the ordinary. At least, we can allow to be met by the extraordinary at any ordinary moment.

To appreciate the point of connection between the finite and the infinite requires faith to see how the plan of God can unfold in our lives just like in the lives of the Holy family. Every point can be a point of connection when we offer it to God and invite Him to enter ordinary moments to transform our ordinary activities as part of something greater. When we offer everything that happens to us to his extraordinary care, then step by step his healing plan can unfold in our lives, and touch others.