Simeon took him in his arms and praised God…Anna began
to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the
redemption of Jerusalem.
Our Orthodox brothers and sisters call this story “The
Meeting.” It is the meeting of Mary,
Joseph and Jesus with Simeon and Anna in the Temple. It is the meeting of the new with the
old. It is the meeting when the old
recognizes the new in such a way that nothing will ever be the same.
As a meeting, it feels a bit like any time a newborn is
presented for the first time to relatives or friends. I love to be present when such a meeting
happens. Who doesn’t feel for a moment
that the future of the whole world is in your arms? Power comes out from that child, the power of
birth, the power of love, the power of hope.
All
those things Simeon must have felt when Mary handed over her child to him. There clearly was a kind of immensity in that
child for him and the glory of God that was no longer a dream, but a present,
weighty reality. Simeon had long waited
for the appearance of one who would set things right, and here he was. How, he did not know. It had not been a baby
for which he had been waiting.
But
his sense that it was indeed this baby was confirmed in the eyes of this girl,
his mother, hardly old enough to be a mother, but with wisdom that went deep
into her soul. This was the one who
later generations would dare to call Theotokos,
“God bearer.” And those same people
would remember him, Simeon, as having represented all of humanity as Theodokos. “God receiver.”
I
love in this story how traditional gender roles are blurred. Simeon, God-receiver, plays the spiritual
mid-wife in the story. His compatriot,
Anna, is the messenger, the prophet, who announces what has happened to anyone
who will listen. The implication is that
those will listen who long for something more, who know that Jerusalem, and all
it represents, is in need of redemption.
I
like this title “The Meeting,” because it is a word that occasionally gets used
for church and there is a sense in which this is the first meeting of the church. Jesus’ life-giving, challenging,
transformative presence is acknowledged, praise is given, and testimony, and
parents trying to do the right thing by their children and their God.
And
one of the things I want to say is that everyone in this story belongs and
plays a critical part. I’m getting more
and more tired of the narrative we have spun about the impending death of the
church, having a lot to do with the aging of the church and how all we need is
some young people come and save the day.
It’s an example of how little bits of reality can develop into a story
that begins to define who we are.
The
truth is we need everybody and the church’s future does not depend on anyone
coming to our rescue. It depends upon
our faithfulness, our ability to continue to be God-receivers and prophetic
tellers of the story of good news to the world.
Young people are essential to that story, but so are elders.
The
Meeting needs everybody if it is going to be redemptive.
The
second thing I have to say about this Meeting is what preceded it that was
absolutely essential to its occurrence. Simeon,
it is said, “Was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of
Israel.” Anna had spent an age in the
Temple waiting and was ready to speak to all those who were waiting for the redemption
of Jerusalem.
Simeon
and Anna were two faithful people who understood the vital importance of
longing, longing for consolation, redemption, liberation, shalom, peace. They knew that
things were not right and they knew they needed a Savior.
This
was not waiting as a passive acceptance of the status quo until somebody else
comes along to fix it. No, it is active
waiting, imaginative waiting that uses every tool it can to build the kingdom
for which it waits.
But
in that active waiting there is the reality that everything is not all right,
that there are plenty of swords to pierce our souls, to cause suffering and
threaten despair, but the waiting, the steadfast waiting, always trumps the
darkness, because we all, like Simeon, can sing
Lord, you now have set your servant free, to go in
peace as you have promised, for these eyes of mine have seen the Savior…
And perhaps that is where our storytelling might
begin. When have you had a Simeon and
Anna moment, a glimpse of your Savior, your liberation, in such a way that you
can trust it and keep on longing for more?
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