Presentation Of The Lord

Readings: Ml 3:1-4; Heb 2:14-18; Lk 2:22-40

The Messiah Enters the Temple

Already the prophet Malachi (First Reading: Ml 3:1-4) had foretold that “immediately” the Messiah would enter the Temple. And Daniel (Dan 9:24-27), had specified that this would happen after 70 mysterious “weeks.” The sum of the chronological data marking the events around the Lord’s Christmas is precisely 490 days (6 months between the annunciation to Zechariah and that to Mary (1:26. 36), that is 180 days, nine months between the annunciation to Mary and the birth of Jesus, that is 270 days, 40 days between Christmas and the presentation of Jesus in the Temple (Lev. 12:3), equal to the “70 weeks of days” of Dan. 9:24 after which the Messiah would enter the Temple to “atone for iniquity, bring everlasting righteousness”;

In the Temple Jesus is welcomed by two poor old men, Simeon and Anna, but who are presented to us as models of believers.

The name Simeon calls to listening: Sim’on in Hebrew means “He who listens.” Simeon is a man of listening, steeping himself in meditation on Scripture, which he recalls twice, with two quotations from Isaiah (Is 52:10; 49:6). He is a man adept at reading the Bible, which he knows how to actualize in his life, understanding that he himself is savoring the Lord’s salvation in the fragile flesh of that newborn presented in the Temple.

He is a man inhabited by the Holy Spirit: three times the action of the Spirit is spoken of him (Lk 2:25-27). Simeon is a man who has delved into Scripture, and thus has allowed himself to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and has become a prophet.

He is a man who even in his old age continues to hope, to wait: “He waited for the consolation of Israel” (Lk 2:25).

Simeon is not a man closed in on himself, bent on his past: he is open to the future. He is capable of wonder, of amazement. He is not a man tired and embittered by life, jealous of the past, distrustful, fearful: he is a person open to the new, capable of dreaming, projected into the future.

Simeon is also a welcoming man, capable of tenderness, gently taking that little child into his arms. “Simeon says, ”My eyes have seen your salvation” (Lk 2:30). He sees the Child and he sees salvation. He does not see the Messiah performing wonders, but a little baby. He does not see something extraordinary, but Jesus with his parents, who bring to the temple two turtle doves or two pigeons, that is, the most humble offering. Simeon sees the simplicity of God and welcomes his presence. He does not seek more, does not ask or want more, it is enough for him to see the Child and take him in his arms, “Nunc dimittis, now you can let me go” (Luke 2:29). God as he is is enough for him. In Him he finds the ultimate meaning of life” (Pope Francis).

Simeon above all is a praying man. Although he feels close to death, he is not a man who regrets to God the present decay, but is capable of thanksgiving, praise, and blessing. Luke puts on his lips a wonderful hymn, the “Nunc dimittis.”

And precisely because Simeon is experiencing in totality the coming God, the “Nunc dimittis” is also the prayer of an old man serenely preparing to die. Simeon openly challenges the taboos of modern man, who rejects the concept of aging and tries to remove the thought of death. For he has accepted that Jesus who, the Second Reading tells us, “came to set free those who, for fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives” (Heb. 2:14-18). And he acknowledges that he has lived a full life in which he was able to experience to the full the power of God.

Simeon then, defined by scripture as a “righteous man” (Lk 2:25), that is, in deep intimacy with God, and “God-fearing” (Lk 2:25), that is, humble before the Creator, is the perfect example of the kalògheros, the “Calogero” of the Eastern tradition, that is, the elderly kalos, beautiful, fully realized by a life of Faith and obedient discipleship.

Anna, too, is an example of aging according to God. It is no accident that Luke says of her, “Anna, daughter of Fanuel, of the tribe of Asher” (Luke 2:36). Already encapsulated in these three person names is the story of this woman: for Anna in Hebrew means “favor,” “grace,” Fanuel means “face of God,” “vision of God,” or even “who sees God,” Aser means “happy,” “blessed,” “blessed.” For Anna is “blessed” and has the joy of “seeing God” in the newborn presented in the Temple, and thus becomes truly “blessed.”

And Anna, at the age of 84, became Jesus’ first preacher, the first evangelizer: “She spoke of the child to those who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Lk. 2:38).

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