The Presentation of our Lord

"This man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel" (Luke 2:25)

In case you haven't noticed, Forty is a big number in the Bible. It rained for forty days and forty nights while Noah was in the Ark. Moses was on Mt. Sinai for forty days before he received the Ten Commandments. The Israelites wandered in the wilderness for forty years between Egypt and the Promised Land they would eventually settle. Jesus fasted in the desert for forty days, and was seen on this earth for forty days after his crucifixion. And lesser known, it is forty days from December 25th to February 2nd. It is on that day when the Church celebrates the Feast of the Presentation of our Lord Jesus in the Temple at Jerusalem, which all Israelite parents were required to do forty days after the birth of their child.

It is one of the very few weekday feasts of the Church which can be transferred to a Sunday. For many Christians throughout the world, this feast is marked by processions of candles. For it is on this day that the Christmas season finally ends. It is on this day that we turn, from the innocence and hope bound up in the baby, to the grown man who will preach, who will heal, and who will argue his way to the Cross.

What ties together all the "Forties" in the Bible is not really the exact number of days or years. These periods are always times of testing, of trial, perhaps even chastisement, but never a final judgment. For at the end of the Forty days, or months, or years, comes restoration, renewal, new hope, and new life. The Forty days, or months, or years, are a time of anticipation, of waiting. We don't know how many years ago Simeon was promised that he would not die before seeing the Messiah, the Christ, the Anointed. But he has been in his own Forty days, or months, or years. Sometimes, he has looked forward to this vision. Other times, he has simply waited for, hoped for, or doubted that this vision would come.

The Greek word translated as "looking forward," can also be translated as "waiting for." One word, with related, but two very different meanings. There is a big difference between saying that you're "looking forward" to something, or that you're "waiting for" something to happen. In the first, your heart is warmed by your reasonable and holy hope. In the second, it is all you can do to get up, go to the window and look outside for that something for which you've waited a long, long time.

Since we can't read Simeon's mind we don't know whether, on this fortieth day, Simeon was looking forward to the Messiah, or waiting for the Messiah. But this is the day. What did he see in this poor family bringing their child and the two birds, not a lamb, but two birds, the most that they could afford to offer? Given his warning to Mary, Simeon understood that no good news comes without someone trying to muck it up. He understood that the coming of Israel's anointed liberator would not be good news for those with a vested interest in the status quo, who already possessed the power and privileges which the world had given them. Perhaps he knew to look for Israel's messiah in the unexpected, the unassuming. With the eyes of his heart properly adjusted, he could see the light of the world shining from this mother and her most holy son.

And that was enough. Simeon was ready to be "dismissed," as we heard in today's reading, a nice euphemism for "die." To see this baby had to be enough for a lot of people. It would be another 30 years or so before the grown man would begin his public ministry. To see this baby probably had to be enough for Joseph, who is never mentioned after Jesus's childhood and was probably dead during his ministry. To see this baby had to be enough for the shepherds, at least the older ones. To see this baby had to be enough for the wise men. To see the hope and promise bound up in this baby was enough for Simeon to be "dismissed," to die looking forward to the consolation of Israel and all the nations.

Is it enough for us? But don't we know the rest of the story? Yes, but it's clear from Simeon's prediction to Mary that he was clued in on this infant's destiny. He knew the basic story already. And while Simeon wasn't a direct witness of the Resurrection; guess what, neither are we. We live and die on the hope and promise bound up in this baby just as much as Simeon did. Sometimes we are looking forward to the new life of Resurrection; and in that joy we have the enthusiasm to reach out to others, to share the hope beating strong within us. Other times, we're waiting, and waiting, for some glimpse of that new life, for some reason to keep hoping. Then, we are the ones who need reaching out to.

To borrow the euphemism from today's Gospel, I have been present at six "dismissals" in the past year. What constitutes "enough" for those who are grieving? There are as many answers as there are those who are grieving? And I would be insulting those who mourn to declare what is "enough" for them to look forward to their consolation. But we have also seen two "presentations" in the past year, have we not. And today, we all have the same image before us: The parents full of hope and fear, the old man and woman full of hope and weariness. And before them and us is the baby, who has grown up, who has died, and who has risen. May that be enough for us to keep reaching out, to keep looking forward, to the consolation of Israel's children.