Dec 29: The Presentation in the Temple

Andrea Mantegna: The Presentation in the Temple
Staatliche Museen, Berlin, 1460

The Fifth Day in the Octave of Christmas

Gospel: Lk 2:22-35

“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel (NRSV, Lk 2:29-32).”

Father in heaven, your evangelist Luke records how, in the resurrection, Jesus opened the minds of his apostles to understand what had been written about him in the scripture. It was only then that the apostles realized that the Lord Jesus was the fulfillment of all things. They accepted, Father, that you not only raised Jesus from the dead but that you exalted him by making him both Lord and Messiah. But your newly born Church could not long rest in that partial understanding. If, Lord, you glorified Jesus in his resurrection, that must have been true also of his entire public ministry, even beginning from his baptism by John. Mark, the first evangelist, makes this clear in the opening of his gospel: “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.”

But it was argued, if Jesus is Lord, Messiah and Son, not only from his resurrection, but also from his baptism, he must as well be Messiah and Son even from the beginning, his conception and his birth. This, Lord God, is what we read in the next two gospels, Luke and Matthew. Thus exclaimed your servant, Simeon, who believed that he would live to see the Messiah as promised him by your Holy Spirit: “My eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples.”

But the story of our salvation, Lord, does not finally have its origin merely in the conception and birth of Jesus. John’s gospel, the last to be written, acknowledges that Jesus had his beginning with you, Lord God, from eternity, that he is your Word through whom everything is created, your Word made flesh, your only begotten Son.

Lord God, your servant, Simeon, in the power of the Holy Spirit, recognized in Jesus the salvation of all peoples. Thank you, Lord God, for your revealing to us the coming to live in our midst of your Word made flesh, Jesus Christ, your only begotten son, who is God from God, light from Light, true God from true God. May we always celebrate, Lord God, the presence of your Word in the creation of all things, especially in the creation of each and every one of us, in whatever time and place, and the bestowing on us all a share in your divine life. We thank you so much, Father, for the gift of your Word, who challenges all of us, at every moment, to grow in your life and who always remains present to us, however we may turn away from you in sin, always calling us to turn back and accept your forgiveness that brings a renewal of your life within us.

Through the same Christ our Lord. Amen