The Presentation of the Lord

A little boy who is annoyed at his baby brother’s crying and screaming asks his mother, “Mom! Where did we get him from anyway?” “Oh! He came from heaven,” his mother replies “Well I can see why they threw him out,” the boy says.
Over two thousand years ago Mary and Joseph not only believed that their son Jesus was truly from heaven but also offered him back to God. In any culture the birth of a child is an occasion that evokes family, religious, and social traditions. The birth of Jesus was also greeted with Jewish traditional religious practices. Today’s gospel story is a part of the birth of Jesus and, it takes place forty days after his birth in the Temple in Jerusalem. It is called the presentation or dedication of Jesus in the temple.
When the sacrifice is completed, Mary and Joseph meet two elderly people in the temple – Simeon and Anna. I would like to invite your attention to these two elderly people. When Jesus is brought to them Simeon and Anna immediately recognize that this child is no ordinary child. Simeon takes the infant into his arms and blesses God saying, whereas Anna thanks God for the child, and begins to tell others the good news. One’s thing is very clear and that is Simeon and Anna have lived all their lives waiting for the promise of God – the coming of the Messiah. They are very faithful to God and give to God appropriate offerings. While doing all these things, at the same time they wait patiently for the promise of God to be fulfilled. Their prayer, fasting and service in the temple of the Lord are not for their own good, (loneliness, pain and misery) but for the people of God.
What is the message for us? Their story is a reminder of the saying, “Good things come to those who wait.” Simeon and Anna are symbolic figures for all those who walk the long road of faith and who wait on the Lord while holding on to their lives. Like Simeon and Anna, we are heirs to the promise. Since our baptism we have begun the long journey to see the face of Jesus Christ. But to do so successfully, we must wait patiently, expectantly, eagerly and hopefully. We must continue to do what we are supposed to do. We must be faithful to God and do what is right before God. We must keep looking for Him. We must keep going to worships and saying our prayers. We must keep reading and meditating on the scriptures. We must keep thanking and praising the Lord in all circumstances. Faith is nothing more than believing in God even when we do not see or hear Him all the time.