Luke
2:22–35
And
when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they
brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the
law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the
Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the
Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in
Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout,
looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it
had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before
he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And inspired by the Spirit he came into the
temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him
according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God
and said, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy
word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the
presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory
to thy people Israel.”
And
his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; and Simeon
blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is set for the
fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is spoken against (and a
sword will pierce through your own soul also), that thoughts out of many hearts
may be revealed.”
Catholic Exegesis:
The Second
Vatican Council teaches that if we are to derive the true meaning from the
sacred texts, attention must be devoted
“not only to their content but to the unity of the whole of Scripture, the
living tradition of the entire Church, and the analogy of faith. […] Everything
to do with the interpretation of Scripture is ultimately subject to the
judgment of the Church, which exercises the divinely conferred communion and
ministry of watching over and interpreting the Word of God” (Dei Verbum, 12).
St. John
Paul II, when he promulgated the Catechism of the Catholic Church, explained that the Catechism "is a statement of the Church's faith and of
catholic doctrine, attested to or illumined by Sacred Scripture, the Apostolic
Tradition and the Church's Magisterium."
He went on to "declare it to be a sure norm for teaching the faith
and thus a valid and legitimate instrument for ecclesial communion" (Fidei Depositum).
Cited in the Catechism:
Passages from
this Gospel reading are cited in Catechism,
paragraphs 149, 529, 575, 583, 587, 618, 695, 711 and 713.
Commentary:
The purification of Mary and the presentation of Jesus in the temple
2:22–24. The Holy Family goes up to Jerusalem to fulfil
the prescriptions of the Law of Moses—the purification of the mother and the
presentation and then redemption or buying back of the first-born. According to
Leviticus 12:2–8, a woman who bore a child was unclean. The period of legal
impurity ended, in the case of a mother of a male child, after forty days, with
a rite of purification. Mary most holy, ever-virgin, was exempt from these
precepts of the Law, because she conceived without intercourse, nor did Christ’s
birth undo the virginal integrity of his Mother. However, she chose to submit
herself to the Law, although she was under no obligation to do so.
“Through this example, foolish child,
won’t you learn to fulfil the holy Law of God, regardless of any personal
sacrifice?
“Purification! You and I certainly do
need purification. Atonement and, more than atonement, Love. Love as a searing
iron to cauterize our soul’s uncleanness, and as a fire to kindle with divine
flames the wretchedness of our hearts” (St
Josemaría Escrivá, Holy Rosary,
fourth joyful mystery).
Also, in Exodus 13:2, 12–13 it is
indicated that every first-born male belongs to God and must be set apart for
the Lord, that is, dedicated to the service of God. However, once divine
worship was reserved to the tribe of Levi, first-born who did not belong to
that tribe were not dedicated to God’s service, and to show that they continued
to be God’s special property, a rite of redemption was performed.
The Law also laid down that the
Israelites should offer in sacrifice some lesser victim—for example, a lamb or,
if they were poor, a pair of doves or two pigeons. Our Lord, who “though he was
rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that by his poverty you might become
rich” (2 Cor 8:9), chose to have a poor man’s offering made on his behalf.
Simeon’s prophecy
2:25–32. Simeon, who is described as a righteous and
devout man, obedient to God’s will, addresses himself to our Lord as a vassal
or loyal servant who, having kept watch all his life in expectation of the
coming of his Lord, sees that this moment has “now” come, the moment that
explains his whole life. When he takes the Child in his arms, he learns, not
through any reasoning process but through a special grace from God, that this
Child is the promised Messiah, the Consolation of Israel, the Light of the
nations.
Simeon’s canticle (vv. 29–32) is also a
prophecy. It consists of two stanzas: the first (vv. 29–30) is an act of
thanksgiving to God, filled with profound joy for having seen the Messiah. The
second (vv. 31–32) is more obviously prophetic and extols the divine blessings
which the Messiah is bringing to Israel and to all men. The canticle highlights
the fact that Christ brings redemption to all men without exception—something
foretold in many Old Testament prophecies (cf. Gen 22:18; Is 2:6; 42:6; 60:3;
Ps 28:2).
It is easy to realize how extremely happy
Simeon was—given that many patriarchs, prophets and kings of Israel had yearned
to see the Messiah, yet did not see him, whereas he now held him in his arms
(cf. Lk 10:24; 1 Pet 1:10).
2:33. The Blessed Virgin and St Joseph marvelled not
because they did not know who Christ was; they were in awe at the way God was
revealing him. Once again they teach us to contemplate the mysteries involved
in the birth of Christ.
2:34–35. After Simeon blesses them, the Holy Spirit moves
him to further prophecy about the Child’s future and his Mother’s. His words
become clearer in the light of our Lord’s life and death.
Jesus came to bring salvation to all men,
yet he will be a sign of contradiction because some people will obstinately
reject him—and for this reason he will be their ruin. But for those who accept
him with faith Jesus will be their salvation, freeing them from sin in this
life and raising them up to eternal life.
The words Simeon addresses to Mary
announce that she will be intimately linked with her Son’s redemptive work. The
sword indicates that Mary will have a share in her Son’s sufferings; hers will
be an unspeakable pain which pierces her soul. Our Lord suffered on the cross
for our sins, and it is those sins which forge the sword of Mary’s pain.
Therefore, we have a duty to atone not only to God but also to his Mother, who
is our Mother too.
The last words of the prophecy, “that
thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed”, link up with v. 34: uprightness
or perversity will be demonstrated by whether one accepts or rejects Christ.
Source: The
Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries. Biblical text from the Revised
Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of the Faculty of
Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co.
Dublin, Ireland, and by Scepter Publishers in the United States. We encourage
readers to purchase The Navarre Bible
for personal study. See
Scepter Publishers for details.
"Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ."
St Jerome
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