Christmas and December 28:
Galatians 4:4-7 / Luke 2:22-40
Paul writes of God's Son, “born of a woman, born under the law.” In the first three verses of our Gospel, Luke mentions the law three times. He sounds more like Matthew here! Luke's likely Gentile audience isn't concerned about the Law of Moses, but Luke still wants to show where the Saviour of the world came from. Luke echoes Paul, driving home the truth that Jesus came into the world and began his life as a good Jewish son of faithful, if humble, Jewish parents.
We know nothing of Jesus' Galilean or Judean grandparents. Joseph's father has two different names in the gospel genealogies. Tradition assigns names and stories to Mary's parents. But Gabriel speaks to Mary by her own name, in her own right when he visits her in Nazareth. We only know that Joseph is a descendant of David, and some of his family live in Bethlehem. Mary and Joseph travel to Bethlehem on their own. They go up to Jerusalem as a family of three. At the temple they meet two wonderful spiritual grandparents.
Simeon and Anna are often overlooked. Their story comes up on one of those Sundays when many of us take a holiday from church. Christmas is exhausting! We need a break! Mary and Joseph are tired, too, as they trudge toward the temple. Ignored by congregations then and now, Simeon and Anna shuffle on and off the stage. Shouldn't the last act of our Christmas pageant be their shining moment? (For that matter, shouldn't John the Baptist have Act One, all to himself?) Simeon and Anna remind us, no matter how often we say it's so, Christmas isn't for the children.
Spiritual grandparents. They welcome Jesus into the family. They bind him with a cord of love that connects him to all the generations of his nation. With wisdom and insight they look ahead as only grandparents can, with both anticipation and warning. Both to be heeded!
Simeon is “righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rests on him.” He keeps the Law of Moses. He answers its call to prayer and sacrifice. He holds the hope of the prophets. We don't know if he's a prophet himself, or a priest, but the Spirit is upon him. He's the ideal elder of Israel, and he speaks and acts as both prophet and priest. Can we imagine Simeon acting out our first reading? Let's put Isaiah 62:1,2,3 in his heart, if not on his lips.
Anna is triply honoured. She has lived beyond the psalm's four score years! She has lived at least 60 of those years in the temple! She is recognized as a prophet! In Luke's telling, the shepherds are the first evangelists, in and around Bethlehem (2:20). Anna becomes the first evangelist to the temple and the city.
Mary and Joseph are “amazed at what was being said about Jesus.” Despite all they've heard about their son so far, could this be the first time they see the path they have to travel with him? Amazed? Scared! They need a blessing. They need assurance. They need vision. Who better to provide those necessities than Simeon and Anna? Grandparents indeed.
“The fullness of time …” When the time was right. Paul's words ring poignantly through this story. The time is right for Jesus. The time is right for the world. But it's the right time for Anna and Simeon to leave the stage. Simeon says it so well. “Let me go, Lord. You've given me everything I could ever have hoped for. And more.” Anna preaches the good news. That's the joyful end of her story. We hear no more of her.
As I write this I've just returned from a congregational retreat at our beautiful Synod camp. Over the weekend we thought about family trees, and the genealogies that are ours by birth and in the Spirit. The grandmothers among us helped us live what we were learning about. Our spiritual grandparents help us understand what Paul means when he says we're children, heirs and heiresses, of God.
