Luke Chapter 2 (NRSV)Once we get past the very familiar story of our Lord's birth in the first part of Chapter 2, we come to some stories that are rarely read in Sunday worship in the Episcopal Church.
You may remember the song that ancient Simeon sings when he sees Jesus brought as an infant to the temple on the eighth day after Jesus' birth (what we call Holy Name which falls on Jan 1.) That song, or canticle, is one of the most familar parts of Evensong. The story of Anna is similar to that of Simeon. In both cases we here of people who have spent their whole lives waiting to experience this apparently chance encounter with God. And having seen the infant Messiah, they know that they have completed their vigil - and essentially their life's tasks.
I've always found this sort of faithfulness and devotion inspiring. I wonder what it would be like for me to spend my whole life waiting for one vision or encounter with God - or with God's plan. I think it would be hard to have such unwavering faith in God over such a long time.
There's one time in my life that I met someone who had that sort of faith. I was a very young priest and was given the responsibility of leading a weekly bible study at a nursing home. The ladies (there were no men) who were living in the home ("for the duration" as they quipped) loved to come and sit while I read the Bible to them. We'd talk about the lesson and what it meant to them. They taught me a great deal. I made them laugh, and was happy to do that in exchange for the wisdom they shared.
There was this one person though who said something I've never forgotten. I had just read them the story of Sarah and Abraham - and how Sarah had been told that she was to have her first child in her late nineties, having waited her whole life for such a moment. Sarah laughed. I asked the ladies around the table, all of whom were sitting in wheelchairs, what they'd do if I told them that they were about to have a child. They almost all laughed too. All but one.
The one who didn't laugh looked wistful. I asked her what she was thinking. She hesitated and then blurted out that she would be grateful that God had finally answered her prayer. She was 95. She'd never had children. And apparently she was still praying every day that she might have one. She desperately wanted a child of her own to hold and to love. And even though it hadn't happened yet, she still believed that God would make it happen. She had never lost trust that God would do that for her. No one laughed. We just sat quietly basking in her faith.
I imagine that Mary, being told that she, as a virgin, would conceive and bear a child must have known that sort of trust, that sort of faith in God. I imagine that Joseph had a similar faith too. And of course Anna and Simeon are two of the great examples. Have you known people with that sort of faith?
Seeing is believing. The sheepherders couldn't wait to go to Bethlehem to see what God had delivered to the world. Seeing is believing? I think not in this case. I think the sheepherders believed and were merely in a very big hurry to see the arrival of Jesus. So how about todays culture? Is seeing believing? For many I think yes but for those who believe, I think finding Jesus is not difficult at all.
ReplyDeleteThen we have Mary holding tight the good news of the arrival of Jesus. Was Mary suddenly brought to change her mind about all that God had told her? I would say no. But maybe Mary felt that proclaiming to the world that The son of God had arrived, would be very dangerous for her newborn son. If so a very human reaction I would say. Much like the human anxiety or fear that separates us from God. How about the faith and holy courage that Youcef Nadarkhani the Muslim that converted to Christianity had to proclaim to the world that Jesus is alive and well in him? I'm not sure if this is a good comparison between Mary and Youcef, but it does illustrate my point that fear and anxiety can surely bring down our crosses.