The following homily was shared at our Sunday Evening Eucharist Service on December 31, 2023.

“When the days were completed for their purification
according to the law of Moses,
They took him up to Jerusalem
to present him to the Lord,
just as it is written in the law of the Lord,
Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,
and to offer the sacrifice of
a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons,
in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
He came in the Spirit into the temple;
and when the parents brought in the child Jesus
to perform the custom of the law in regard to him,
He took him into his arms and blessed God, saying:
“Now, Master, you may let your servant go
in peace, according to your word,
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in sight of all the peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel.”
The child’s father and mother were amazed at what was said about him;
and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,
“Behold, this child is destined
for the fall and rise of many in Israel,
and to be a sign that will be contradicted
—and you yourself a sword will pierce—
so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
There was also a prophetess, Anna,
the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was advanced in years,
having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four.
She never left the temple,
but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions
of the law of the Lord,
they returned to Galilee,
to their own town of Nazareth.
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.” (Luke 2:22-40)

This passage tells the story of two people who have spent a lifetime waiting on the Lord. Simeon was an old man – albeit righteous and devout – who could not die until God revealed to him the consolation of Israel. Anna – a prophetess who was widowed at a young age – spent her life worshiping God day and night and proclaiming the redemption of Jerusalem from the temple. These two join the cloud of unlikely witnesses who proclaimed Christ's birth like Mary's cousin Elizabeth who didn’t become pregnant until she was an old woman, and the animals in the stable, and the shepherds at work in the fields. So, it seems that when Jesus is welcomed into the world, he is first and foremost greeted, not by kings or wealthy merchants, but by asses and poor men and old women. And, it is always worth reminding ourselves of this fact. If we cannot be found in the company of widows, or old folks, or foster kids, or poor folks, or those who are incarcerated, or those with disabilities, then we surely won’t be found in the company of Jesus. Jesus himself, the King of heaven, was born into an earthly family marked by poverty. The two young birds that Mary and Joseph bring as an offering after Jesus’ birth, in part, showcase their lower economic status. They could not bring a goat or a lamb. All they could afford were these two birds. The fact that they brought an offering to the temple at all leads me into my next point.

This story of how Simeon and Anna encounter the holy family places them and the people of Israel on the threshold of a transition out of the law of Moses and into the light of Christ. Often, this transition is heralded as a kind of “Hooray! Look, the meanness of the Old Testament is gone, and God is nice now!”, as though there existed a different kind of God in the Hebrew Bible. Instead of falling into this interpretive trap, we might do well to remember how God blessed Abraham in Genesis 22 and how God promised that “all the nations of the earth will be blessed” through the patriarch’s offspring. This blessing that God refers to in Genesis is fully realized in the salvation offered through Jesus. Simeon refers back to Abraham's blessing when he says “My eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all the people.” So, not only do Simeon and Anna witness to us that Christ's birth upends the world’s hierarchy of honor, they also remind us that the incarnation is “a light to the Gentiles and the glory of the people of Israel.”

As we come to this table, let us remember that we’re eating the Body and Blood of Christ — who is fully God and fully man, impoverished and Jewish. We are remembering the one who fills the hungry with good food and sends the rich away empty. The one who helps his servant Israel in remembrance of his mercy. Indeed, we are remembering the one who is mighty and the one who has done great things. Amen.

Jesus, Simeon, and Anna: Bekah Beck

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