Word to the Wise
Tuesday, December 30, 2008 - Sixth Day in the Octave of Christmas
[1 John 2:12-17 and Luke 2:36-40]And coming forward at that very time, [Anna] gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
In the hustle and bustle of an event like a baptism or wedding or funeral, we can sometimes forget who was or wasn't there at the time. All kinds of nice things are said and it's hard to remember who said what and to whom. This can carry over into our meditation on scripture! We can concentrate on the event or on the person of Jesus and actually forget other characters in the scene whose presence may be important to the meaning of the event. Anna is one of those people. We can easily overlook her because of the eloquent prophecy of Simeon However, Luke identifies her as a prophetess! Simeon and Anna are modeled on the story of Elkanah and Hannah, the parents of Samuel (cf. 1 Samuel 1) and they serve as a kind of prophetic literary"bookend" for Elizabeth and Zechariah who are the parents of John the Baptist (the prophet who goes before Jesus). When I officiate at a baptism, especially when it is a child of a couple whom I know well, I am aware that there are many layers of meaning that accompany the birth and baptism of the child. There is the impact on the marriage, on any siblings already born, on grandparents, on the choice of baptismal sponsors, on the person or persons the child may have been named after. Anna represents the Jewish hope that God will deliver his Chosen People and she sees this hope fulfilled in the Child Jesus. Simeon presents a vision that is even broader and extends to "all nations." On the merely human level, perhaps Joseph and Mary could go home puzzled and troubled (as if those angelic visits earlier weren't enough of a challenge) but we are left at this point in the gospel with a kind of "stay tuned for further developments" situation. Those prophecies would prove to be all too true! The Church's continual and profound meditation in this season on the "infancy narratives" is a reminder that every soon we will pick up the story of Jesus' ministry beginning with his baptism by John the Baptist (January 11) and we will begin to understand what Simeon and Anna said "way back when!" AMEN
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