The Jewish ordinances required that the first born be presented to God which is what happened when Christ is taken to Jerusalem. It was part of the purification ritual that all Jewish people undertook in accordance with the laws given in the Torah (Ex 13:12-15; Lev. 12). The event is for Mary herself and for the redemption of her first born son, Jesus. The first was to remove the impurities associated with childbirth and is a rite of cleansing something that was a must in ancient times to ensure, not only in terms of faith but also in terms of social behaviours and health, cleanliness with a surety of being disease free. This is also a time when the first born son was presented and redeemed from God who required the firstborn as sacrifice. There have over the years a number of other things been associated with this date in terms of its alternative name of Candlemas when the beeswax candles were blessed for the year.
So why celebrate this, why make a liturgical fuss about a Jewish event for a mother that was normal for the time and has lived out its usefulness in terms of our modern society? Perhaps there are a number of reasons that can be thought of a) it introduces the Simeon prophesy with regards the Christ and Mary, b) it also introduces the prophecies of Anna though we pay small attention to them. Furthermore, it is an opportunity for ourselves to once again present ourselves as an offering to God and seek his presence to guide and direct us in lives that are lived in Christ. Something that we remind ourselves of at the end of each Eucharistic service. In doing this we need to pay attention to both Simeon and Anna as their words, at least some of them, are familiar to us or should be. The words that are not familiar, I suspect most people do not know what Simeon says after what we call the Nunc Dimittis but are indeed important for us, just as the words of the prophetess Anna who we neglect.
Anna's word speak of liberation for the people of Jerusalem. It is probably fairly certain that readers and those listening to Anna think in terms of liberation from the Romans. However, like the more deluded and opaque followers, not only in Christ's disciples but also today, this is not the reality, I suspect, of what Anna is speaking of. Christ shows us a way towards redemption and liberation that is not the overthrow of those in power by physical revolution but rather in the revolution of our understanding of living. Once we think in terms of mortal revolution and liberation we begin to be the Che Guevarra's of the day losing our hope and the understanding embedded in the way of Christ. The liberation that Anna speaks to is the liberation of our own lives from the tyranny of the selfish physicality of human thought of power over and to the transformation of our lives to the spiritual reality of living alongside others in creating community by using power with.
However, as Simeon points out in his final words to the parents, particularly Mary, such a liberation that is promised by Christ is not without its own issues and challenges to our lives. Some of these challenges will pierce our hearts with doubt and sorrow. So that in following Christ we follow fully to the cross and its underlying pain and struggle. Power over is an easy route to take as it establishes us without concern for the other. The revolution that Christ calls us to is a liberating of our need to control and allowing God to take that power. By presenting ourselves as a sacrifice as the parents of Christ did we relinquish our idea of power over to attain a more cooperative understanding of God's presence that allows us to care for the other and encourage them to perform the miracles of community with us rather than subjugating themselves to us. This is liberating in this day and age as we forgo the need to maintain ourselves as powerful but rather we submit ourselves to the authority and presence of God within our lives. We give ourselves to God, truly as a living sacrifice, as required allowing for God's leading and direction to fulfil that which brings justice. All liberation in Christ is about bringing that justice which is God's rather than the justice promulgated by our own power and authority.
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