Very often we skip right from Christmas to the Feast of
Epiphany without much pause for a big milestone in the life of Jesus and his
family. Every Jewish boy baby is circumcised at eight days old, following the
Law of Moses (Leviticus 12:2) The Holy Family dutifully complies with this. In
the Gospel of Luke we learn, “After eight
days had passed, it was time to circumcise the child; and he was called Jesus,
the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.” (Luke
2:21). This is celebrated as the Feast of the Holy Name on January 1, but gets
overshadowed by the secular celebrations of the New Year!
There is more to the story, though. After 33 days, a new
mother had to offer a sacrifice for her purification (Leviticus 12:4). The new
parents dutifully went through this ritual, which was part of the original Via
Positiva. Luke tells us, “When
the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they
brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the
law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the
Lord’), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of
the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’” (Luke 2:22-24)
Mary and Joseph carried the infant into the Temple and
became part of the long story of two faithful worshipers. This man and woman
probably felt like they were stuck forever on the Via Negativa and that God
would never hear their pleas to see the promised Messiah.
We first meet Simeon, a man who “was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy
Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.” (Luke
2:25-26) The only thing Simeon could trust in was the promise of the Holy
Spirit that he would see the Messiah of God.
Like Simeon, Anna had long traveled the Via Negativa. Luke
says that she was a prophet. Remember, a prophet is not someone who foretells the future. A prophet is someone who points to things that need change. The Old Testament prophets, over and over, tried to redirect the people of Israel when they strayed from following God. People like Martin Luther King, Jr. point out what is wrong with the status quo.
Anna was “the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher”. At a rough guess
from the information we have in the Gospel, she had probably lived in the
temple for at least 60 years. Luke says, “She…lived
with her husband for seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age
of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and
prayer night and day.” (Luke 2:36-37)
Both Anna and Simeon were expectantly waiting for the new Via
Creativa. They knew that God was going to do something new and
unexpected, yet I’m sure that they were beginning to lose hope that it would
happen in their lifetime.
Then Mary and Joseph enter the Temple with their month-old
infant. This is probably not at all the way either Simeon or Anna expected
Messiah to appear. However, Simeon recognized God in the baby. Luke says,
Simeon was “Guided by the Spirit…and when
the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under
the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, ‘Master, now you
are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have
seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a
light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.’”
(Luke 2:27-32)
Via Transformativa was
announced by Simeon and Anna in their prophecies. Anna "came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were
looking for the redemption of Jerusalem." (Luke 2:38) We can announce the way of
Transformation in our lives as well. Rabbi Heschel says “There is the grain of
the prophet in the recesses of every human existence.” Do you ever think of
yourself as a prophet?
Most of us
make New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps one resolution this year could be to be a
bearer of Light and Peace to the aching world. One of my favorite poems/hymns
is In the Bleak Midwinter by Christina Rossetti. She asks,
“What can I give Him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
If I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; Yet what I can I give Him: give my
heart.”
Stop
and Think: How
can I be a prophet in 2017 ‘poor as I am’, to declare the new life of the Via
Creativa and the freedom for all on the Via Transformativa?
