When the day came to purify them according to the law of Moses, the couple brought Jesus up to Jerusalem so that he could be presented to the Lord, for it is written in the law of the Lord, every first-born male shall be consecrated to the Lord. They came to offer in sacrifice a pair of turtle doves, or two young pigeons in accord with the dictate of the law of the Lord.

There lived in Jerusalem at the time a certain man named Simeon. He was just and pious and awaited the consolation of Isarel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not experience death until he had seen the anointing of the Lord. He came to the Temple now inspired by the Spirit, and when the parents brought in to him the child Jesus to perform for him the customary ritual of the law He took him in his arms and blessed God in these words: "Now Master you can dismiss your servant in peace. you have fulfilled your word. For my eyes have witnessed your saving deed displayed for all the people to see. A revealing light to the Gentiles, The glory of your people Israel."

The child's father and mother were marveling at what was being said about him. Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "This child is destined to be the downfall and rise of many in Israel. A sign that will be opposed. And you yourself shall be pierced with a sword so that the thoughts of many will be laid bare. There was also a certain prophetess, Anna by name, daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She had seen many days, having lived seven years with her husband, then as a widow until she was 84. She was constantly in the Temple worshiping day and night in fasting and prayer. Coming on the scene at this moment she gave thanks to God and talked about the child to all who looked forward to the deliverance of Jerusalem. When the pair had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee and their own town of Nazareth. The child grew in size and strength, filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him. (Luke 1:22-40)

Well, I feel something like that this weekend, because as I was working the crossword puzzle yesterday, it suddenly dawned on me, maybe an inspiration of the Holy Spirit, that I had prepared the homily for the wrong gospel. I had prepared for the fourth Sunday of the year, rather than for purification. Well, it's not entirely winging it, but I feel something like Timothy, "Oh my God, I forgot the last page."

What are we to make of this somewhat lengthy Gospel? For the moment, think of those medieval, early Renaissance paintings, many of which came out of the Florentine school, that are in the form of what we call a triptych. If you open it you have a large center panel, with a particular scene painted on that panel. And then you have two side panels, hinged to the center panel, and on each of the side panels you also have scenes, but the side panels are each only half the size of the center panel, and you can open those and close them so that you have the picture before you, or not. Our Gospel is best approached in that manner. We have two minor scenes, and we have what we can call a major scene. The minor scenes are the introductory verses of the Holy Family prior to coming into the Temple, and the closing scene, the minor scene of the Holy Family after they have left the Temple. Now what is it that we see in these side panels? One of the things that you always have to do when you come to a work of literature, you must never overlook the obvious. You must always let it speak to you. It is, as we say in a proverb, if it had a mouth, it would bite you in the face. And what is here that stands out for us? In the opening verse, three times Luke mentions "according to the law"--that they came up to Jerusalem according to the law of Moses; for it is written in the law of the Lord, and they offered two young pigeons in accord with the dictate of the law. And in the closing scene, the second minor scene, "When the pair had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law, ..." Now when you have something repeated again and again, yo have to ask yourself, "Why is Luke emphasizing the law?" What is there about the law, particularly in relation to this family, that Luke wants us to see? And what is there in the law in relation to the Temple that Luke wants us to see?

I think one of the first things we can notice is that it tells us something very dear about this family. They are a family who observe the law. They are a pious family. They are a dedicated family. That they do it not because they have to, but the law and the whole spirit of the law of Moses permeates this entire household, it is the thing that guides it, it is the thing that directs it. Their whole life revolves around this. We also learn something further about this family. The regular sacrifice for redeeming a first-born son, as prescribed in the law of Moses, was to offer a young lamb without blemish. But they don't have that kind of affluence, and so they do what the law says: they offer two turtle doves, they offer two pigeons. They're not an affluent family. On the other hand, they're not paupers. But they are a family that you might say has to live closely, has to watch their budget. And their devotion doesn't come out of affluence, their devotion comes I think from the fact that they have to trust in God because is basically the only thing that they do have. Very similar, if I might use the analogy to the families of many who are sitting here. You listen to some of the old people of our parish talk, and they didn't have great wealth. They didn't have great affluence, but they had enough to live. And their religion meant a great deal to them. It guided their whole life. It colored their whole life and their outlook upon life. And so Luke is telling us that the Holy Family is very similar to many of the families of people who are sitting here this morning, if you go back far enough.

Now let's go to the center panel, and again we have to look for the obvious, for that which is repeated. And again in the very first three verses of the center panel, of the center section of our Gospel, Luke repeats three times the influence of the Spirit on Simeon. He was just and pious and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. And he is inspired by the Holy Spirit. And again we should ask ourselves, "Why is Luke putting this emphasis on the Holy Spirit in relation to Simeon? It tells us several things. First, it tells us that Simeon does not possess the Spirit, but is possessed of the Spirit. The Spirit is what guides his life. It is the spirit that gives him his piety, his holiness, his justness. It is not that he rests on the cushion of grace, but he walks under the canopy of grace, in the path that is shown him by the Spirit. So we learn something about Simeon in this; we learn something of his character, his sanctity, his holiness. But we also learn something else. It isn't by mere coincidence that Simeon happens to be in the Temple when the Holy family come. It isn't by mere happenstance or mere chance. Simeon is led by the Spirit. he's brought by the Spirit. he's walking under that canopy of the Spirit to walk the path that the Spirit has pointed out to him. He's in the Temple because the Spirit has brought him to the Temple. But it also tells us something else about Simeon. Whatever it is that Simeon is going to do or say in the Temple is not said or done of himself. It is said because it is the Spirit who is acting within him. HE is the instrument of the Spirit. The Spirit acts upon him, and therefore he says what he says, he does what he does. But it also tells us something else about Simeon. The whole passage echoes the language of the second half of the book of the prophet Isaiah. There we learned that Isaiah, faithful Israel, was living in anticipation, living in hope, living in expectation of God's salvation finally becoming manifest to them. And so in a sense Simeon is not just Simeon an individual person. Simeon becomes then for Luke the whole personification of Israel, the faithful israel who is looking for God's salvation, who is expecting God 's salvation, who is ready for God's salvation. And now you see the richness of the passage, how the passage begins to open up. And what is it that Simeon says?

Simeon gives two prophecies. He gives, what we call using the two first Latin words of the passage, his canticle, or his hymn, his song, whatever you want to call it, the Nunc dimittis: "Now you can dismiss, Oh Master, your faithful servant." It is the hymn that is said every night in the Office of Complin by everyone who says the Liturgy of the hours of the Church. And what is it that Luke is telling us through this canticle? First, that salvation is from God. God is the author of salvation; he is the giver of salvation. "You have fulfilled your word." It's God's word which is fulfilled. And how is God's word fulfilled? In this child, in this baby Jesus God's word is fulfilled. So inspired by the Spirit, led by the Spirit, infused by the Spirit, Simeon begins to see that this is not just any child, but this is the messiah. It is in this child that God's promise to Israel has finally come to fruition. But what else does Simeon tell us in this canticle? That salvation is not an excluding thing; it's an including thing. In other words, salvation is not just for the Jews; it's not the prerogative or sole treasure of the Jews, of the faithful Israelites. Rather, the Israelites are the servant, the channel of salvation. They are those people through whom salvation comes, not just to the jewish race, but to all people. Displayed for all people to see, a revealing light to the Gentiles. The universality of salvation: It's not just for a particular people in a particular place, of a particular race, of a particular belief, of a particular ethic, but God's salvation and his grace are for everyone who will accept, who will allow that grace to enter their life and influence it. A lesson that if you read the prophets that Israel always failed to learn. A lesson which if you read the rest of the Gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles, you realize that the scribes, the Pharisees, the chief priests, the elders could not grasp. A lesson, even, if you read the Acts of the Apostles, that not even the early church came to grasp without considerable difficulty. Now what is the other thing that Luke tells us? This is not so much in the theory of theology, but now it becomes very practical. These are in those private words to the mother of Jesus: "This child is destined to be the downfall and the rise of many in Israel." This child is going to be a divider. He's going to divide people in two ways. You're either for him or you're against him. In other words, Simeon is saying one can never remain neutral when it comes to God's salvation. one can never sit on the fence, with his mug on one side and the wump on the other: you either have to be for Jesus or you have to be against Jesus. You cannot be indifferent. It is absolutely not possible. And that's what he means by the rise and the fall of many. And Jesus himself says that. I did not come to bring peace. I came to bring the sword and divide those who are for and those who are against.

And what else does he tell Mary? And you yourself, your heart shall be pierced by a sword. The early church came to see Mary, as privileged as she was, not simply because she bore the Son of God. I'm afraid that sometimes we think it was easy for Mary, because after all she bore Jesus, she bore the Messiah. But through Simeon Luke is telling us, Mary cannot claim any great prerogative because she gave birth to Jesus. mary had to go through the same process of faith, the same path of faith that any one of us, you or I, has to go through. Jesus was for Mary a possible dividing point just as God's salvation through Jesus is a dividing point for you and for me. She was no more privileged than you or I. her salvation was not guaranteed simply because she gave birth to the Christ child. Her salvation had to be lived; her faith had to grow just as your faith and my faith must grow. In other words, Luke is telling us, it's not enough simply to call out, quoting the words of Jesus himself, "Lord, Lord," and expect to be saved. A very rich passage, a marvelous passage.

And you might say, "What does this triptych have to do with you and with me. Let's look at two things. How often do you and I make the mistake of wanting to determine who is saved? Who has God's grace and who doesn't. How often are you or I servants of God's salvation? Channels through which the salvation brought to us in Jesus is made manifest to the world. To our families, how often are we that channel. To one another, husband to wife, wife to husband, teacher to children, employer-employee? In other words, we sometimes fall in to the error of Israel, that we think we are the possessors of salvation rather than the servants of salvation, and that is always a terrible danger, a terrible peril in which to fall.

I think a second thing we could ask ourselves, are we like Simeon? Do we rest on a cushion of grace, or do we walk in the shadow of Grace in the path that spirit leads us in, points out to us. And in this I think of something that Jesus said to Peter in the Gospel of John: "Peter, when you were young, you would go where you want. But as you get older, another will come and gird you around the waist, and take you in a path where you would not necessarily wish to go." Are we open to God's prompting in our life, or do we want always to be in control, always to determine, or are we willing to let God determine for us, with us, and in us?