Presentation of the Lord Jesus

Presentation of the Lord (A)  02-02-14

Luke 2, 22-40

A simple faith

José Antonio Pagola

The story of the birth of Jesus is confusing. According to Luke, Jesus is born in a village in which there is no place to welcome him. The shepherds have had to look for him throughout Bethlehem till they found him in a secluded place, lying in a manger, with no witnesses except his parents.

   It seems Luke needed to get together another story in which the child would be rescued from anonymity to be  presented publicly. What better place than the Temple of Jerusalem to have Jesus solemnly received as the Messiah sent by God to his people?

   But, once again, the story of Luke is going to be confusing. When the parents go up to the Temple with the child, neither the high priests nor the other religious leaders come out to meet him. Within a few years they  will be the ones to hand him over to be crucified. Jesus is not welcomed by that religion sure of itself and unconcerned about the suffering of the poor.

   Neither do the teachers of the Law  come out to receive him. They teach their “human traditions” in the porches of that temple. Years later, they will reject Jesus for healing the sick, even breaking the law of the Sabbath. Jesus does not find a welcome in doctrines and religious traditions that do not promote a more dignified and healthy life.

   Those who receive Jesus and recognize him as sent by God are two old people of simple faith and open hearts who have lived their long lives hoping for the salvation of God. Their names seem to suggest they are symbolic personalities. The old man is called Simeon (“The Lord has heard”), the old woman is Ana (“Gift”). They stand for so many people of simple faith who in every nation of all times live with their trust placed in God.

   Both of them belong to the most healthy environment of Israel. They are known as “the Group of the Poor of Yahweh”.      They are people who have nothing except their faith in God. They do not think of their plight or their well-being. They only hope from God for the “consolation” their people need, the “liberation” they keep seeking generation after generation, the “light” that will illumine the darkness in which the nations of the earth live. Now they feel their hopes are fulfilled in Jesus.

   This simple faith that expects definitive salvation  from God is the faith of the majority of people. A poorly educated faith, almost always found in clumsy, distracted prayers, drawn up in expressions hardly orthodox , a faith that arises mostly in difficult times of stress. A faith God does not find at all difficult to understand and welcome.