And suddenly there will come to the temple
the Lord whom you seek,
And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.
The presence of the Lord God himself was the very purpose of the temple, the center around which the outer courts were built. That presence was essential to the temple truly fulfilling its intended purpose as a place of meeting between God and humankind. Yet it had been some time since that presence was there in fullness, for the cloud of glory had departed.
Then the glory of the Lord departed from over the threshold of the temple and stopped above the cherubim (see Ezekiel 10:18).
The lack of the glory cloud of God corresponded to the lack of the ark which was the visible sign of God's presence ever since the ark had been concealed to keep it safe from conquest. Jeremiah had hidden the ark of the covenant in a cave, "until God finally gathers his people together and shows mercy to them. The Lord will bring these things to light again, and the glory of the Lord will appear with the cloud, as it was seen both in the time of Moses and when Solomon prayed that the shrine might be worthily consecrated" (see Second Maccabees 2:7-8).
During the absence of the glory of God from his temple there were those who nevertheless persisted in fidelity, staking the very meaning of their lives on the eventual fulfillment in which God's very presence would finally fill the temple once more.
This man was righteous and devout,
awaiting the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he should not see death
before he had seen the Christ of the Lord.
Simeon was among the first to truly experience Jesus as the fulfillment of the great Messianic promises. He was among the first who had eyes to see. This was a needed characteristic, for without such eyes what was truly happening would not have been obvious.
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and glory for your people Israel.
Simeon looked to the young child brought before him and saw something more intense than a refiner's fire or a fuller's lye. He saw the light of God's revelation to the Gentiles. The bright light that Jesus himself would later make visible in the Transfiguration Simeon already experienced with eyes of faith.
How wonderful and strange was this way in which the Lord himself returned to his temple. Not as a conquering king, nor even a power that overwhelmed the senses of those present did he he come. Rather, he came with an intensity that was not less than those things, but more. Yet it was an intensity only revealed itself to eyes of faith like those of Simeon and Anna. Jesus brought the presence of God himself back to the temple, but humbly, in in a hidden way. His purpose in coming in a hidden way was not to hide, but to ensure that he didn't simply crush us with his overwhelming glory. Faith would allow that glory to be revealed to the degree that we opened ourselves freely to experience it.
Jesus can be for us what he was for Simeon and what he was for Anna. He can be the fulfillment to the trajectory of our lives as well, the thing that ultimately gives us the grace to die in the peace of God. Our eyes can continue to be eyes of faith which see Jesus in the ways in which he is still hidden, in the Sacraments, especially in the Eucharist. But we are meant to recognize that, although he is hidden in many ways, he is also already a light of revelation that is meant to be shared. It is a light into which we are meant to invite the whole world.
And coming forward at that very time,
she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child
to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.
It was a child who was destined for the fall and rise of many in Jerusalem, not a conquering king. He came this way, vulnerable, in an act of pure love, in order to as much as possible court a response of welcome in our hearts, rather than kicking down the door. The potential tragedy of this was that it became easy to miss him entirely, to assume nothing new had taken place, and to go about life as usual. This temptation may crop up again and again in us as life seems to shift from the brief peak experiences of the presence of God back to business as usual. To counteract this we need to reflect thankfully on God's presence among us as often as we can, to allow ourselves to be amazed at the things spoken by Simeon again and again. Because as for Simeon, recognizing God in his hidden presence has the potential to entirely transform our lives.
Since the children share in blood and flesh,
Jesus likewise shared in them,
that through death he might destroy the one
who has the power of death, that is, the Devil,
and free those who through fear of death
had been subject to slavery all their life.
There will come day when the light so blazes forth that there will no longer be time for us to recognize and welcome it with our own freely given loving response. Before that day let us all strive to see and make known the light of revelation, the glory of the presence of God revealed in Jesus, and so help in some small way to prepare the world to meet that day in peace and not in fear.
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