On this Feast of the Holy Family we remember and celebrate that Jesus Christ comes to us to fulfill God’s promise. The story in Luke 2,22-40 confirms Christ’s membership in the people of God. Jesus is brought into the temple, much like at our Rite of Baptism. A child is brought into the church becoming a member of the Church family.
Be sure to read Luke 2 mindful that the Temple was the very heart of life for the Hebrew people. Everything happened there. It would have been filled with Scribes, Pharisees, priests, and every kind of officials and there were ordinary people too like Simeon and Anna. These two, simple elders step into the spotlight by name, and Jesus is right into the midst of them. In a sense, this is another Nativity story! First it was some shepherds who “saw” the Good News fulfilled and now it’s these two “old folks.” It’s almost as though St. Luke is just hammering away at us to get the point that Jesus comes to us, not to the big, powerful, important people. Jesus is to be found wherever people are gathered together waiting in prayer. That’s why this happens in that Temple. These two, Simeon and Anna, are the perfect models of “sharers” of the Good News. They pray and give thanks, like Simeon. They announce the presence of Jesus to everyone waiting for redemption, like Anna. Will we take our proper place in their line?
