Truth Tellers

The Feast of The Presentation Luke 2:22-40

Shrine of Presentation in the Temple

Our Gospel story covers purification, presentation, fulfilled oracle, and redemption. We find that the Holy Family packs up and travels to Jerusalem for important religious rights. One was for Mary. The rite of purification was to take place 40 days after giving birth. Blood was taboo in this society, and this was the time for the woman to be pronounced ritually clean by a rabbi. Being clean meant she could touch and be touched by others. This act shows the priest and the world that the mother was healthy after giving birth.

During the same trip, the family took Jesus and presented him to the Lord. This ritual was only made if, your firstborn child was a boy. There was extra significance put on such a child. In this case, you offer your child to God in a right of redemption. Whether we are speaking of human or beast, you set aside the firstborn son as a sacrifice to the Lord. With human children, you can redeem the child from God as a commemoration of the time in Exodus when the firstborn sons, who were to be priests, joined the nation in worshiping the golden calf in the desert.

The cost of this redemption is five shekels, five silver coins. But you may have noticed that the family offed two turtle doves or pigeons. The substitution of two common birds for the five coins was acceptable if the family was poor. So, once again, we are offered an image of the humble circumstances in which our Lord was born.

In some ways, our rite of baptism has similar qualities. Whether we take the vows upon ourselves or for a child, there is a clear sense that we or the child is no longer ours but God’s. There is a washing, not of unclean blood, but a washing, in the blood of the lamb, who redeemed us from our sin. Much as drinking the blood of Christ reaffirms the redemption we receive through his blood, his death on the cross.

The season of Epiphany is a time when we hear stories of people or nations that realize that Jesus is the Messiah the Christ. Today is no different. I often think of Simeon as an old priest, maybe one who should have retired decades ago. But the passage gives no account of his age. All we know is that God promised Simeon that he would see the Messiah before he died. And today is the day that he sees this promise fulfilled.

I wonder if he ever told anyone the oracle he received. And I wonder how he told the story of seeing the Messiah without being seen as strange or if he was elderly, senile. This feeling he may have had is likely true for any of us who have had deeply spiritual encounters or mysteries revealed. We only want to share them with other believers, for the general public would simply not understand. We don’t have to wonder if he told others because we hear him exclaim a prayer, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace…for my eyes have seen your salvation.”

There would be no purpose for God to promise Simeon to see the Messiah if he was the only one to know. Christ did not come just for me, our you, or Simeon, but for the whole world. And if we keep such information a secret, how are we being the hands and feet of Christ? When encounters happen, we are to tell it on the mountain or to doctors, lawyers, and others just like me. Yet, Simeon wasn’t the only person to recognize the Messiah that day.

The Prophet Anna, who was in her eighties, also recognized him. This woman, who was devout in prayer day and night, didn’t hold back. She “began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

Today was supposed to be a day of redemption, a day in which Joseph redeemed Jesus from God. Two prophets speak about redemption, but it is not Jesus, Joseph, or God who needs redemption. Simeon says, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed- and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Simeon is telling Mary that the truth will be redeemed. Those who try to hide the truth in their private thoughts will be exposed. The journey you are on is perilous, “A sword will pierce your own soul.”

Anna the Prophet also speaks of Redemption, and again, Jesus is not the one in need of redemption. She says Jesus came to redeem Jerusalem. She seems to view Jesus as the classic Messiah, a great hero who will bring Jerusalem out from under the hand of Rome. We know that Jesus’ redemption is greater than Jerusalem. His redemption is for the Jews and the Gentiles alike.

Neither of these prophets cared what others thought. The people in and around the Temple were waiting centuries for the Messiah, and these two proclaim this reality. It would be another 30 years before the world begins to understand the redemption that Jesus brings, but it came. People knew the truth and were willing to take a stand for it.

In this last week, many of us witnessed, or at least heard about, a truth teller. A priest who happens to be a Bishop gave a homily in her own church, which happened to be the Washington National Cathedral. She offered a simple message, one of mercy; mercy to people who are marginalized by society. In a normal Sunday service, it is usually not proper to point out any person in particular as part of the sermon. But in special services such as weddings, funerals, ordinations, installations, and others, we are focused on the person being honored. Our prayers are generally given to that particular person instead of the entire congregation. It is not only common but often expected that the clergy speak directly to or about the intended person or couple. In an ordination, a bishop may give a charge to the newly ordained, which may include warnings about the trappings of the priesthood. It’s an opportunity for the person to take heed of what may come or something the bishop sees that others may not.

A little over 25 years ago, Matthew Shepard a gay student at the University of Wyoming, was beaten and tortured. He was found on a roadside, and taken to the hospital, where he died six days later. The news stories and controversy over what happened lasted a decade. His mother became an LGBTQ activist. And because of all the attention Matthew’s death brought, hate crime legislation was addressed. Yet because of all the controversy, the family had no safe place to bury Matthew’s remains. About 7 years ago, Bishop Budde and Bishop Gene Robinson together interred his remains in the Washington National Cathedral.

When I reflect on last week, I will admit that many other priests may not have chosen the same topic or may not have been so pointed in their delivery as Bishop Budde was. But what we see, is that Bishop Budde is a truth teller especially when it comes to many topics that our country finds difficult to openly talk about. If we listened to her words, she couched her message in current events, in scripture, and made them approachable for all to understand. It takes a person of strength to tell a truth that is hard to hear. And if we reflect on the Gospels, the backlash she is receiving isn’t that different from what government and religious officials initially did to Jesus. I’d imagine there was also backlash toward Simeon and Anna, the two prophets we read about today. But since Christ hasn’t come into his own at this point it was probably limited.

It is difficult to be a prophet, a truth-teller. Yet it is much more difficult for someone who is poor or marginalized. Their voices are not respected as much, and they have much more to lose. Even though it still may not be easy, the rest of us have the opportunity to speak more freely. So, I pray that each of us can step out and tell the truth that God wants to be told, even if it is hard for someone else to hear.