GOSPEL MEDITATION
What Happened Following Jesus’ Birth
Luke 2:22-35
- Find a quiet place, alone and apart from distractions.
- Be comfortably alert, still and at peace.
- Say the Lord’s Prayer. Sing or cant the Jesus Prayer
- Pray for family, friends, neighbors, and yourself.
- Slowly and carefully read the passage of Scripture.
- Reread it. From memory, determine the central points.
- Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the Temple
according to the Law of Moses. (See Ex. 13:2 & Lev.
12:8). They offered 2 pigeons meaning the family was
poor.
- The obedience of Mary and Joseph indicates also that
they were observant Jews and would be Jesus as he
grew up.
- Here now they meet Simeon, Holy Spirit inspired prophet who is awaiting the arrival of the Messiah.
- The remarkable statement about Jesus being the cause of the “fall and rising of many,” among other things, is a preparation for Mary about what was to become of her baby. The Child would be loved and hated, both at once, and so it has remained to this day.
- This extreme reaction reveals both God’s holiness and our unholiness, and that Jesus has an enemy.
- The sword that will pierce Mary, the trauma that only a mother could experience, likely was meant to be comforting to Mary, in taking away any surprise or false expectation.
- Then Anna, another witness to Mary and Joseph, two witnesses thus meeting Biblical requirements (see Dt. 17:6). Mary and Joseph would be comforted by this.
- Some 33 years before the cross, God brings two people to the temple to announce that great event that was to come.