The book of Luke contains the story of Jesus being presented in the temple at Jerusalem. These verses are in Luke 2:22-38. According to most commentators this would have occurred about 40 days after the circumcision event found in Luke 2:21 (the 40 day purification rite is recorded in Ex 31:2; Ex 22:29; and Lev 13:12-15). But after the redemption sacrifice had been given (Lev 12:6-8) and Jesus had been presented to the Lord (Ex 13:2), two unknowns appear on the scene. The first one was Simeon who had been waiting for the Lord to show him the Messiah before he passed away. It says in the book of Luke that he had been brought to the temple "in the Spirit", that is, the Holy Spirit was guiding him to be there. Simeon mentions both Gentile and Jew being blessed and gives a prophetic utterance to Mary about the sorrows that she would have to endure. Simeon directs his attention to Mary only, probably because Joseph would not be on the scene when the events of the crucifixion would be endured. Mary and Joseph were both amazed at his pronunciations probably because they did not expect that someone else would know who Jesus actually was. Next up was Anna who gave thanks to God for Jesus and continued to speak of Him to everyone that were waiting for the Messiah. The key thing here? Simeon and Anna are witnesses! See Deut 19:15 and Matt 18:16 which says that "... by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed". Mary and Joseph knew that Jesus was special, the Messiah that was to come, but it never occurred to them that the Lord would confirm this fact when He was presented. That is really neat and should cause us to pause and give thanks to God that He honors his word in all respects.
|
|||
Post new comment