Sunday Sermon 12/28/14

Today is the Feast of the Presentation. It has an odd history. Originally it was the Feast of Purification but this name was confusing to people who did not know who was being purified or why. (Purification was a Jewish ritual, post delivery. A new mother had to be isolated for 40 days if the child was a boy, 80 days if it was a girl. This isolation was physical, in the home, and the woman was forbidden contact with sacred objects. There was also an additional element: The Jews mandated that every first born male be "redeemed" in the temple before God ever since the tenth plague of Egypt.) It became the Feast of the Meeting before it settled on Presentation.

In this Gospel, Simeon offers a prophesy. It is said to be the first prophesy since Malachi in 420 B.C.. (There is an argument that Elizabeth, Mary's cousin, prophesied first.) At any rate, it is a historic event. And part of what he says is often overlooked: "...for my eyes have seen the salvation which you have made ready in the sight of the nations; a light of revelation for the gentiles and glory for your people Israel." This is a startling line that includes the Gentiles in Christ's plan long before Paul.

But it is even older. Isaiah 60:1-3 says:

  Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.  
² For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee.
³ And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising.