I’ve always loved how random characters in a novel by Charles Dickens suddenly reappear later in the story. A character with a humorous name like Pipwick or Bumblewig will make an initial appearance, and then, just when you least expect it, the character returns towards the end of the plot, proving to play some important role in the narrative. This is also why the television show Seinfeld is so brilliant. Ingenious writing ties several disparate plot threads together, and somehow it all works.
Charles Dickens or the producers of Seinfeld might have enjoyed tying together the seemingly unrelated stories of the Holy Family, Simeon, and Anna. These strands at first appear to be no more than three ordinary, unrelated stories, but in the hands of St. Luke the Evangelist, they’re shown to be intricately woven together by the subtle hand of God.
Without knowing how this story of Jesus’s presentation in the Temple is going to play out, you might wonder what all these characters have to do with one another. But we soon learn that something marvelous unfolds out of the different stories of a family with a newborn baby, a righteous and devout man, and an ancient prophetess who spends most of her time in the Temple. The marvelous intertwining of these initially unconnected lives is what, in ordinary life, would be called a coincidence, but we know there’s no coincidence here. God is doing something.
The first story strand involves Mary and Joseph, who are doing exactly what they’re supposed to do according to the Law. They’re going to the Temple to present their firstborn son to be dedicated to the Lord. It’s worth noting their obedience to the Law, especially in an age where we tend to scorn obedience. The Law tells them to show up in the Temple after a certain period of time, and that’s what they do. Why would they question the Law’s command? And while they could have made excuses about not being able to afford a sheep for the sacrifice required by the Law, they also know that a turtledove or a pigeon will suffice. This family is obedient, and because they’re obedient, they bother to show up in the Temple.
In the second strand, we’re introduced to a righteous and devout man named Simeon. Simeon also shows up in the Temple, not because he’s commanded to, but because he’s inspired by the Holy Spirit. We might call him deluded these days. He feels a nudging and a call to show up at the Temple. And while many might have dismissed that hunch, Simeon pays attention to it. Maybe it’s because he’s particularly attuned to God’s voice by virtue of his righteousness and faithfulness. Maybe he shows up because he hasn’t yet given in to the despair of his own day. He’s still looking for the consolation of Israel while many have given up or become disgruntled with impatience. And to our own jaded and skeptical world, we might laugh or at least marvel at Simeon’s confident hope. He surely sees the broken, hurting world around him, but he still hasn’t given up on God. So, he shows up, too.
And the third plot strand involves a prophetess named Anna. Now, she’s the local eccentric. She never leaves the Temple. I wonder if her lips were constantly moving in silent prayer like Hannah in 1 Samuel, and we know that Hannah’s observers just thought she was intoxicated. Anna is quite old, maybe even over the age of 100, so perhaps people unjustly questioned the reliability of her mental faculties. And we know what people think of those who are constantly praying or worshipping. They need to get a life, and they must be. . . well, you fill in the dots. But Anna also knows where she’s supposed to be, where she’s meant to be, perpetually in the presence of God in that holy Temple, praying and fasting. So, she shows up, too. She always shows up.
It’s at this point in the story where Charles Dickens or a scriptwriter for Seinfeld might merge the three plot strands together. The story about nothing turns into a story about something quite remarkable. And this is precisely what Luke does. Simeon’s faithful expectation of God’s salvation meets two peasant parents who show up obediently with their child, who is the Savior, and those parents learn something more about just who their son is. I imagine those unnamed persons in the Temple also learned something, too. And then Anna gets thrown into the mix, as well, helping others see the mighty works of God.
From three ordinary strands, an incredible story is woven that moves far beyond that of a poor family showing up in the Temple according to the Law, or a man showing up because of a hunch, or an elderly woman witnessing one more presentation in the Temple because she was always there. The story that has been woven is authored by a God who takes the mundane and weaves it into a surprising story of salvation and good news for the entire world. God’s eternal, mysterious time is superimposed on quotidian time. It’s enough to surprise even twenty-first century rationalists.
God has created this tapestry of good news by using both obedience and freedom. God has taken the loyalty and dutifulness of humble parents, mixed it with the faithfulness of prayer, and added a dollop of profound openness to the unpredictability of a Holy Spirit that blows at will. And for a moment, before everyone returns to their ordinary lives, it becomes clear how this God works. It becomes clear how this God is tied up in human lives. Obedience mixes with freedom, and as the world will later find out, in this alternative universe, by losing your life, you will find it anew. In submitting to God’s law and will, true freedom is gained. In paying attention to the ordinary, the extraordinary is revealed. In showing up, salvation is found.
And this evening, you’ve shown up, too. For some reason, you’ve chosen to be here rather than somewhere else. Maybe you were scheduled to serve in some capacity. Maybe you felt obligated. Maybe you really just wanted to attend the potluck supper. But whatever the reason, you showed up, and in an age where people don’t always show up for God, that’s no small feat. It’s a deep mystery that this stone building set among so many other buildings in a busy community can be a locus for the revelation of extraordinary grace, a grace that is always readily available if we bother to show up.
In this place, spiritually hungry people show up, randomly, searching for answers. Others are brought by compulsion. Strangers stumble through the doors in a time of crisis. People come week after week because it’s what they were brought up to do. And then the Holy Spirit weaves all those strands together in some unfathomable way. It defies our control, but it changes us irrevocably.
In a world of competing demands, it’s far too easy not to show up. It’s far too easy to question the nudges that surprise and yet compel us to some action. It’s far too easy to write the faithful churchgoer or devout person off as out of their mind. It’s far too easy to dismiss the quirky character whom God will bring back at the end of the story to tie the amazing plot together. It’s far too easy to imagine that we could ever be characters in such a fantastic story, especially when our lives seem little more than a story about nothing.
But the presentation of the world’s Savior under the obligation of the Law reveals the manifestation of the powerful freedom of God. Obedience and freedom go together, the extraordinary is manifested in the ordinary, and from nothing, something boundlessly life-giving and creative emerges. And as ordinary as it may seem, when we bother to show up, we will find that there’s no detail that God can’t or won’t use to weave together his beautiful story of salvation.
Sermon by Father Kyle Babin
The Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord Jesus Christ in the Temple
February 2, 2024
[The notion of divine providence guiding the intersection of the lives the Holy Family and Simeon is powerfully noted by Joel B. Green in The Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1997), 146.]