A Chorus of Voices

First Sunday after Christmas ● December 31, 2023

Readings: Luke 2:25-40 (The Inclusive Bible)

Rev. Alexis Lillie © 2023

You can view the full worship video recording at:

https://youtu.be/Xnu0mFPlPLU?feature=shared

Have you all interacted with teenagers lately? Or remember being one? I don't want to paint with too broad a brush, so I'll just speak for myself and say, I remember being a teenager and nothing was surprising. (Even if it really was, of course!) I was too cool for that, too cool to act like I didn't know what was coming, to enjoy being surprised or to admit being caught off guard. Which is a shame, right, because some surprises are delightful!

So Mary and Joseph, themselves likely teenagers, are not afflicted with this resistance to surprise. We're told that when they're met with Simeon and Anna's prophecy and words about Jesus, they "marveled" at what was said about him. They were surprised! 

Now in this case, according to the birth narratives leading up to this, it seems a little confusing from our perspective, why they might have been surprised at this point. They've had plenty of opportunity to reconcile themselves to who and what Jesus is, right?? They’ve been visited by angels (multiple times!), shepherds, magi, and more. That's your time to marvel and get it out of your system!

By the time they come to the Temple with Jesus years later, shouldn't they kind of be on board with all of this?? To be fair, we have the benefit of, most of us, reading and hearing these stories dozens if not hundreds of times. So we see the writing on the wall I suppose. 

And, to be fair, while Simeon is himself surprised and overjoyed to meet Jesus, his words are maybe not exactly what a parent wants to hear spoken over their child. Maybe not such a pleasant surprise. 

We've talked the last few weeks about the exile of the Israelite people spoken about in Isaiah, in the Hebrew scriptures, centuries before Jesus' birth. This exile has continued in various ways up through the time of Jesus when the Jewish people are living under Roman rule. While declaring that Jesus will console and deliver those in exile, Simeon warns Mary and Joseph that though Jesus will bring salvation from exile, he will also be the cause of the ‘falling and rising’ of many. Jesus will be “a sign that will be opposed” (another echo of an Isiahaic prophecy). 

Perhaps Mary and Joseph are rightfully surprised! 

What we don't get to reflect too much on, usually, are Anna's words. While the author of Luke records quotes from Simeon, we only get a generalization about Anna. So I want to spend some time here. 

Anna is an interesting character -- she wasn't married that long before her husband died, and has been essentially living at the Temple ever since. While Simeon's prophecy seems more directed at Mary and Joseph, Anna speaks broadly to "all who were looking forward to the redemption of Israel." 

We're told that she "gave thanks to God" and so I wonder what her words were? Perhaps an echo of Mary's hymn of thanksgiving after she's visited by the angel before Jesus' birth? Perhaps Anna speaks words of peace, empowerment, and justice over Jesus and the people? Perhaps in this surprise meeting, Anna moves from living and praying in the Temple, to taking her Jesus-witness and experience into the wider world? 

Perhaps!

We can certainly imagine that -- just like her words affected those around her -- Anna's encounter with Jesus affected the way she lived out the rest of her life. 

I am committed to this kind of imagining: Lifting up the stories and voices in scripture that don't get as much play, giving them space to be, and breath, and continue their work on us, for us today. They can be fresh, and surprising, and reminders to expand our hearts for messages we might not have otherwise received. The same is certainly true here and now. 

If we listen to the voices that are often summarized by others, glossed over, not allowed to stand on their own, if we open to those experiences, what do we learn? 

Where do we see Jesus? 

What surprises are revealed? 

Since starting to prep for this service a couple weeks ago, I've tried to start doing this thing where -- when I'm annoyed or overwhelmed or angry with someone -- I ask myself: What if this person is Christ? (There's a line here, of course, because while I believe Christ is in all, certainly not all human behavior is Christ-like, much of it is the opposite!)

I've convicted myself on more than a few occasions! Not the least was when I happened upon a cafe where I was planning to eat lunch, and it was actually doing a really, really lovely, loving thing. The café had a buffet set up, for free, for anyone to eat breakfast. You could still order off the menu, which I did. And I have to admit to you my split second, knee jerk reaction was: so I'm supposed to just sit down and eat with whoever comes in?? I'm embarrassed to admit it, but that impulse still resides somewhere inside me. So, I caught myself, and allowed myself to be surprised by this very Christ-filled, very Jesus-y thing that was happening, that I was actually lucky and blessed to be a part of. 

I wonder, as we head into the new year, what would happen if we committed to listening to even just one more voice than we normally do? To asking ourselves, what if this is Christ? If we were open to the unexpected people, places, and experiences that reflect Jesus? True, some surprises might not be so pleasant. We may be confronted with realities about ourselves or the world around us that we've managed to stay comfortably ignorant of. 

Part of what Simeon and Anna's words remind us, is that there can be surprising power in truth that comes from unexpected places. What unexpected people or places are you being invited to see as Jesus?

Copyright (c) 2023 - Rev. Alexis Lillie
All rights reserved.