When Jesus was 8 days old, Joseph and Mary took him to temple to present Him to God. There, they met this Simeon who has been waiting to see the Messiah. Simeon took Jesus into his arms and praised God, saying:
"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."
What I noticed when I read this passage this time was that us the Gentiles were mentioned specifically - yes, that's indeed Jesus and God's intention for the salvation to reach not only Israel but to us all. Yet it's also a glory to God's people Israel.
I know Luke was a Gentile, too. Wonder if other gospels have this same message included in this incident, too?
What also surprised me was Joseph and Mary's reaction to Simeon's speech. In The Message, they were "speechless with surprise at these words." Why were they so surprised? Were they surprised because Simeon knew who Jesus was? Or were they surprised by what Jesus would bring to Israelite and Gentiles alike?
We are now so used to the idea of Joseph and Mary being the parents of Jesus. Sometimes I'd forget that actually they didn't know what lie ahead of them or of Jesus. And it's actually not easy to be the earthly parents of Jesus - there are no others on earth who has got the Son of God as their earthly kid! They could not even get reference or had experience sharing from other parents.
This difficulty was even more obvious in the only other incident recorded in the gospel during Jesus' early years - the trip to Jerusalem for the Passover and His staying behind. Being a parent myself, I can fully understand the frustration and hurt felt by Mary and Joseph when they found that Jesus stayed behind in the temple. But how should they react when their boy, also the Son of God, replied with "Why were you searching for me? Didn't you know I had to be in my Father's house?" It was said that the parents didn't understand what Jesus meant - I guess so as before Jesus came, no one dare to call the Almighty God their 'Father'. Indeed it's through Jesus we can be so intimate with God and to be His children.
The last thing I wanna say, is that I really marvel at Mary's wisdom. Once again, she "held these things dearly, deep within herself." (The Message)
Lord, may I have this wisdom, too.
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