First Encounter
Fervorinos Cycle 2 • Sermon • Submitted
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Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Simeon
Simeon
First to encounter Jesus outside the Nativity story.
Ecstasy and agony:
Ecstasy: So moved at recognizing the Messiah
That he is ready to die (nunc dimittis)
To rest after seeing his life's goal achieved.
Agony: after such joy he prophesies the resistance the child will face and the mother's suffering as a result.
Luke
Luke
Constructs a story so filled with redemptive symbolism and allusions that it could provide a lifetime of prayer and study.
The story today combines two fulfillments
Mary's purification
Jesus’redemption
Both are because of the role of blood in Mosaic law.
Under this Law the blood of childbirth renders Mary ritually impure.
She must observe a time of separation from worship and the community. Today’s story describes her ritual purification and return to the community.
The blood of the Covenant requires that every first-born son be given to God.
In order to prevent human sacrifice, Mosaic Law prescribes instead an animal sacrifice
by which the boy is redeemed (bought back) from God.
Luke doesn't say it in so many words but it appears that the Holy Family combined the two so as to require only one trip to Jerusalem.
Redemption
Redemption
is the point of the story: Mary's and Jesus’
—> the ultimate redemption of humanity through Jesus’ eventual sacrifice;
the same sacrifice which caused Mary's motherly suffering.
This all sets the stage for our reflection on the Gospel of Luke through the Sunday lectionary in this year C of the cycle of readings.
Luke, over and over, will emphasize Jesus’ observance of Mosaic Law as well as the redemption that he came to accomplish. He will also tell this story in such a way as to weave the symbolism of redemption present in Jewish law and ritual.
May our hearing of Luke’s gospel open us more deeply to this redemptive story.