“..and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2:35)
Feast of the Presentation of our Lord, Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013
Simeon says these prophetic words to Mary when she and Joseph present the baby Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem as per the Jewish laws of purification. As Simeon prophesied, Jesus and the Gospel message bring much division – those who are for and those who are against. Wholehearted belief in the Gospel demands a way of life that is in opposition to the way many in the world insist on living.
Jesus comes to pierce our soul as well – out of our complacency and hardness of heart. He calls us to be who we say we are, Christians without compromise, in the world but not of the world, not a lukewarm version of who we are meant to be. It is a demanding call, but as Simeon said, Jesus – and his followers – are “a sign that will be opposed.” (Luke 2:34) There is a hefty price to pay as even families become divided over the Truth. While we are admonished to treat everyone charitably, we do not, cannot choose the world over Christ.
By our actions and by our words, we give witness to Simeon’s prophesy. The way I conduct myself at home, at work, in my community, in the world has to reflect my beliefs so that there is no question about Who and what I believe. Anything else means that my faith is lukewarm, my life is one of compromise to the Truth. In the eyes of the world, I may be foolish; in the eyes of my extended family, I may be out of touch and fanatical. In the eyes of God, I am His daughter, trying the best I can, with His grace and mercy, to be His daughter.
It is much better that “we are fools for the sake of Christ.” (1 Cor. 4:10) Opposition, as Simeon stated, abounds, but grace abounds all the more and that grace will be our reason, strength, shield and comfort when fear, insults, uncertainty, pride, discouragement threaten our resolve.
The sword that pierces my soul urges me on to embrace and live the Gospel. It is the only sure way to true happiness and authentic love. Let us allow our souls to be pierced with the Love of God and be the sign of contradiction that is so urgently needed in the world.
Deo Gratias
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great post once again. I see Christians, as a whole and in general, finding less difficulty in being contradictions than in demonstrating love. Certainly not all, but I do see this often: righteousness and judgement winning over love. I will admit that I struggle witih this when faced with a drunk panhandler, a difficult mentally ill person acting out, an arrogant person who feels entitled . . . We must indeed pray for the grace to be the Love of God more truly in this world, every one of us.
I think we all struggle with this and that is why we pray for grace as you pointed out.
Thank you for the reminder. Need it frequently.
Don’t we all……….you’re welcome and thank you.
More and more, nowadays, I keep seeing the need to return to the roots. It seems when we get too comfortable, God allows the circumstances in our lives to nudge us our of our comfort zone, and sometimes, he intervenes and gives us the push himself.
Returning to the roots, we need to recall that we as Christians to imitate Christ. If we reflected on this and internalized it enough we would not need to be reminded that we are called to be signs of contradiction, and we should feel the pinch or the cold shock or the world’s opposition. Yet we are always just human, loving our comfort zone.
Thanks for the reflection, Terry. Always well timed, it seems.
Beautiful commentary, James. Thanks.