This Child Has Been Sent by God

Transcription

1 Consensus Volume 20 ssue 2 n Prase of Valant Women Artcle Ths Chld Has Been Sent by God Bonne J. Scharf Follow ths and addtonal works at: Recommended Ctaton Scharf, Bonne J. (1994) "Ths Chld Has Been Sent by God," Consensus: Vol. 20 : ss. 2, Artcle 10. Avalable at: Ths Sermons s brought to you for free and open access by Scholars Laurer. t has been accepted for ncluson n Consensus by an authorzed edtor of Scholars Laurer. For more nformaton, please contact scholarscommons@wlu.ca.

2 f t Ths Chld Has Been Sent by God Bonne J. Scharf Pastor, St. James Lutheran Church, Renfrew, Ontaro Text: Luke 2:22-40 (The Presentaton of Our Lord) Who would have thought t... that she, a poor grl from Nazareth would be takng her chld to the temple n Jerusalem to be dedcated? The tme for her purfcaton was fnally complete. At last she and Joseph could begn ther journey home. Home to Nazareth home to her famly and her mother. She was happy the chld had been a boy. The perod of purfcaton after the brth of a boy was only sx weeks; the chld had been a grl t would have been three months before she could resume the normal daly routne of her lfe. Mary had wondered about ths puzzlng dfference; l)ut t had always been so for as long as anyone could remember had been the custom of her people.

3 136 Consensus Just as t was the custom to take the frst-born boy to the Temple n Jerusalem to be dedcated to the Lord. Of course women from dstant places lke Nazareth could only dream of such thngs t was just too far away. f t hadn t been for the Romans and ther stupd census Mary smled, maybe she should be grateful to the Romans; after all, f t hadn t been for that edct of Caesar she and Joseph would never have made the trek to Bethlehem. And she wouldn t be preparng to take her chld to Jerusalem to the temple n Jerusalem to be dedcated! For a moment she dreamed she was Hannah. But there was an mportant dfference. Hannah had left her son n the care of the old prest, whle Mary s chld had been entrusted to her care. She would take her chld home to Nazareth, home to the lovng care of her famly and of her mother. She mssed her mother. That had been the worst part of ths journey: not havng her mother wth her when the chld was born. But soon she would be home! And what a story she would have to tell and there would be more, she could feel t. At the temple, surely at the temple there would be a word of blessng to remember and to add to the story. They were both excted as they made' ther way nto the cty. Jerusalem was much largxu- than Nazareth, but they had no trou1)l(' hndng the temple. Mary had never seen such an enormous 1)uldng.

4 1 and : And, There! Well, : Should ' Ths Chld 137 And they needn t have worred about hndng ther way around. Hardly were they through the gates than someone drected them to the table of the seller of brds. Everyone seemed to know just why they were there and what they would want. She supposed because she was carryng a baby n her arms, t was obvous that they had come for a dedcaton. And ther poor clothng was an ndcaton they would be wantng the least expensve sacrfce: a par of pgeons. Someone else ponted the way nto the temple. A temple functonary met them, took ther offerng, mumbled the approprate lturgcal formula and t was overand they found themselves on the temple steps. t was not what she had expected. She had so looked forward to ths moment t had been so flatso matter-of-factso routne. she supposed t wasfor them, they dd ths sort of thng all the tme; ddn t they know how mportant ths da}^ w^as for her? had been no wordno memorable word for her journey. there was nothng to do now but to head home, home to Nazareth, to her famly and her mother. The old man was fral. The arms he held out for the chld were wrnkled and scrawny. she gve hm the chld? Surely those fragle arms could not l)ear even so small a

5 ; ' j Consensus load. They were both amazed by hs strength as he held the chld aloft and the voce they heard was steady and strong: Tord, now your servant s ready to go n peace. For wth own eyes, have seen the salvaton you have prepared for all people. A lght to lghten the Gentles, and the glory of your people srael. Mary s heart almost burst. Yes! Yes! Ths was what she had wanted to hear! What wonderful words! Words of power and promse! There was somethng comfortably famlar about them; She had heard them beforefrom the angel! Or had t been n a dream? At last! She could go home nowstrengthenedassured. These were words to remember, to treasure. These were words for the journey home to Nazareth j and beyond! But as he gave her back the chld the old man s face clouded. 1 He looked at her sadly. Ths chld has been sent by God f for the salvatonand the destructon! of many n srael. There are many who wll speak out aganst hm. And sorrow, lke a sword, wll perce your heart. l j ^ No! No! She dd not want to hear ths!.' Not these words! Not words of destructon and death and sorrow and pan!!1 Hadn t there been enough pan? The pan of hearng the snckers behnd her back;

6 1 j. there Ths Chld 139 The pan of not knowng f Joseph would stand by her; The pan of havng her baby so far away from home, far from her mother s strong arms and gentle hands. So.. would be no word for her after all. As she drew her cloak around the chld and started down the temple steps she felt a hand on her arm. She had no dea who the old woman was, but the arm that encrcled her shoulders was strong and the hand that gently stroked her face and cradled the head of her chld was a hand of blessng. Had the old woman spoken? Mary wasn t sure, but she thought she had heard her whsper or was t sgh? Emmanuel before she walked away nto the crowd. As Mar}^ and Joseph turned toward the temple gate they heard a voce rngng out over the throng. t was the old woman and she was proclamng to all who would hear: The Lord has come among us to set us free! have seen the chld! wth us! God s EMMANUEL!! EMMANUEL!! At last! She had a word for the journey! Amen.