Living up to the predictions? Not so much?

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple is the theme of the texts from the Roman Catholic Lectionary today. The prophet, Malachi, expresses the sense of the “coming messenger” as the purifying presence of the Divine. The Hebrew understanding of the majesty and power of the Divine necessarily meant that all defiled by sin would be annihilated in a purification action. The impossibility of good and evil to coexist is the exhortation of Malachi. The strong arm and mighty hand of the Lord are at the basis for the praise of the King of Glory by the psalmist. Luke relates the experience of Mary and Joseph as they present their very human son in the Temple as the Jewish tradition required. Simeon, a prophet in the Temple* blessed them and said thanked God that he had seen the arrival of the “messenger”. 36 Anna* the daughter of Phanuel, was also a prophet who spoke of Jesus as the redemption of Jerusalem. The One who comes to save is pictured quite differently by the Malachi and Luke. This is the seed of a great reflection on the humanity and divinity of Jesus. We probably have a preference for “our” Saviour. The point is that the contemplation of this humanity and divinity nature is where the spiritual richness lies. The “journey” is to work at keeping the mystery in tension as it reveals more and more about both aspects of the Divine “messenger”.