Gospel Portion: St. Luke
2:25-38 Rev. Pramod Zachariah
"It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that, he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah." vs.
26
The
above scripture portion is the same portion that is read as the Gospel reading
during the sacrament of the Holy Baptism. The idea that is intended to be
expressed out is, "Respect for the Elders". The term 'Elders' is
significant here because in present context we hardly find any 'Old' or 'Aged'
individual. A quick look into the most popular advertisements going around
gives the impression that people wants to look younger and youthful. A mother
sending her child to school wants to look as youthful as her child. Hence, we
shift our focus from 'older' to 'elder'.
The above incident is mentioned only in
the gospel according to Luke. Some scholars even put forward theories that,
this portion was added quite later to the original manuscript. Simeon and Anna,
the two old individuals or elders presented in this portion actually represent
two lines of thought in Israelite community, at that time. Simeon stands as the
representative of the Levite thought based upon the Mosaic traditions. Anna,
represents the line of thought along the prophetic traditions from Elijah.
their hope and aspirations of liberation of Israel is presented through their
conversations and their words.
This
passage emphasizes on how we give respect to the elders. There are three
approaches.
1.
Approach
of Acceptance
2.
Approach
of Care.
3.
Approach
of Spirituality.
1. Approach of
Acceptance: Giving
respect to elders involve going beyond respect given by words. It involves
accepting them. Consider Mary and Joseph, they came to the temple 40 days with
the baby child Jesus, as per the regulations of the laws of Moses. Here, they
encounter Simeon, whom they might have never met before. Simeon is allowed to
take Jesus or the Baby from the mother's hand. No such incident involving
Simeon has been mentioned before in Bible. The very act of giving Jesus into
Simeon's hand by Mary and Joseph, gives respect to Simeon. They respected the
individuality, the potential, the personality, the character of Simeon. When we
as ministers of the church, meet any person, we need to accept their
experiences, their knowledge, their values, their talents and their
potentialities. To give acceptance is to consider and give priority to the
person beside you. This gives them respect.
According to the Phenomenological
Approach, on the lines of Heidegger’s Philosophy, inorder to consider the
experience of revelation, we need to take into account what is revealed, how it
is revealed, the manner in which it is revealed, when it is revealed, with
respect to a number of people. With that respect, the lives of Anna and Simeon,
and the experience of Revelation that they received, stand as strong witness
for the future revelation.
2. Approach of
Care: Caring is
considered to be synonymous with love.
The noblest thing that the world desires is ‘an ear to hear’. There are two
types of communication, verbal and non-verbal communication. Verbal
communication is associated with word formation, grammar, forms, phrases etc.
but, it is the distance between the words that actually gives meaning to the communication.
“God is nowhere” and “God is now here” are actually two sentences which give
totally different meaning when the spacing between the alphabets are changed.
When we communicate with others we need to respect the other person before us.
Our communication should not silence the other person. This involves not only
with respect to spoken words but also in any activity in which they were
engaged in. We must also tune our ears to hear Silence. Silence speaks a lot of
things, we need to engage them. Simeon was silent for a long time, he was led
by the Holy Spirit into the temple, Anna was spending her time praying and
fasting in the temple, she also spent her life in Silence. Why they were silent
for so long? The answer is given; the silence is given meaning here, when they
were engaged by Mary and Joseph, when Jesus is taken up by Simeon and cradled
in his hands, when Anna saw Jesus. Both of them break their silence. Simeon
reveals the promise of God that he won’t die until he had seen the Messiah.
When elders are silent it may have
lots of meaning. Our Suffragan Metropolitan, Rt. Rev. Dr. Zacharias Mar
Theophilious in an article gives inspiration to those elders who are mentally
depressed and frustrated
“Look back and Think
Look forward and Thrust
Look around and Serve
Look in and Transform.”
This is how we
need to inspire our elders with.
3. Approach of
Spirituality:
As per the ‘Life Stages Theory’ of Eric
Erickson, people above the age of 55 are classified as ‘Late Adults’. According
to him these people are in a phase of life where they are about to retire from
the activities that they were engaged in, a period of transition. It comes with
a lot of mental trauma. They enter into a stage where they think nothing is
remaining to be done or they cannot do anything anymore. They spend their lives
measuring the successes and failures in their life and contemplating upon what
they can do in this life. Here we as ministers must approach them with
Spirituality. Bible always gives the message that with firm faith in God you
can always have hope for the future. Impossible things can be attempted by
faith in God. Simeon and Anna were sustained by their firm faith in God. Life
of Caleb is an example about faith in God. We need to imbibe in our elders also
the same faith attitude.
As per the Logotheraphy of Vicktor
Frankl, to find meaning in our life we need to do three things
- Do a deed or create a work.
- Experience something or encounter someone.
- The attitude we take towards unavoidable
suffering.
May God Almighty
give us grace to motivate our elders in this manner.