The Fourth Joyful Mystery – The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³ (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) ²⁴ and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” ²⁵ Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶ And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. ²⁷ And inspired by the Spirit)^a) he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the law, ²⁸ he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

²⁹ “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,
according to thy word;
³⁰ for mine eyes have seen thy salvation
³¹ which thou hast prepared in the presence of all peoples,
³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to thy people Israel.”

³³ And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him; ³⁴ and Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother,

“Behold, this child is set for the fall)^b) and rising of many in Israel,
and for a sign that is spoken against
³⁵ (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also),
that thoughts out of many hearts may be revealed.”

The fruit of this mystery is OBEDIENCE

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First, we have God’s declaration of Jesus as the Messiah. We read in the first part of this passage, that Simeon was promised by God to never see death until he had seen the Christ. The prophecy of Simeon here beginning in verse 39 is a declaration that Jesus is in fact the Christ who has come for the salvation of the world. Also on this note, we see that God is a God who keeps his promises. Simeon was promised to not die until he got to witness the coming of the Messiah.

But, in the joy of not only getting to proclaim Jesus as the Messiah and seeing the promises of God being fulfilled, there comes great sorrow. Simeon not only prophecies Jesus as the Savior, but also His crucifixion. He knows of the great suffering that is to come not only for the child Jesus but of Mary also.

Turning to the fruit of this mystery, Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the Temple for purification according to the Mosaic Law. They knew full well that Jesus was God Himself, if anyone should be an exception to this law, it would be them. But they do not see themselves as above this law, so the bring the child Jesus to the temple in accordance with the law. This should be a signal to us that we are also called to live out our faith in obedience to the Lord, but also in obedience to civil authorities. We may not always like a particular law, whether because we don’t agree with it, or we don’t think that a particular person or body has authority, or because we see ourselves as an exception to the rule, but it is our duty that we should obey out of respect for those over us.

In a recent episode of the TV Show, “FBI” the team brought in their suspected fugitives for questioning and said suspects would say “I don’t recognize your authority.” To which one of the agents, OA, says “Well, I might not recognize gravity, but gravity might have something to say.” (or something to that effect). The point being that we don’t get to pick and choose what authorities we do or do not listen to. I might like a former president better than the current one, but that doesn’t change that the current president is president, not the former one. I might not think that a particular leader is a good example or even a strong leader, but I am not the one making decisions, they are. In the bible, Jesus repeatedly calls out the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, yet, also tells his disciples “Do as they say, not as they do.” He tells us they still have authority, even if they don’t act they way they should. The bible also tells us that all authority comes from God. We do not place someone in authority over us, so it is not our place to ignore them. We did not give them their authority, so we cannot take it away.

The virtue of obedience stems directly from the virtue of humility. It is indeed quite an easy task to obey those that we agree with, but a mark of true humility and holiness to obey those that we don’t. In the words of St. Francis de Sales

Obedience is a consecration of the heart, chastity of the body, and poverty of all worldly goods to the Love and Service of God. Blessed indeed are the obedient, for God will never permit them to go astray.
– Introduction to the Devout Life, Part III, Chapter 11

The Christ Jesus, wrongly accused of a crime he did not commit, willingly submitted to the law. For just as Christ became obedient to the point of death, let us also obey those who have authority over us: be it parents, boss, teachers, civic leaders, or spiritual leaders.

For prayer, let us pray the litany of humility. For brevity of the post, I will simply link it.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Litany of Humility