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Presentation of the Lord St. John Paul II 2020 Luke 2:22-40 the Book of Ruth

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Presentation of the Lord St. John Paul II 2020 Luke 2:22-40 the Book of Ruth Presentation of the Lord St. John Paul II 2020 Luke 2:22-40 The Book of Ruth What do the Super Bowl, Groundhog’s Day and the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord have in common…. Absolutely nothing…except that they are all today. I tried really hard to come up with a common theme, but was unable to do so… So let it suffice to say that I hope your team wins, I hope Punxsutawney Phil sees his shadow and I hope you have some wisdom figures in your life like Simeon and Anna. And it’s that last one that I want to speak to today. Our Gospel reading gives us an account of the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple by his parents Mary and Joseph. And in the temple they encounter two wisdom figures Simeon and Anna. In my homily today I want to look at a couple of traits of wisdom figures. I want to look specifically why I call Simeon and Anna wisdom figures. I want to give you another example of a wisdom figure in the Bible. Finally I want to look at how we can identify and learn from the wisdom figures in our own lives. Simeon and Anna are wisdom figures. They possess a certain wisdom that allows them to speak into the life of young Mary and Joseph. Simeon had received a vision that told him he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. And because of that vision, Simeon looked for Christ in his life. That’s why Simeon is a wisdom figure…he was always looking for Christ in his life. Anna was a prophetess. She lived in the Temple. That sounds a little strange to us but there were a group of women, kind of similar to the nuns of today, who lived in the Temple and took care of it. They were usually either virgins or widows. Anna being one of the latter. She was a wisdom figure not only because she recognized something special in Jesus but also because she shared it with others. St. Luke tells us that when she encountered Jesus and Mary and Joseph: “She gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who awaited the redemption of Israel.” Anna was the first evangelizer---the first one to share the good news of Christ with others- a wisdom figure indeed. As you might imagine, Simeon and Anna are not alone in being wisdom figures in the Bible. I want to share two more with you and to do so I want to go back pretty far into the history of the Jewish people…back before King David. So we are talking about 1000 BC. The 2 wisdom figures I want to look at area couple of women: Naomi and Ruth. We get our information about the two from a book of the Bible known as Ruth. A little backdrop: Naomi lived in Bethlehem around the year 1100 BC. She is married to Elimelech and they have two sons: Mahlon and Chilion. There is a famine in Bethlehem. So Naomi and Elimelech decide to leave Bethlehem and travel to a place called Moab. In Moab, Elimelech dies and both Mahlon and Chilion get married. One marries a girl named Orpah, the other a girl named Ruth. They are there about 10 years when the boys, now men, die. Naomi hears the famine is over and she decides to return to Bethlehem. There are lot of tears from Orpah and Ruth. But, Naomi explains, she has no husband to give them so they should stay in Moab to find a husband and raise a family. Orpah thinks that’s a good idea but Ruth doesn’t…Ruth says something that may be familiar to you because Fr. Gregory Norbet put it to music. If you open your hymnal to # 661 you’ll find it. This is where Ruth becomes a bit of a wisdom figure, because she says: “Wherever you go, I shall go. Wherever you live there shall I live. Your people will be my people. And your God will be my God too. Wherever you die I will die. And we will be buried together.” Ruth 1:16-17 So Naomi and Ruth head back to Bethlehem just in time for the harvest of barley season. Ruth asks for permission to go find some work in the fields. Naomi grants it. A young man named Boaz takes a liking to her and says, “Don’t go to work for anyone else.” She gets home with a little barley which she gives to her mother-in-law, Naomi. Naomi says, who took notice of you-a foreigner? She says it was Boaz… Ruth says, “That’s good news. He is a relative of ours.” And this is where Naomi becomes a wisdom figure. She hatches a plan that she hopes will land her daughter in law a new husband. Tonight, after work…get yourself all gussied up and after he eats and drinks and takes a little nap, Clear out a place at his feet and lay there while he sleeps. (Now I know that doesn’t sound to wise to us today but it was a pretty shrewd move back then, and it worked.) Long story short…Boaz and Ruth get married…and they have a child… the women of Israel praise her birth and they say something pretty interesting about her son… They say, “Blessed is the Lord who has not failed to provide today an heir for you. May he become famous in Israel.” Ruth 4:15 They name the baby Obed…Obed grows up…has a son named Jesse… who grows up and has a son named David, of Bethlehem…who grows up to be King David. All because Ruth listened to the wisdom figure in her life, Naomi. Who are the wisdom figures in your life: A couple of weeks ago I mentioned the death of Fr. Jerry Kirkhoff, pastor of my parish when I was in late high school and all through my in and outs of seminary. Jerry was a wisdom figure to me…and the single best piece of advice he gave me was the night of my ordination and Jerry said, “Tom be nice to people…simply doing that will make your priesthood fruitful.” The Feast of the Presentation of the Lord is all about wisdom figures. Simeon and Anna… Ruth and Naomi… Who are the wisdom figures in your life? You are blessed if you have some…. You are even more blessed if you listen to them. .
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