Benny Nalkara, CMI

“This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Lk 2:34-35). This prophecy made by Simeon taking the child Jesus in his hands at the Jerusalem temple often seems to be enigmatic. It was happened at the time of presentation of Jesus at the temple or at the so called “Encounter Scene” in the Gospel of Luke. This particular kind summary of the work and fate of Jesus was given by Simeon immediately after his recital of the Hymn, Nunc Dimittis, “Now let your servant go.”
After presenting Jesus as “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel,” (2:32), Simeon made this quite unexpected statement about Jesus. Whatever things Simeon has uttered here may sound ironical and not fitting to the divine and salvific atmosphere created in connection with the infancy narratives created for the nativity if Jesus. But, what he prophesied seems to be the blueprint of the radical life and ministry of Jesus that was to follow. This prophecy includes three dimensions of responses and consequences of Jesus’s presence in the world.
The statement that He will be the cause whereby many will fall takes us to the prophecy of Isa 8:14: “He will be a holy place; for both Israel and Judah he will be a stone that causes people to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” It is a prophecy that reveals the divinity of Jesus. Simeon also notes that he will be the cause whereby many will rise. The Psalmist expresses this when he says: “He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand” (Ps 40:2). Long ago Seneca said that what men needed above all was a hand let down to lift them up. It is the hand of Jesus which lifts a man out of the old life and into the new, out of the sin into the goodness, out of the shame into the glory. In the Magnificat Blessed Mary proclaims the same fact: “He has shown the strength of his arm, he has scattered the proud in their conceit. He has cast down the mighty from their thrones, and has lifted up the lowly” (Lk 1:51-52).
Jesus’s role is to help the people to make a discernment between what is right and what is wrong and thus to reveal about the judgement – rise and fall. Indeed, this is a strange and a hard saying but it is true. It is not so much God who judges a man/woman; one judges himself/herself; and his/her judgment is his or her response to Jesus Christ. If, when he/she is confronted with that goodness and that loveliness, his/her heart runs out in answering love, he/she is within the Kingdom. If, when so confronted, he/she remains coldly unmoved or actively hostile, he/she is condemned.
“He will meet with much opposition.” Jesus is presented as the sign of controversy. He being the Prince of Peace and Sun of Justice may stand before the world as a challenge to many people and the institutions. We find that during his earthly ministry, his identity was questioned, his stance was challenged and he was labelled as a revolutionary. His critics considered him as a false prophet and one who blasphemed. Jesus himself had foretold this: “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law” (Mt 10:34-35). Accepting Jesus demands from us choosing a stance- a stance based on his values. This may be inviting oppositions from different corners of the world and can cause controversy because towards Jesus Christ there can be no neutrality. We either surrender to him or are at war with him. And it is the tragedy of life that our pride often keeps us from making that surrender which leads to victory.
The entry of Jesus into the world will also cause “to reveal the thoughts of many hearts.” It’s because a new spirituality is being formed in him. It’s not a ritualistic one or of the external expressions. It’s a new spirituality based on the purity of heart and deep interiority. This will reveal the inner thoughts of those who wear the mask of hypocrisy. The purity of heart will be the criteria of judgement in the Kingdom of God. We find the realization of this truth during the public ministry of Jesus.
Jesus continues to be the sign of controversy even today. He is a challenging presence for many who try to work in his name emphasizing ritualistic religiosity and legalistic orthodoxy, the very thing which he vehemently opposed. He is a disturbing presence for those who work to establish his kingdom using power, authority and aristocracy. Only those who have purity of heart and spotlessness of intentions will find peace with him.