St Luke’s account of this is meant to evoke for us two key events in Salvation history. The first, that all firstborn are consecrated to the Lord (Ex 13:2), recalling the Passover and Israel’s liberation from Egypt; the second, the story of Samuel (1 Sam 1 – 2), where Samuel is consecrated to the Lord, welcomed by the priest Eli at Shiloh, as Jesus is welcomed in the Jerusalem Temple by Simeon.
Simeon, the penultimate prophet of the Lord, filled with the Holy Spirit, then utters two oracles (Lk 2:34 – 35). The first, familiar to us in the liturgy as the Nunc Dimittis, in praise of the child Jesus, bearing God’s salvation to all nations. As his parents, presenting Jesus at the Temple have dutifully fulfilled the precepts of the Law, Simeon and Anna, inspired by the Spirit, utter prophecies about Jesus’ future; the context Luke wants to present to us is that Jesus sums up the heritage of Israel, the Law and the Prophets.
The second prophecy, of Jesus being a sign to be contradicted, and the specific address to Mary that “a sword will pass through your own soul” is more obscure. The sword (and the falling and rising of many; cf Ez 14:17) most probably represents the judgement of God on those who accept or reject his offer of salvation; Luke (Lk 8:21) presents Mary as being one of those who “hears the word of God and does it” - Mary’s greatness lies in the fact that her consent to God’s Word makes her the pre-eminent disciple. We too, by virtue of our baptism, are consecrated to the Lord - but how do we present that to others? This Lenten season provides a time for us to reflect on how others might see us in this regard.
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