“Let the word go forth from this time and place, to friend and foe alike, that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans…” These words come from the inaugural address of President John F Kennedy, in 1961. I think it captures the spirit of the Gospel reading for this weekend.
Who are Simeon and Anna? I want to suggest that Luke is presenting them as some of the best representatives of the “ancient regime,” the First Covenant. And their presence is a passing on of the torch to a Newcomer whom they recognize as the one who will bring the fulfillment of their hopes, their promises, their trust.
It never says, by the way, how old Simeon is, but some have guessed (reasonably) that he was probably “up there” since he was ready to die, now having seen the salvation promised by God. It also never claims he was a priest, even though he blessed Mary and Joseph [footnote: when I was graduating from Notre Dame we had the baccalaureate Mass in the Convocation Center, at the end of which Fr Ted Hesburgh told the families that they could and should bless their children. I think Simeon acted in the same spirit.].
It does speak of Anna’s age (though in a confusing way)—she might have been 84, or perhaps 103 (if she were married at 12 and was a wife for 7 years and a widow for 84!). She was “up there,” too. These two were the ones passing the torch, and Jesus (vicariously, through his parents) received it. He would be the one to bring “the consolation of Israel,” and “the redemption of Jerusalem.”
Moses could not enter the Promised Land; he passed the torch to Joshua. David could not build the Temple; he passed the torch to Solomon. It is the same with us; we have a role to play, and it might not be in “Act V” of the play of human existence, but it’s ours to play, regardless.
It doesn’t always work smoothly or perfectly: the failure of the people to follow Joshua led to the 40 years of wandering in the desert. But they finally did enter the Promised Land. Their failure, again, led to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonians. But the people were liberated, they returned home, and they re-built the Temple.
Jesus will be the one to form the new People of God, made into a new Temple. We will be (please God!) some of the living stones of this new building (I Peter 2:5), with Jesus as the capstone/cornerstone (compare Mark 12:10-11 and Ephesians 2:19ff).
This means we are also to be part of the “new generation,” destined to receive the torch. What will we do? Will we take it up and carry it, to be “a light of revelation” for the world, “to friend and foe alike,” to make us all friends and sharers in God’s glory?