Luke 2:21-38

     After eight days, Jesus was circumcised. 
     Circumcision was unusual in the ancient world.  Outside of Judaism, the practice was viewed with some abhorrence.  For the Israelites who lived in a more Hellenistic society outside Israel, some young men even made some attempts to hide the signs of circumcision when they participated in sports, etc.  There has been some suggestion that even a primitive sort of plastic surgery was attempted.  Circumcision was not a big controversy for Jesus, although association with Gentiles (which included uncircumcised indivudals) was an issue.  As the early church became more and more Gentile, it became extremely important.  Would the new Christians be required to practice circumcision, the dietary laws, etc. Some factions of the church pushed yes, others, including the Apostle Paul pushed no.  The latter group won the argument. 
     By the law of Moses, after birth, a woman was required to practice certain purifications.  Also, the first born male was to be designated as holy to the Holy.  Because Mary and Joseph were poor, they gave the sacrifice allowed to the poor, which was a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.  
     There were two devout individuals known to the people who frequented the temple.  One was an elderly man named Simeon.  He'd been promsed by the spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's annointed.  When he saw Jesus, he praised God and proclaimed to all that he could now die for he had seen  God's salvation.  This child would be light for revelation to the Gentile world and a glory to the  people of Israel.  Anna, an elderly widow also praised God for this child. 
     Luke tells that Mary and Joseph were amazed by what was said of Jesus.  One would think that after all that had happened they would have simply expected such things.  And that seems part of the push-pull nature of Jesus' family.  They knew he was sent by God, yet faced with the daily realities of life, they seemed to forget it.  Perhaps part of the amazement was the mention of the Gentiles--most of the orthodox citizens of Israel had problems wrapping their heads around the idea of God caring so much for the pagans...this despite the fact that some of the prophets had also pointed in that direction.  Of course, they were under Roman domination and this made it more difficult to see pagans in such a light. 
     Simeon continued after his public words and said something painful to Mary, that a sword would pierce her soul as well.  Perhaps he saw what is so difficult to fathom in moments of joy, that goodness is not always accepted by the world and the fate of Jesus would be an agony for a loving mother to endure. 
    
The struggle of the Israelite people against assimilation into the cultures around them was protected through customs like circumcision and the dietary laws.  In what ways can Christians live in but not of the world?

Luke clearly had a special interest in telling the stories of how Jesus would impact people in the Gentile world.  If Theophilus, to whom the book was officially written, was not a Christian, how do you think he understood and interpreted the words of Simeon?