if one looks at modern "culture," it seems the only people who have anything to teach are teen-agers wearing their underwear and not much else, and going into or coming out of drug rehab, on the way to the premier of their new movie.
the bible has different role models for our consideration, old dudes, often, beginning with abraham and sarah, if we wish to jump over the long-lived folks before noah. again and again very important events happen because of the constancy of the aged. the church makes much of peter's declaration that jesus is the messiah, but s. luke records that thirty years before peter, simeon and anna recognize that the infant brought to the temple, the son of mary, is the messiah, without seeing any miracles or hearing any parables.
today the church remembers zachary (zacharias) and elizabeth, the parents of john the forerunner. their story reminds us that mary, the maid of galillee, and jesus, her son, are like david, unusual in their youth. as someone who is entering the evening of life , i find this remembrance very encouraging. i am not ready to be thrown away, even if the songs of zachary and simeon take on more poignant meanings for me every day (especially for me personally the nunc dimittis, the song of simeon). in my old age i might yet do something useful. but it is also wonderful to hear zachary, each morning, saying that, "though, child, shall be called the prophet of the highest."
together these songs remind me of the wisdom of the blessing s. paul sent to the church at ephesus:
Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely
more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from
generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus
for ever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20,21
more than we can ask or imagine: Glory to him from
generation to generation in the Church, and in Christ Jesus
for ever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20,21
