Recognizing Christ

There is a Muslim legend about the psalm appointed for this week (24:7-10).  According to it, during the days is in which Jesus lay in the tomb, just prior to the resurrection, Satan devised a plan to enter the gates of heaven and overwhelm its angel guardians by pretending to be Christ returning in triumph.

As he approached on a white steed, Satan called to the angels on the ramparts in the words of the psalm.  “Lift up your heads, O gates; lift them high, O everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.”

The angels were confused.  Following the psalm the angels asked the rider, “Who is the King of glory?”

Satan continued the antiphonal recitation.  “The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle.”  Still the angels were confused and the gates did not open.

Satan went on with the next verse.  “Lift up your heads, O gates; lift them high, O everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.”

Again, the angels asked, “Who is he, this King of glory?”

And Satan answered.  “The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory.”  The angels remained unsure and still the doors did not open.  Satan was perplexed.

One more he called to the angels.  “Lift up your heads, O gates; lift them high, O everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.”

And once more the angels responded to Satan masquerading as Christ with their question, “Who is he, this King of glory?”

This time, having run out of the words of the psalm, Satan replaced them with his own.  “It is I.  I am the King of glory,” he proclaimed.  And as he did, he threw open his arms.  And when he threw open his arms, the angels could see plainly that the horse’s rider was unwounded from the cross, his hands free of the print of the nails.  And they knew it was a trick, and the rider, not the Christ but the deceiver. 

The Feast of the Presentation, which is Saturday, is about recognizing Christ among us (Lk. 2:22-40).  Simeon was an old man who had waited many years for God to fulfill the promise that he would not die before he was able to see God’s Messiah.  He recognized Jesus as the Messiah when the child’s parents brought him to the Temple to sacrifice and dedicate him to the Lord, as the law required.  The old man’s heart must have leapt with joy at the completion of his expectation, saying, “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

There was also an old woman named Anna within the Temple precincts that day, as she was every day, praying and fasting.  She, too, recognized the child for who he was and likewise gave thanks to God. 

It is a difficult thing to know the Messiah among us, even for the angels.  The Gospel of Luke tells us that Simeon and Anna were aided directly by the Holy Spirit.  It no doubt helped that their hearts were prepared to see by years of longing and waiting and watching.  It may also have helped that Mary and Joseph had brought the child to the Temple in an act of humility, dedicating him, as the law required of first born sons, to the Lord. 

Other times the pretenders reveal themselves in the opposite way, in an act of pride.  It is woundedness, though, or the willingness to be wounded, that is the guarantor of authenticity of the Messiah’s presence among us and within us.  The glory of God is in vulnerability and not in any sort of triumph in the normal sense of the word.

Peace,
+Stacy