Who Are These Old People Grabbing My Baby?
The lectionary gospel text for the first Sunday after Christmas tells the story of Jesus being presented at the temple for ritual purification. As team member Mary Austin notes in this installment of The Immediate Word, it had to have been a difficult and harried time for Joseph and Mary -- all the more so when they are approached in the temple by a pair of aged worshipers with startling declarations about the child and his destiny.