The Son came to the servant not to be
presented by the servant, but so that, through the Son, the servant might
present to his Lord the priesthood and the prophecy that had been entrusted to
his keeping. Prophecy and priesthood, which had been given through Moses, were
both passed down and came to rest on Simeon. He was a pure vessel, who consecrated
himself, so that, like Moses, he too could contain them both. These were feeble
vessels that accommodated great gifts, gifts that one might contain because of
their goodness. Simeon presented our Lord, and in Him he presented the two
gifts he had so that what had been given to Moses in the desert was passed on
by Simeon in the temple. Because our Lord is the vessel in which all fullness
dwells, when Simeon presented Him to God, he poured out both of these upon Him:
the priesthood from his hands, and prophecy from his lips. The priesthood had
always been on Simeon’s hands because of (ritual) purifications. Prophecy, in
fact, dwelt on his lips because of revelations. When both of these saw the Lord
of both of these, both of them were combined and were poured into the vessel
that could accommodate them both, in order to contain priesthood, kingship, and
prophecy.
(2) The infant who was wrapped in
swaddling clothes by virtue of His goodness was dressed in priesthood and
prophecy by virtue of His majesty. Simeon dressed Him in these, and gave Him to
the one who had dressed Him in swaddling clothes. As he returned Him to His
mother, he returned to priesthood with Him. And when he prophesied to her about
him: “This child is destined for the downfall and rising . . .” he gave
her prophecy with Him as well. (Ephrem the Syrian, Homily on the Lord Section
LXXX.1-2, in St. Ephrem the Syrian: Selected Prose Works [trans. Edward
G. Matthews, Jr. [The Fathers of the Church 91; Washington, D.C.: The Catholic University
Press of America, 1994], 328-39)
Ephrem views the presentation in the
temple as the occasion upon which Jesus received the gifts of prophecy and
priesthood form the priest. Simeon, even though, in the Commentary on the
Diatessaron, he traces the priestly line to Jesus through John the Baptist,
who received it from his father, Zechariah. See Leloir, ed., Saint Ephrem.
Commentaire de l’évangile concordant, 47-48. In either case, it is the
understanding of the Syriac-speaking authors that Jesus received the Aaron
priesthood, perfected it, and transmitted it to the church. See Aphrahat, Demonstration
6.289.22. In at least one instance, in an apparent reference to Heb 5.6ff.,
Ephrem traces the priesthood that Jesus received to Melchizedek:
His divinity is from God,
and His humanity is from mortals,
His priesthood is from Melchizedek,
His kingship is from the house of David.
Blessed is His combining (of them).”
Hymns on the Resurrection 1.12. (Ibid., 328 n. 263)
So Mary took her firstborn and left.
Although He was visibly wrapped in swaddling clothes, He was invisibly clothed
with prophecy and priesthood. Thus, what Moses had been given was received from
Simeon, and it remained and continued with the Lord of these two (gifts). The former
steward and the final treasure handed over the keys of priesthood and prophecy
to the One in authority over the treasury of both of these. This is why His Father
gave Him the Spirit without measure, because all measures of the Spirit
are under His hand. And to indicate that He received the keys of the former
stewards, our Lord said to Simon: “I will give you the keys of the gates.”
Now how could He give them to someone unless He had received them from someone
else? So the keys He had received from Simeon the priest, he gave to another Simeon,
the Apostle. So even though the (Jewish) nation did not listen to the first
Simeon, the (Gentile) nations would listen to the other Simeon. (Homily on the
lord Section 54.1, ibid., 329-30)
Ephrem introduces the image of the keys
(Matt 16.19) as symbols of the passing of authority to Christ. Ephrem refers to
Christ as both “steward” and “treasurer.” (Ibid., 329 n. 268)
