Origen's sermon on Luke 2:33-40, reading Simeon's prophecy over the infant Jesus and Anna the prophetess as teaching about spiritual falling, rising, and consecrated widowhood.
This homily is the seventeenth in Origen's series on the Gospel of Luke, delivered as a running verse-by-verse exposition to a congregation. It covers the end of the Lukan infancy narrative: Joseph named as Jesus's father despite the virgin birth, Simeon's blessing and prophecy that the child is 'set for the falling and the rising up of many' and will be 'a sign that is spoken against,' the sword that will pierce Mary's soul, the prophetess Anna, and the notice that the child 'grew and grew strong, filled with wisdom.'
Origen works through each verse twice, first giving 'the simple exposition' and then 'the deeper' or spiritual sense favored by 'the interpreter.' On Simeon's prophecy he argues that fall and rise happen to the same people: everyone must first fall from their false sense of standing in sin so that the Savior can raise them, illustrated by the pagan, the fornicator, and the sinner within each hearer who must die before the new self can live. He surveys how nearly every element of the gospel story is 'a sign that is spoken against,' cataloguing the Marcionites who deny Jesus was born of a woman and the Ebionites who deny the virgin birth, along with disputes over the resurrection body. He also argues, against a docetic reading of Mary's freedom from scandal, that she too was 'scandalized' at the passion, since otherwise Christ would not have died for her sins.
The homily closes with an extended digression on Anna's long widowhood as a model for consecrated women, and a sharp disciplinary aside on second marriage, which Origen says bars a person (though not to damnation) from full membership in 'the church which has no spot or wrinkle.' It closes by contrasting the child Jesus's human growth in wisdom and grace with his eternal, unchanging divine nature, tying Luke's language of grace to John's prologue and Paul's letters to the Colossians and to Timothy.
“How the Savior came to bring about the fall and rising up of many is to be considered.”
— Homily on Luke 17 · read this chapter →
“You were a pagan; let the pagan fall in you. You loved harlots; let the fornicator in you die first.”
— Homily on Luke 17 · read this chapter →
“the Marcionites contradict this sign and say that he was not born of a woman at all; the Ebionites contradict the sign, saying that he was born of a man and a woman just as we too are born.”
— Homily on Luke 17 · read this chapter →
“If she did not suffer scandal at the Lord's passion, then Jesus did not die for her sins.”
— Homily on Luke 17 · read this chapter →
“It is a good thing, and the foremost thing, if a woman is able to possess the grace of virginity; but if she cannot achieve this, and it happens to her that she loses her husband, let her remain a widow.”
— Homily on Luke 17 · read this chapter →
It is Origen's sermon on the end of Luke's infancy narrative (Luke 2:33-40): Simeon's blessing and prophecy over the infant Jesus, the sword that will pierce Mary's soul, the prophetess Anna, and the note that the child 'grew and grew strong, filled with wisdom.' Origen gives both a plain and a spiritual reading of each verse.
He argues it describes the same person undergoing both: a hearer must first fall from a false sense of standing in sin, so that the fall itself becomes useful and leads to being raised by the Savior. He illustrates this with the pagan, fornicator, and sinner each hearer must let die inside themselves.
No. He explicitly argues that Mary 'too was scandalized' at the passion, reasoning that if she had been immune to scandal, Christ would not have needed to die for her sins as for everyone else's.
He cites them as opposite errors about the virgin birth: the Marcionites denied Jesus was born of a woman at all, while the Ebionites denied the virgin birth and held he was born of a man and a woman like anyone else.
He argues that just as clergy and widows in church office must not be twice-married, a twice-married layperson, even if otherwise virtuous, belongs to a lower rank of the church and lacks full membership in the 'church which has no spot or wrinkle,' though he is not condemned to damnation.
He praises her long widowhood following seven years of marriage as a model for the women in his congregation, urging them toward virginity or, failing that, toward remaining an unmarried widow rather than remarrying.
Commentary on John, Book 1 · Commentary on John, Book 10 · Commentary on John, Book 2 · Commentary on John, Book 4 · Commentary on John, Book 5 · Commentary on John, Book 6 · Commentary on Matthew, Book 10 · Commentary on Matthew, Book 11 · Commentary on Matthew, Book 12 · Commentary on Matthew, Book 13 · Commentary on Matthew, Book 14 · Commentary on Matthew, Book 15