Not common at all

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.’ (Luke 2:22-24)

Not common at all

Nothing could be less conspicuous—a peasant couple in ancient Palestine doing what the law of their religion required. They go to the temple to offer the prescribed sacrifice.

There was no apparent reason for anyone to pay them much attention. This was routine in their culture, something that needed to be done, and they did it out of faithfulness to the God and faith of their people.

It is impossible for me not to love them as I imagine the two in common dress, bearing their child, ascending the steps of the temple mound—people of the land to whom those better off and better positioned paid little mind.

They remind me of the greatness of small things and the wonders so-called common folk do as they live and love, faithfully caring for children and the everyday needs life lays on their shoulders.

Long it has been said that the most significant things, the most beautiful acts, are done quietly, in out of the way places, by unassuming people … when no one is watching.

Routine, it seems, never is, but is rather the place of greatest loves and care, revealing the most profound faithfulness we can offer each other and the Love who breathes through smallest moments.

Of course, this was no common moment. Those two peasants carried the child who shines with the light of the divine heart. But then, we bear that light, too, our privilege and joy to play a part, however small or unnoticed, in God’s great love affair with the world.

Not common at all.

Pr. David L. Miller