It’s one of the most affecting moments in the Nativity narrative. Mary and Joseph have taken the infant Jesus, at forty days old, to the temple in Jerusalem for the ritual of maternal purification commanded in the Law of Moses. There they meet an elderly man named Simeon, who has been told by God that before his death he will see the Messiah, the hope of Israel.

One can imagine the surprise that the young parents felt as this man, a stranger, took the babe in his arms. “Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel” is not a statement one typically makes of a newborn. (“Congratulations on the baby” normally suffices.) Nor is it likely that Mary was entirely reassured to hear the man add, “Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also.”

Even more enigmatic and disquieting, however, might have been Simeon’s words preceded that prophecy: “a light to lighten the Gentiles.”