What Did Simeon's Prophecy To Mary Really Mean?

We've all heard it a thousand times: When Simeon prophecied to Mary that "a sword shall pierce your own soul too" (Luke 2:35 - NIV), that he was predicting that she would experience pain over her Son's rejection and resulting crucifixion. But was that really the meaning that the Spirit of God intended through the mouth of Simeon? Today I spent a lot of time studying the concept of God's Word as a "sword". I'm going through the letters to the 7 churches of Revelation. In the letter to the church of Pergamum, Jesus identifies himself as "him who has the sharp, double-edged sword" (2:12). I started doing a word study on the Greek word for
"sword" (Gk. "romphaian"), in this verse "which led me to Luke 2:35 (Simeon's prophecy). I started thinking, "In context, is Simeon really predicting that Mary will experience pain over her son's rejection? Or, is he predicting that her sin will be exposed just like the sin of Israel will be exposed? Look at the verse again: Luke 2:34: "Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: 'This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."

Now, much of this depends on how the Greek is translated here. I will confess that I haven't spent sufficient time analyzing the Greek structure in this verse, but, it would seem that if the "kai" in this verse is an adverbial "kai" ("too" - NIV), then that would lend great credibility to viewing this verse from a radically different angle. But not only is there interesting grammatical evidence to view this verse in this way, there seems to be significant contextual evidence as well. In context, Simeon is predicting that the Messiah will be opposed, rejected, and hated. His coming will not be what most think it will be. It will not be a time of great celebration and victory and consolation to every Jew. No. The Messiah will be rejected, hated, despised, and killed by his own people. That was not what the typical Jew expected. They expected the Messiah to come and pat every Jew on the back and say, "You guys are the real deal. Let's overthrow the Gentile sinners and get this kingdom thing completed." But that's not what happened. In fact, just two chapters later, the Jews in Jesus' own hometown are trying to throw him over a cliff (4:16-29 ). And why is this? Because Jesus' was proclaiming that the Jews were sinners just like the Gentiles were sinners. And he does this by pointing out that during the drought that occurred during Elijah's ministry, God didn't bless the Jews - he only blessed the Gentiles (the widow of Zarephath and Naaman the Syrian ). Both Jews and Gentiles alike were under sin. Christ, however, had come to "set the prisoner free" (those who were imprisoned to sin, that is; Christ didn't come to open literal jail cells and let the guilty run free). So, Christ revealed that Jews, like Gentiles, were under sin and would suffer punishment for their sin, like the Gentile. This type of thinking was completely antithetical to what the typical Jew believed. But that's what Jesus did. He did exactly what Simeon said he was going to do: He was going to make a lot of people mad, he was going to reveal the thoughts and intentions of the heart, he was going to reveal to Israel their sin. This is WHY Jesus was rejected. He was rejected because the Jews didn't want to have their sin exposed. They didn't want to have the thoughts and intentions of their hearts revealed. They wanted to stay in the dark so they couldn't be exposed. But Jesus came to reveal our sin so we would depend upon him for salvation.

This is essentially what Simeon says to Mary: "The Messiah will be rejected by the Jews because he's going to reveal their sin to them." And then Simeon says, "And a sword shall pierce your heart, too". In other words, "And you will have your sin revealed to you as well". This is the revealing ministry of the Word of God (Heb.4:12). It opens us up and shows us our sin. The Word of God shows us the truth. It, like a doctor's scalpal, opens us up and reveals the disease within, not seeable by human eyes. Simeon wants to warn Mary of the rejection of her Son, but is there a sense in which he is also warning her that she is not outside this convicting ministry of God's Word simply because she is God's human mother? I think the evidence warrants a second look at the meaning of this passage. What do you think?