Candlemas YrB 2024
Collect
Almighty and ever-living God,
clothed in majesty,
whose beloved Son was this day presented in the Temple,
in substance of our flesh:
grant that we may be presented to you
with pure and clean hearts,
by your Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Malachi 3
3 See, I am sending my messenger to prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple. The messenger of the covenant in whom you delight—indeed, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?
For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap; 3 he will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness. 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years.
5 Then I will draw near to you for judgement; I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow, and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts.
Psalm 24
The earth is the Lord’s and all that is in it,
the world, and those who live in it;
2 for he has founded it on the seas,
and established it on the rivers.
3 Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord?
And who shall stand in his holy place?
4 Those who have clean hands and pure hearts,
who do not lift up their souls to what is false,
and do not swear deceitfully.
5 They will receive blessing from the Lord,
and vindication from the God of their salvation.
6 Such is the company of those who seek him,
who seek the face of the God of Jacob.
7 Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors!
that the King of glory may come in.
8 Who is the King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in battle.
9 Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors!
that the King of glory may come in.
10 Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
he is the King of glory.
Hebrews 2
14 Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death. 16 For it is clear that he did not come to help angels, but the descendants of Abraham. 17 Therefore he had to become like his brothers and sisters[n] in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.
The Gospel according to St Luke chapter 2
22 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 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord’), 24 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.’
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon;[d] this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.[e] 27 Guided by the Spirit, Simeon[f] came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28 Simeon[g] took him in his arms and praised God, saying,
29 ‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant[h] in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’
33 And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon[i] blessed them and said to his mother Mary, ‘This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’
36 There was also a prophet, Anna[j] the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband for seven years after her marriage, 37 then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child[k] to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
39 When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.
Sermon
This morning’s reading features people at both ends of the age spectrum. Jesus was just 40 days old when his parents took him, according to the local custom, to the temple. Babies can do very little beyond smiling when they are so young. Jesus was so young that he was literally carried into the temple by his parents.
Why had his parents gone to the temple that day?
They wanted to keep the Jewish law and that meant going to the temple when Jesus was 40 days old and presenting him to God. They wanted to dedicate their child to God. We know that Mary and Joseph were poor because of the offering they made. Turtle doves or pigeons were much cheaper than the lamb that richer parents would have offered. They must have looked like any other young couple bringing their first baby into the temple.
Mary must have been accustomed to experiencing the God of surprises. The angel Gabriel had announced that she would have a child. Then some angels visited the newborn Jesus and said that angels had announced to them that there is news of great joy for all the people.
And now there is another surprise. Something odd happened. A man called Simeon appeared on the scene. We heard that he had been waiting a long time for the Messiah, the one who was going to come and rescue Israel. Simeon must have been a deeply spiritual man, who was good at listening to what God said. That must have been how he knew to go into the temple just at the right time. And when he got there, God’s Holy Spirit somehow revealed to him that this tiny baby was the Messiah.
What did Simeon do? He took Jesus in his arms and praised God. He told God that he didn’t mind if he died now because he had seen the thing that he had longed for all his life – to see God rescuing his people. We aren’t told how old Simeon was but I have always assumed that he was elderly because of the way he talked about being quite happy to die now he felt his life had been fulfilled. Simeon described Jesus as a ‘light for revelation to the Gentiles’ – here was a holy man who could see that the salvation that God offers is open to all, not just the chosen people of Israel.
Simeon recognised that the baby in his arms was the light of the world. Amazing, not at all what Mary and Joseph expected to happen. Of course they knew that Jesus was special but to have someone they had not previously met, as far as we know, recognise that the baby who lay in his arms was the promised Messiah must have been a shock. We can imagine Simeon’s grey beard and give thanks for the way in which God speaks through men.
From very early on – about the 4th century – the church has celebrated the way that Simeon recognised just who Jesus was and described him as a light. The celebration is held on February 2nd because that’s 40 days after we celebrate Jesus’ birth at Christmas. And often the celebrations have used candles to show how light pushes darkness back. That’s why it’s known as Candlemas.
Sometimes the words of the Nunc Dimittis are so familiar that we lose a sense of their power. It is a song of praise from deep within a man who knew that he would see the Messiah before he died and now knew that that promise had been fulfilled. But it is more than that. It represents an immense shift in thinking. Simeon had grown up with an exclusivist world view. Of course he had. For him the world was clearly divided into God’s people Israel and the Gentile rest of the world. Simeon shattered that world view. The promptings of his God encouraged nothing less. What might be the implications for us today?
But we haven’t got to the end of the story yet. There was one more person who came to the temple that day. An elderly lady called Anna also spotted this family who looked ordinary but were actually extraordinary. Anna hadn’t heard what Simeon had said. But she too was good at listening to God and the Holy Spirit had revealed to her that Jesus- a baby barely able to smile – was the redeemer, the Messiah that she had been waiting for. She was so convinced that she went round telling everyone what she had discovered. We can imagine her and thank God for the way he speaks through women.
So we have the story of Jesus’ parents taking him to the temple, as was the custom, and meeting two people, both of whom were probably elderly and both of whom were undoubtedly holy lay people. Certainly the assurance of faith and the joy with which they both greeted Jesus were quite something. We are told that Anna was 84 yrs old – which must have been a very ripe old age in a society that was without antibiotics or modern surgery.
Both Simeon and Anna encountered Jesus as a baby and so this was over 30 years before his death and resurrection with the subsequent gift of the Holy Spirit. Clearly the Holy Spirit was active before the day of Pentecost – that is clear from the Old Testament. But we have the advantage over Anna and Simeon because we know the gospel story and we know of the gift of the Holy Spirit to the church.
One response to the story of candlemas would be to recognise that Simeon and Anna had both spent a good deal of time learning to listen to God. I believe that any of us can also learn to listen to God, and improve with practice. I believe that God is far readier to speak than we are to listen. God ‘speaks’ to different people in different ways. Perhaps this would be a good time to try and improve our listening skills.
Post communion prayer
Lord, you fulfilled the hope of Simeon and Anna,
who lived to welcome the Messiah:
may we, who have received these gifts beyond words,
prepare to meet Christ Jesus when he comes
to bring us to eternal life;
for he is alive and reigns, now and for ever.
