The Gospel Reading for Candlemas

Luke 2: 22-40

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph brought Jesus 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.’ Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, ‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.’ And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon 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 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.’ There was also a prophet, Anna 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, 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. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favour of God was upon him.

Sermon for the Sunday of Candlemas

As we go through the seasons of the church’s year, marking the stages of Jesus’s life, from nativity to Resurrection, we today dwell upon the presentation of Jesus in the Temple, in Jerusalem, by his parents, Mary and Joseph.

I would like to offer a little meditation on this word of multiple possible meanings: presentation.

When I was growing up in Texas, there was such a thing as being, or becoming, a debutante. I was eight when we moved back to Texas, so what this actually involved was quite vague to me, but I had the idea that it required dressing up, dancing, and wearing white. All of which appealed to my sense of girlish romance. This past week I actually looked up the dictionary definition of a debutante ball, and it was this: A debutante ball is a formal ball that includes presenting debutantes during the season, that is, usually, during the spring or summer. Debutante balls may require prior instruction of social etiquette, and appropriate morals. We moved away from Texas before I had a chance to be presented, as they say, so I never did manage to have the experience of being presented, as a debutante, to whomever or whatever. I think I survived my young adulthood adequately, despite this lack!

Jesus, having survived infancy, was presented with what must have been great love and joy by Mary and Joseph according to the custom of their time. Remember the conditions of Jesus’s birth—-the infant mortality rate in the first century of the Roman Empire was about 30 %. The Gospel accounts portray Mary’s pregnancy and delivery as more complicated than most of those in that day. Mary was young and unmarried. She faced the continuing anxiety of possible rejection from her family and community. There was the long journey in the final week of her pregnancy, by donkey. And then, perhaps already having gone into active labour, she and Joseph arrived at a cold, dark barn among the animals it was built to shelter. An exhausting journey, harsh conditions, a dangerous delivery. So Jesus, the favoured One of God, God’s own Son, was born like this.

But he survived such a birth, and so was able to be carried gently and carefully into the Temple to be presented. In a holy place, to the Holy One.

According to Luke, Mary and Joseph took the infant Jesus into the Temple in Jerusalem forty days after his birth to complete Mary's ritual purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn son, as the law of Moses required (Leviticus 12, Exodus 13). Luke explicitly says that Joseph and Mary took the option provided for poor people, those who could not afford a lamb, sacrificing a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. And there they heard with astonishment the words of Simeon and Anna, witnessing to all the redemption that this Child would bring to all humankind. A holy presentation of a child, in a holy place, to the Holy One of Israel.

Presentation.

Our culture sometimes talks of how something presents. Grammar policewoman that I am, I feel the hairs stand up on the back of my neck when I hear this verb used without a reflexive pronoun or a direct object. In advertising, criticism might be made of an interior decorator’s room concept because it doesn’t present well. Or even of a person: she doesn’t present (like the movie star she is, presumably). Aaah! This is the false kind of presentation—-of the outward show, the appearance that masks the reality, the forced image to convince the public to buy the commodity.

But I’d like to go back to Mary and Joseph’s loving presentation of their heartbreakingly fragile, just-born, precious small son to God in the Temple. Imagine them pausing, hesitating—there on the steps—having just enough money to fulfil the solemn requirements of the Jewish tradition, bringing flesh of their flesh, bone of their bone, to the Holy Place. And then their amazement when an old man and an old woman who have been waiting all their lives to realise this moment prophecy that the One who will save all Israel has now come. Take this image away with you this day.

Today we will light a multitude of candles. In ancient Christian tradition, on this day, Candlemas, many Christians would bring their candles to their local church, where they would be blessed and then used for the rest of the year. These blessed candles are a symbol of Jesus the Christ, the Light of the World.

Presentation.

How would we like to present ourselves to God?

How would we like to shine before Him?

Like these candles that each of us will light, shall we go out from this holy place, as a bright, shining light, beautiful in our inner person, in our very souls?

We don’t have to present ourselves to anyone but God, or as anything other than Christ’s own beloved, bright, shining light in the world.

Let us praise the God who gave the Light of the World, Jesus, to us; let us go out into a struggling, suffering world bearing His own light, to illuminate all the corners of that darkness with his greater light of Love. Amen.

The Church of St. James Norlands

St. Clement’s Church

February 2, 2020