Today we celebrate the feast of the Presentation of Our Lord, otherwise known as The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary, otherwise known as Candlemas, which we have transferred to today from 2nd February. In obedience to Mosaic law, the holy family traveled to Jerusalem to present the first-born child to the priest in the Temple. In those days, if you wanted to be close to God in the most intimate possible way, you had to go to the temple in Jerusalem. The temple was built on the rock where Abraham would have sacrificed Isaac, and the temple was the place where the glory of God dwelt. All, important sacrifices were made in the Temple.
The Mosaic law was that every firstborn male should be dedicated to God, in remembrance of the Passover during the exodus from Egypt. Likewise, the law also required that a woman, after giving birth to a son, should mark the end of her 40-day purification by making a sacrifice at the temple. The rules for these sacrifices are from Exodus and Leviticus. Most explicitly Leviticus 12:6-8, which reads, “And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering, and he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her. (here is the important part so pay attention) And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.” Notice that when Mary and Joseph come to the temple to see Simeon, they can’t afford to bring a lamb, they bring two turtledoves; this tells us that Mary and Joseph, are not wealthy people.
As the holy family enters the temple, they are met by an interesting old man named Simeon. Simeon was righteous and devout, and the Holy Spirit was upon him, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, he was promised that he would not die until he witnessed the Lord’s Christ. Can you imagine living that kind of life, a life that is dedicated entirely to, and lived in, the anticipation of Jesus’s coming? I don’t know about you, but I don’t see many people who can gracefully anticipate any significant events.
Think about it. Tis Super Bowl Sunday, and most of us are going to go home after church today and tune to ESPN and watch boring shows telling us about how wonderful the third-string offensive lineman’s mother is because she bakes him cookies before each game. None of us are interested in that, but because we are anticipating the Super Bowl, and are so excited for that chili we have been cooking since yesterday to be ready to eat, we watch all these silly specials because they help us pass the time, so we can get to kick off. And if you are an Eagles fan or a Patriots fan, you are probably looking at your watch right now wondering when I am going to be quiet so that we can get on with this, and you can go home to turn on ESPN. The fact is we don’t do anticipation well, and all too often if an event is too far off, we forget to be ready for it and find ourselves unprepared when it comes.
Not Simeon, he has been prepared by the Holy Spirit and has held himself in prayer, trustfully waiting to meet Jesus. That is why he recognizes Jesus when Mary and Joseph present Him in the temple because he is ready to receive him. Simeon doesn’t only receive him; he prophesies what Jesus will accomplish, that he will be the light of the world, that he will restore Israel and not just restore Israel but be a light for all the gentile nations as well. Simeon says it right there, this baby, is God himself, and God has entered the World to save it, to save all of it, and everyone in it who will receive him.
As Mary and Joseph marvel at what Simeon says, he warns Mary, this child will be the fall and rise of many in Israel, and what he will accomplish will cause your soul to be pierced by a sword. Simeon was, of course, foreshadowing Jesus’s crucifixion, the ultimate atonement, for the sins of the entire world.
Here we are today, waiting in anticipation for Jesus to return. How are we doing with that anticipation? Are we like Simeon, devout, and ready at all times to meet our Lord? Or are we anticipating Jesus by ignoring the people around us, oblivious to the fact that the same Holy Spirit who informed Simeon resides in them? Or have we been waiting so long that we have forgotten to anticipate Jesus at all?
Mary and Joseph were poor; they couldn’t afford to buy a lamb to sacrifice at the altar for purification. But that doesn’t mean that they didn’t bring a lamb. Mary and Joseph brought to Simeon the Lamb of God, and Simeon realizing it announces that salvation has come into the world. All too often we fail to anticipate the return of Jesus, the fact is, we are unworthy, through our many sins and offenses to offer any sacrifice to God, yet God receives our offerings of praise, thanksgiving, money, bread, wine, and even our souls and bodies anyway, and he returns to us, through Jesus, and for our empowerment, and for the atonement of our continuous rebellion against his will, the very body and blood, of the Lamb of God, in the form of the Holy Eucharist.
We should all leave Mass every time we attend singing the song of Simeon because in the Eucharist we meet our Lord. The Eucharist makes Jesus as present to us, as He was to Simeon that day in the temple. God willing, our response to this sacrament is as joyful and as inspired by awe as Simeon’s was.
Sermon preached by the Rev. Christian M. Wood
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota, Florida
Candlemas – 5th Sunday after Epiphany
4 February 2018