Serving with confidence and excitement

In the film ‘Shadowlands’ about the life of the author C S Lewis there is a scene after his wife has been diagnosed with an incurable illness where she says to him, ‘The joy now is part of the pain then’... 

As with so many scenes in our lives emotions can be mixed… 

For them, the diagnosis of the illness had jolted them into realising their real feelings for each other – they had practically taken on new lives filled with love and a great deal of laughter. Yet in time this joy would only add to the pain of grief – this is the pain of love, but it’s not a pain we would exchange for never having known that love. 

In his earthly life Jesus felt the pain of human love – he knew the cost to himself, as well as the pain of those he loved, but that was the pain of his incarnation – that was the pain of becoming one of us in order to save us. 

There’s a meditation from an American author called Max Lucado which says, 

‘God chose to reveal himself through a human body. The tongue that called forth the dead was a human one. The hand that touched the leper had dirt under its nails. The feet upon which the women wept were dusty. 

And his tears… oh don’t miss the tears… they came from a heart as broken as yours or mine has ever been. So people came to him. How they came to him !

They came at night, they touched him as he walked down the street; they followed him around the sea; they invited him into their homes and placed their children at his feet. Why ?... Because he refused to be a statue in a cathedral – He chose instead to be a touchable, approachable, reachable Jesus…’ 

Today we celebrate in the Church calendar the Feast of Candlemas or the Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Luke 2:22-40). It is the day when we remember Jesus being brought to the Temple 40 days after his birth as was the custom under Jewish law, and it was the day when Simeon, the devoted elderly Jew, encountered his Saviour in the Temple. He had been promised that before he died he would see the Messiah – that day the promise was fulfilled – Simeon immediately recognised Jesus as the Messiah.

After taking the child in his arms he spoke the words we now know as the Nunc Dimittis, words used at every service of evening prayer – ‘Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared before the face of all peoples. To be a light to lighten the Gentiles and to be the glory of thy people Israel.’

In those words he spoke of Jesus as the light for all people, and it is these words we symbolise in the candle of candlemas – Jesus as the light of the world. 

Yet it was not just this that he said to Mary and Joseph – he continued by saying that the child ‘is set for the fall and rise of many in Israel.’ 

Simeon continued his warning to Mary saying that a sword would pierce through her soul also. He was already hinting that Jesus would bring division – he would be rejected and ultimately would pay the heaviest price. 

And so for Mary we consider the pain of love. The joy of giving birth to a healthy child must have been tempered slightly by the confusion of his role – she was aware that Jesus was special – but in what way ?? How would God use him ?? I wonder what she made of the warnings of Simeon ?? 

Bitter/ sweet contrasts are all around us. Just as C S Lewis and his wife had the contrast of joy and pain, and Mary the joy of birth and the fear of the future, in the Bible we also see the contrasts between light and darkness, life and death, good and evil and so on. In the Church calendar candlemas also brings with it a great contrast. 

On that day, 40 days after the celebration of Christmas we take a last look back at that festival, and now we also have to look forward, and we do so with the warning of Simeon in mind. We begin to look forward to the days in the wilderness, the rejection of his teaching and of course the pain of the cross.

In our Church year we look forward to Lent and to Holy Week and Good Friday. The joy of the birth of Jesus is contrasted very starkly with the grief and the pain of death which will follow. 

Moving on from Shadowlands to another film, many of you will have seen the film ‘West Side Story’ which tells the story of gang warfare between the native New Yorkers, the Jets, and the Puerto Ricans, the Sharks. Tony, one of the leaders of the Jets falls in love with Maria, the sister of the leader of the Sharks. 

Cutting out most of the story, Tony is killed, and as Maria is holding the body she says to the 2 gangs gathered around that they all killed him – every one of them. His body is carried away by members of both of the gangs – and incredibly it seems that some sort of reconciliation and peace has been brought about by pain and tragedy – perhaps there we have a glimpse of the pain, but ultimately the triumph, of love. 

As Simeon spoke of Jesus as a light to lighten the Gentiles, as Anna, who we also heard about in our gospel reading, went about immediately telling people excitedly that she had seen Jesus, seen the Saviour, the Messiah, so we’re called not just to worship quietly inside a church building, but to live lives transformed by Jesus – as confident as Simeon, as excited and ready to tell others as Anna… 

Today as we look at Jesus as the light of a world so often shrouded in darkness, we look at a light bringing love, hope, comfort, joy and peace – these are the things that Simeon and Anna saw in the Temple that day – these are the things that world needs more of today…. 

Simeon saw a Saviour who would be misunderstood and rejected by many but a Saviour who would eventually provide the greatest victory of all – victory over death… 

Simeon and Anna recognised Jesus as the Messiah and were filled with confidence and peace and the assurance of salvation… 

You can almost feel Simeon’s desire to end his earthly life at that point. Life on earth couldn’t get better than this !  ‘Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace.’ He had seen his Saviour and knew that he could put his whole trust in him. 

And with Jesus at our side we must never forget that hope, joy and assurance that Simeon and Anna saw – in spite of the pain that we all know that life can bring at times, Christ can overcome for he is the light overcoming darkness in the world. 

Sometimes we get immersed in the beauty of our worship, sometimes we get lost in the majesty of our church buildings, but our focus must always be Jesus…

And so at Candlemas we look back at Christmas, and we remember, we celebrate and we give thanks for Jesus’ birth, and the fulfilled promises he brought with him, but we also look forward to Lent, to Holy Week and Good Friday. 

We think of our own part in Jesus’ death on the cross, we think of our repentance and our commitment to change, but we know beyond those days as well and we can also look even further ahead to Easter Day – Jesus alive and triumphant for evermore. That is the hope that we as Christians can bring to the world through our lives, through our words and through our actions. 

Bishop Dominic, a previous Bishop of Monmouth, told his clergy that he thought they were spending too long in meetings and planning and organising and even arguing – when what they should be doing was just going out and talking about Jesus. It’s so simple to say, but its something that we don’t do enough and it’s something that all of us, not just clergy, are called to do – as Christians we have a wonderful message to share – a message that is relevant to everyone, so lets just start talking about Jesus more, and start to see what a change he can make in the lives of those around us…. And what a change he can continue to make in our lives as well…. 

In a world that can often seem dark and lonely, may we shine like lights bringing joy and hope and encouragement and peace into each others lives, and into the lives of all those around us. AMEN