Today we think about the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple (officially celebrated on February 2nd) sometimes known as Candlemas and we heard in the gospel (Luke 2:22-40) of Jesus being taken to the Temple 40 days after his birth as was the custom under the Jewish law.
We also reach the end of the Christmas season – you might have thought it went some weeks ago, but actually it officially lasts until today. We’ve reached this point 40 days after Christmas and we go with Mary and Joseph and Jesus to the Temple. At the Temple Mary and Joseph met Simeon... Simeon was a remarkable character – a devoted elderly Jew who had clearly spent time listening to God, something we can all learn from, and God had promised Simeon that he wouldn’t die until he saw the Messiah.
When he saw Jesus, Simeon immediately knew he was the one he’d been waiting for.
And Simeon 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... It was going pretty well for Mary and Joseph at this point but it was then that Simeon launched in with some things that you wouldn’t really expect someone to say to a new parent...!
First, he said the child was destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel... As Mary and Joseph already knew, but were probably still trying to understand, theirs was no ordinary child – the child was the Messiah and what that meant for him or for them they maybe wouldn’t have known. From the words of Simeon though, they would know that their journey may not be easy.
And that is what was prophesied. In his earthly life Jesus brought about the downfall of many who refused to listen to him and who refused to accept his offer of unconditional love and a transformed life...
When he spoke for justice, it was inevitable that those who were unjust wouldn’t like it. When he spoke of corruption, some wouldn’t like it. When he spoke of the need to love our neighbour, some wouldn’t find themselves able to even try and do that, when he told the religious authorities they were more interested in their own power than God, they were never going to like it... and the list can go on.
And yet, he was also destined for the rising of many people – he championed the rights of those who were often pushed out of respectable society, he spoke for those who lived with illness or disease, for the widows so often abandoned... and he spoke of people being given chance after chance in spite of their failings...
And of course, Jesus didn’t just speak these things – he showed them in his life, whatever it cost him...
I’m sure these weren’t great words to hear for Mary and Joseph, and there was more, as Simeon went on to tell Mary that a sword would pierce her soul too... It wouldn’t just be Jesus that would feel the pain and rejection, Mary too would know that pain as she watched her son loving those who hated him...
Some of you may have scene the film ‘Shadowlands’ about the author C S Lewis. In that film there’s 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.’
The illness had brought them closer together as they recognised the need to get on and enjoy the time they had as a couple, but the joy they were having would simply deepen the pain when they were parted...
There is a real pain in human love, but it is a pain that I don’t think anyone who has experienced that love would ever want to give up in exchange for never having experienced the love in the first place...
Jesus felt the pain of human love – and Mary would too, but that was part of his ministry and her ministry...
In our church calendar we are approaching Lent and Holy Week and Good Friday and we contrast those days with the days of Christmas, but of course we do all of this with the knowledge of the day that changed everything – that first Easter Day...
Joy and sadness and joy again, and that is actually just life for so many people – but in Jesus, however we’re feeling we have consistency... He loves us whatever... He is the light of the world who shines through any pain, and who shines through the darkness that we see all too often in the world today...
He is the light shining out hope, comfort, peace and love for all...
He is the light we can cling to and trust always... He is the one who allows us to live confident that we are special, that we are loved, that we are known personally by God himself... Simeon saw that, and so did Anna, an elderly lady in the Temple, who saw Jesus and just worshipped him and told people about him.
We learn so much from Simeon and Anna – we learn that we need faith and vision to recognise God’s purposes. We need faith and vision to see what God is doing and tell people about it, because our faith is meant to be shared. Simeon and Anna were not young but they saw Jesus and they knew they still had work to do… He was worth it for them and they challenge us today to ask ourselves if he is worth it for us…
I’ll finish with a short meditation from the author Max Lucado It 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 woman 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…’
And that is our invitation - to just rest simply in the arms of Jesus, the touchable, approachable, reachable Jesus…, but it doesn't stop there… We must be ready and anxious and energetic and excited to tell people and show people what a difference his life makes to our lives, and invite them into that same transforming relationship…. AMEN
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