Malachi 3: 1-4 + Psalm 84 + Hebrews 2: 14-18 + Luke 2: 22-40
This morning I want to begin by telling you two stories connected to our Gospel reading from Luke today. When my boys were in middle school, we were at church on a Sunday morning when this reading from Luke was the text for the day. When the person reading stood to read, their glasses must have been playing tricks on them, because instead of reading “They likewise came to offer in sacrifice a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons…” they read: “They likewise came to offer in sacrifice a pair of turtledoves or two young penguins.” My boys thought this was THE funniest thing they had ever heard read in church or maybe anywhere else. They were struggling so hard to contain their laughter and I was doing my best to contain it with the Mom’s Evil Stare….but the pew was shaking as they envisioned this image….two young penguins being brought into the temple of ancient Israel. To this day, this story still gets told around the table when we gather and the kids start reminiscing about their childhoods. And whenever we have this text as our reading, I recall it as well. The second story I want to remember with you this morning is a story from the life of Barbara, a wise elder, who was a member here for many years before joining the Church Triumphant. I actually asked her before she died, if I could share the story, because it’s so delightful; so I share it with her full permission. And with my apologies if you’ve heard it before. Barbara was in the hospital for some surgery and having returned from recovery to her room, I was sitting with her, visiting and praying as pastors often do. A nurse came in and began to do an assessment to see where Barbara’s post surgical cognition was. “Do you know where you are?” she asked. Yes, in the hospital. “Do you know what day it is?” Yes, it’s Tuesday. “Who is this person?” the nurse asked, looking at me. That’s my pastor, Barbara responded. “Oh! Where do you go to church?” the nurse followed up. And there was a good ten seconds of thoughtful silence before Barbara quipped “I go where she goes!” Today is the day in the life of the Church when we remember the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple. The Gospel reading from Luke picks up just after the birth of Jesus, and we are sent back to the nativity story for just this briefest of times in this season. We’ll even sing a Christmas carol during communion today. In the text, Mary and Joseph, following the religious laws of the Hebrew faith, take the infant Jesus and go to the temple for the rite of purification. In accordance with their law, the firstborn heir, so that would mean the firstborn son, would be offered to God. And they would also offer the sacrificial turtledoves or pigeons. When they arrive in Jerusalem they encounter Simeon, who had prayed for the entirety of his deeply faithful life that he would see the Messiah before his death. Simeon takes Jesus in his arms and sings out this gorgeous song that has been sung in liturgies and as hymns ever since. “Now O God, your servant can go in peace, just as you promised, because with my own eyes I have seen the salvation which you have prepared for all people, a light to the Gentiles and the glory of your people, Israel.” Mary and Joseph marvel at this, the text says. And then Simeon blesses them. Oh what new parents don’t long for a word of blessing? Simeon goes on to tell Mary that her child will be the most important thing to happen to the people of Israel. That people will rise and fall because of him and that in the midst of all of the chaos his ministry will bring, the secret thoughts of many people will be made known.
This is no small thing Simeon shares with them. He prepares Mary for the difficulties that are still to come. We know, because we know the rest of the story, that it is Mary, not Joseph, who accompanies her son throughout his ministry: from a wedding at Cana all the way to the foot of the cross, where indeed, the sword not only pierces Jesus, her beloved son, but it pierces her own heart as well.
Then we meet the prophet Anna in the text, who has lived out the majority of her eighty four years in the temple, praying and fasting. When she encounters Mary and Joseph and the infant Jesus she also offers thanks to God and is moved to tell about him to all who are longing for the deliverance of Jerusalem. To all who are awaiting the Messiah. Anna becomes a prophet for the people, because, unlike Simeon who we can assume dies in peace, having seen the infant Messiah, the Scriptures say that Anna talked about the child to everyone who was awaiting his arrival.
The story of Mary and Joseph and Jesus and Simeon and Anna in the Temple is a deeply beautiful reminder to us of the ways the people of God live and exist and worship and praise God together throughout our lives. No matter if we are eighty four like Anna or awaiting death like Simeon. No matter if we are new parents like Mary and Joseph or an infant like Jesus. No matter whether we are in middle school or middle age….we need one another in every generation and circumstance to experience the richness and the fullness of life together as the Body of Christ. This story reminds us of God’s wide welcome for all, for singles and families, for every gender and no gender, for young parents and the very old and the newly born.
As much as this story reminds us of the beauty of communities of faith, the story itself is surrounded by stories of challenge and change and chance. Luke’s Gospel is the only one to offer us this particular story following Jesus’ birth. Matthew tells us of the King, Herod, who, threatened by a potential rival in the newborn Jesus, kills all of the male children in the region under the age of 2. The couple have journeyed far and have far to go. And, as Simeon has reminded us, the ministry of this Messiah will pierce the hearts of those who cradle him there in the Temple. This story is a messy story. It includes the hopefulness of the light of the nations and the heartbreak of the sword.
The truth is, life in community is often messy. No matter if it’s a community of faith, whenever you gather various individuals together, you’re going to have a variety of goals and hopes and dreams and ways of being and opinions and histories and hurts. And when it is a community of faith, those varieties of people will also find themselves believing in the same God, but with different ways of believing and different ways of living that out.
Challenges and changes in our common life are as natural as the blessing and messiness that come with a new baby. And what this story teaches us is that we need one another to navigate our life together. We need to be able to put our own ideas and dreams on the table….and trust that the ones receiving them, even if they see things differently, receive them with honor and love, because of this God of love we follow and serve. We need the wisdom that comes with years of experience. We need the hope that comes from the very young. We need the inherent gifts of every generation.
In this season following the Epiphany, all of the Scripture texts we hear in worship share a common thread: they all speak of light. In today’s Gospel, that light is sung from the mouth of Simeon as he calls Jesus a light of revelation for the nations. Jesus, the light of the world. Jesus the light of all people. Of the young and the old. Of the rich and the poor. Of the known and of those on the margins. Jesus, the light of the world, shining in and through and around us.
In many places, on this day when we hear this Gospel story, the church also blesses the candles to be used in worship for the coming year. Candles that are intended to be visual reminders of the light of Christ. This morning you were each given a candle as you came into worship. The invitation is that you take it home and as you light it, you are reminded of the joy that comes from knowing Jesus….from seeing him as Simeon did, reflected in the faces of all people. Light it and remind yourself, that Jesus Christ is the light of the world, the light no darkness and no shadow and no division can overcome.
Thanks be to God and let the church say…Amen.