Sunday 28th January 2007 – Epiphany 4

By these three titles, the 2nd February is known.

And although the first title gives pre-eminence to Mary, it is a feast day of our Lord.

For the word that became flesh at Christmas, God incarnate, must like all other first-born males conform to the law as laid down by God through Moses in the book of Leviticus. The law reads as follows.

‘When a woman becomes pregnant and gives birth to a male child, on the eighth day the child is to be circumcised and on the 40th day,( which brings us to the 2nd February), when her days of purification are completed, she must bring a pigeon or a turtle dove for a purification offering.’

This episode allows Jesus parents, Joseph and Mary, to be seen as acknowledging the Jewish religious tradition, which was focussed in the Temple. It also allows the Temple to witness, to him.

Three ceremonies are contained within this story. There is the purification of the mother, the redemption of the first born, and the presentation of the child to the service of God. Mary as required under the law offered sacrifice for her cleansing. The offering she makes is that of a poor family.

The redemption of the child, is as set out in the book of Exodus, and is obtained by the payment of five shekels to the priest.

The third element is the dedication of the child to God. And here we can perhaps remind ourselves of how Hannah, having promised God, that if she should bear a male child, would dedicate him to God. That child born to her was Samuel.

And now, here in the Temple, we meet Simeon. Simeon, a devout person who is charged with looking for the Messiah, recognises through the Spirit of God, that this child brought to the temple by Mary is the one for whom not only he, but the whole of Israel has been waiting for.

‘Lord now let thy servant depart in peace.’

The familiar words taken from the Nunc Dimittis, especially for those of us brought up with the service of Evensong, completing the final song of the infant narratives. This Jesus is to be for ‘all peoples. ‘He is to be a ‘light to lighten the Gentiles’.

That third title for today, Candlemas, originated in the Middle Ages. When the people would carry candles in procession, reminding the worshippers that they belonged to Christ, who is the light of the world, and who had come to show ‘truth’ to the gentiles and bring glory to God’s people, Israel.

For each one of us, there is a constant need for us to present ourselves to God. And in the BCP prayer book service of Holy Communion, the priest would speak those words familiar to some of us, in saying – ‘and here we offer and present unto thee O Lord, ourselves our souls and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice unto thee.’

Purification, redemption, and presentation.

As we come into God’s presence, so we seek to purify ourselves, and make ourselves acceptable to him. As we confess our sins, we seek God’s absolution, not because of what we have done or are worthy of, but because of what his son Jesus Christ has achieved for each one of us, in dying for us on the cross.

It is because of Jesus’ saving action on the cross, that we are a redeemed people. No more in condemnation, no more required to atone for our sins by the offering of animal sacrifices, we can claim forgiveness, only and solely because, the Saviour of the World, Jesus the Light of the World, has given us access to the Father, and in so doing opened for us, the gate to everlasting life.

It is because of all that happened 2000 years ago, that we dare to present ourselves to God. To come into his presence, not only here in this building dedicated to one of the first disciples of Jesus, Andrew, but each time we present ourselves to him, and seek to come into his presence, wherever that may be.

Simeon, recognised himself as being the ‘Servant of God’, and in doing so, sought to leave God’s presence in peace, having seen the Messiah, the chosen one of God.

Languages as we know are very varied, with the result that when translated into another tongue, meanings do not always represent the original when translated. Even within our own native language, certain words have either lost their original meaning or take on a new meaning. Looking at the bible itself, we have various translations to choose from and often, we pick the version which uses only the words that are acceptable to us, even changing those words when it suits our purposes. For those who can remember the Alternative Service Book of 1980, you might remember that the readings for each Sunday were drawn from different translations of the Bible.

On one occasion at a wedding I was quite unprepared for the version of today’s New Testament reading which began – ‘If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don’t love, I’m nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate.’

To use a quotation – ‘Words are small slippery containers for our visions and our longings.’

And to quote T.S. Elliott- ‘Words strain crack and sometimes break under the burden, under the tension, slip, slide, perish, decay with imposition, will not stay in place, will not stay still.’

The word love, which permeates our New Testament reading from Paul’s First Letter to the Church in Corinth, is a good example and a reminder to all of us, of how that word in particular, has become debased and narrowed in our language today.

There are of course many images of the word love, which the world seeks to promote, and in so doing, those responsible have degraded the word itself, and all that the Apostle Paul, let alone Jesus, sought to teach about it, in his writings.

But those three words ‘Faith, hope and Love’ with which the reading ends are important for each one of us here today as they were for St. Paul and Simeon.

For it was Simeon’s faith, which sustained him until that day when he was brought face to face with the long expected Messiah, and took him in his arms.

A Faith however ‘which sets bounds in itself, that will believe so much and no more, that will trust thus far and no further is no faith’ according to one writer. (JC Hare & AW Hare – Guesses at the Truth)

But another writer says – ‘God works within the constraints of humanity. Sometimes the miraculous occurs but generally God works within our own limitations of faith.’

For me and perhaps for you also, as a Christian - ‘Faith is the source of energy in the struggle of life, but life remains a battle which is continually renewed upon ever new fronts.’ (Ernest Troeltsch – The social teaching of the Christian Church)

And now, having seen the Lord’s Messiah, Simeon was ready to leave this world. For all of God’s faithful people, we should not fear death, except the manner of it. For what has been promised to those who believe, is a life beyond this. And while none of us can know what that will be like, we have the ‘hope’ that God is preparing us for another birth through resurrection. As St. Paul wrote to the church in Rome – ‘For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.’

One George Tyrell who died in 1919 wrote in his autobiography – ‘I feel more and more that as regards God and immortality man was made not to know but to hope. Hope rather than faith; for faith is so hopelessly confounded with knowledge.’

There are many in the world today who while perhaps lacking a faith, nevertheless have a strong belief in hope.

And so a final reflection on the word ‘Love’ itself.

A good exercise for all of us is to re-read those verses 4 – 7, from the New Testament reading – and as we read it, to substitute our own name for the word ‘love’, and see how we measure up to the various statements where that word is used.

Simeon, a man of faith who was filled with and guided by the Spirit of God, saw God’s promise to him fulfilled when he took Jesus into his arms.

So let each one of us, having accepted Jesus as our Lord, and having been nourished by the bread and wine of this Eucharist today (or received his blessing), also seek to ‘leave’ God’s presence in peace. Not so that we like Simeon, might escape from this earth, but rather in order that we might continue to serve the one who is the ‘Light of the World’ – here on earth.

©Peter Vickers – 23rd January 2007