Sermon delivered at All Saints’ Church, Winterslow – Sunday 28 January 2024 – Candlemas (Adapted from Sermon 144)
Luke 2:22-40
“Master,
you are now dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my
eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all
peoples;
A
light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of your people Israel”
I think everyone here is very familiar with this passage –
it has been sung over the centuries in its King James Version under its Latin
heading “Nunc Dimittis” meaning “now you are dismissed” and this morning, later
in our service, we will stand around the font, the symbol of our first entry
into the Christian family, and recite it.
We call this Sunday “Candlemas” and I think it is important
to understand why the presentation of Jesus in the Temple has been given this
name. The early church leaders
recognised and spoke of Jesus’s presentation as being the presentation of the
light of the world – as we have just read
“a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of the people Israel” and
services, especially in the Eastern Orthodox Church, still use a great many
candles in their services at this time – hence Candlemas. When preaching on
this passage in the past I have concentrated on those two elderly dwellers in
the Temple – Simeon and Anna and their importance in this story; but this
morning I want to talk more about bringing the light of Jesus into the world
and concentrate more on the future rather than the past, something which I
think worries us all as we see parts of the world in flames and important
elections just around the corner in important western democracies.
On Saturday 7th October the Holy Land was shaken
by the savage attacks, murders and kidnappings of civilians in Israel by Hamas
terrorists and since that date, we have observed, through the media, the
devastation of the people of Gaza by the Israeli Defence Force as they seek to
eliminate those terrorists – with immense civilian casualties. Added to that,
the war in Ukraine has intensified, within again substantial destruction and
loss of life to civilians and we have also seen the situation in the Red Sea worsen
at the hands of the Houthi terrorists against western shipping and the
bombing of Yemen by British and American forces. As the situation in the Middle
East continues to escalate with Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Iraqi becoming
involved the world seems a much sinister and darker place than even it was on 6th
October. For most I think we feel darkness descending upon us all.
But there is a greater light amongst any darkness and that
is the light of Jesus who, as God incarnate, came upon this Earth some 2,000
years ago and died on the cross for us.
God, in the form of Jesus Christ, his son we are told in the bible, came
to heal the sick and to bind the wounds of many – both Jew and Gentile.
I often reflect on how it must have been for Mary, the
mother of Jesus to present her little bundle of joy in the Temple as was the
custom. A small helpless baby swaddled
up close to his mother’s breast.
Possibly his little hands were opening and closing, clenching and
unclenching as I so often saw in my little grandchildren; a precious bundle of
love. And then I think of those same hands, 33 years later being stretched out
by brutish foreign soldiers for massive nails to be driven through the palms as
that same little child is prepared for the cruellest of executions; his only
crime – being the light of the world.
That story will be told again in March when we remember and celebrate
the events in Jerusalem during that Passion Week.
For now, though, let us dwell on Simeon’s praise. Let us remember that God so loved the world
that he came down and was made flesh amongst us. That he became wholly human as well as wholly
divine. He cried like any child and gazed into his mother’s eyes like any child
does in its mother’s arms. He came for
all of us, again I repeat - not just the Jews, but for the non-Jews as well;
all of humankind – whatever our race, colour or political persuasion. We are all children of the same God. We were all innocent babes at one time and we
are all created in God’s image.
Back in 2020 I quoted James Finley and I think it
appropriate to do so again :
“When God
eases us out of God’s heart into the earthly plane, God searches for the place
that is most like paradise, and it’s the mother’s gaze. In the mother’s
gaze, she transparently sacramentalises God’s infinite gaze of love, looking
into the eyes of the infant. And when the infant looks into her eyes [they are]
looking into God’s eyes, incarnate as her loving eyes.”
Simeon was able to prophesy the future for Mary. A sword
will pierce your very soul too. Sadness and despair would descend upon Mary
some 33 years later but; also, so would joy and gladness at the resurrection.
That is the promise for us all. Whatever our lives might be like now, however
we might feel about ourselves or our situation, by trusting in God’s light, the
living Christ and the Holy Spirit we can get through all the darkness and shine
his light in the world.
We are told that the Holy Spirit rested on Simeon.
The Holy Spirit leads us today, as then, into the future with hope, because the
future is God's and God will always give us hope. The challenge for each of us
is to put our trust in God in the same complete way that Simeon and Anna did
when they glimpsed the divine face of that small baby in the Temple. Simeon knew that this small child would be tested
and eventually die a cruel death – but he also knew that he had seen a great
light and that he could now die himself a peaceful fulfilled death. As we light our candles later on in this
service, let us remember that as Christians, followers of Jesus Christ and
blessed with the Holy Spirit we carry that light within us all the time –
sometimes it is only a little pilot light flickering away almost undetected,
but at other times it whooshes up and fires us to do great things in his
name. If you come here this morning and
don’t yet feel that you have Christ’s light within you, still leave your candle
here at the front and pray that the Holy Spirit will enter your life and turn
on that inner flame.
We live in an ever increasing humanist world. We
think we can take control of our own lives and destinies. During the Brexit campaign, we heard much
about gaining our own sovereignty. The word means “over all reigns” – in other
words a supreme control over a kingdom.
In this modern day and age it has come to mean taking control over
ourselves but without understanding and realising that there is one to whom we
must all obey and venerate – to the true ruler over all, the Universe and
everything in it – God. Nothing happens
without it being part of God’s plan – when we stray away from his plan he will
gather us up, like the lost lamb of the parable, and return us to His flock
like the good shepherd He is. Our life may have many cul de sacs or dark
valleys but He will, if we believe and
trust in Him lead us to the bright uplands and hill tops.
We should, therefore, like Simeon have the faith to recognise God at
work in this world; have the faith to trust that God has a plan for his
world; we must, like Anna, be able to look to the dawning of a new age
however dark the dawn may be for some today.
Look again into the face of the person or persons sitting next to – you
are looking into the face of God’s created image – a glimpse of God himself who
loves you and say to that person “God loves you today and always”. When later
on we extinguish our lighted candles it is a symbol of the light of Christ now
being transferred to be carried inside us.
Let us pray:
O Lord Jesus Christ, as
a child you were presented in the Temple and received with joy by Simeon and
Anna as Redeemer of Israel and a Light to all Nations: we ask that we, like
them, may be guided by the Holy Spirit to acknowledge and love you until the end
of our lives and that we might go out to others carrying your light to all whom
we meet today and always.
Amen MFB/198/26012024
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