Luke 2:22 When the time
came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary
took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the
Law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord"
), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the
Lord: "a pair of doves or two young pigeons." 25 Now there was a man
in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for
the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been
revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the
Lord's Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When
the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law
required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 29
"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in
peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in
the sight of all nations: 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the
glory of your people Israel." 33 The child's father and mother marveled at
what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his
mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in
Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts
of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul
too." 36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the
tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years
after her marriage, 37 and then had been a widow for eighty-four years. She
never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38
Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about
the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. 39
When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they
returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and
became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.
On
the three year lectionary, the Year B (our current year) gospel reading for the
first Sunday after Christmas is the same reading that is appointed every year
for the "Lesser Festival" of The Presentation of our Lord, also
known as Candlemas (Feb 2nd).
The
term Candlemas came about because of an ancient tradition of blessing
all the candles to be used in the church in the coming year at the mass
celebrated on that day. It was a way of underscoring the truth of Simeon's
confession that this baby Jesus was "a
light for revelation to the Gentiles" and a light for glory to Israel.
Let the light of every candle in church be a little epiphany of the love of God
for all people in the person of God's son, Jesus, the light of the world.
I love all of the rich
themes of this reading, though I confess that I've always found it difficult to
*choose when it comes to which one to
explore for the day. On the one hand there's the idea of taking the infant
Jesus to the temple. This is the ancient ritual known as Pidyon Ha Ben.
From the internet:
The ritual of Pidyon Ha-Ben
("Redemption of the Son") is grounded in the Jewish
concept that the first and best things belong to God: in Numbers 8:17,
God declared: "Every firstborn among the Israelites, man as well as beast,
is mine." The God of Judaism has never asked for child sacrifice, but
rather required firstborn sons to devote their life to service in the Temple.
Parents may "redeem" their sons from this obligation by paying a
small sum of money to a kohein (a member of the priestly family). Pidyon ha-Ben
takes place on the 31st day after birth, but may not be performed on a Sabbath
since it includes the exchange of money. The ceremony begins with the father
bringing his son before a kohein, and announcing that the child is the
firstborn son. The kohein asks if the father would prefer to give him his son
or redeem the child for five shekels, and the father answers that he would like
to redeem his son. He recites benedictions and hands the kohein five silver
coins (the Bank of Israel mints silver coins just for this purpose; in America,
silver dollars are used).
While I'm fully committed
to the historically Christian doctrine of infant baptism, there are times when
I miss the Baptist emphasis of "child dedication"...which was
probably invented as a substitute practice for baptism, but has some grounding
also in this idea of Pidyon Ha-Ben. In that sense, there is much that could be
discussed along the lines of children being a heritage of the Lord,
asking God's blessing upon them, and parents seeing their
"redemption" of their children as their call to raise them in a godly
manner.
On the other hand, I am
just as taken by the fact that this passage contains the Nunc Dimittis, the
song of Simeon. Finally, at his ripe old age, the promise of the Spirit has
come to fruition for him and he has seen with his own two eyes, and held with
his own two hands, the Redeemer of the world. When he says (in the old KJV) Lord
now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, he is literally saying
"now I can die." Our traditional liturgy has included singing the
Nunc Dimittis as a post-communion anthem because WE, like aged Simeon, have
beheld our Savior with our own two eyes and held him in our own hands, as he is
present in the Sacrament. By singing that canticle when we do, we are saying 2
things: #1 the Lord **really** is present in the consecrated communion
elements; it really is a personal, repeatable "epiphany." And,
#2....whether or not we fully contemplate it, at that moment we really are as
prepared as ever to depart in peace and meet our maker.
In my first parish I had an
especially tragic set of circumstances happen that led me to emphasize this
truth. A son of the congregation had gone off to college during the years of
vacancy prior to my arrival. I had met his mother and his brother, but had only
heard about him. One Sunday he was in church. And, given that we were an
every-Sunday-Communion congregation, he received the blessed sacrament. I
chit-chatted with him after the service, ...all small talk... "how's
school going" type stuff, and that was it. Late that night around midnight
the phone rang. This young man had died in a tragic accident.
In the old liturgy, we sang
the Nunc Dimittis every time. We don't so much anymore, but one thing is
certain... as the Scriptures say... it is appointed unto all once to die.
As one parishioner says, "we ALL have an appointment with death." It
is inescapable. So the real question becomes, are we always ready? There is no
better way to answer that question than to KNOW that you are because you're
living the baptized life; you're in worship.... hearing God's word of absolving
forgiveness for all your sins, singing the praises of the one who left heaven's
throne in order to be laid in a manger and later die for you on Calvary's
cross. And, receiving him PERSONALLY into your life in the sacrament of holy
communion, you can KNOW that like Blessed Simeon of old, you really are ready.
Cheers,
TM
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