2nd February – Presentation of Jesus in the Temple; Candlemas
Gospel text: Luke 2:22-40
OT text: Malachi 3:1-4
NT text: Hebrews 2:14-18
Psalm: 24
This morning, we celebrate Candlemas. It’s an important feast day on a number of levels.
Candlemas is a festival that puts the focus very much on the Temple – or we might say, on the Church. Much of Jesus’ life and ministry took place outside of the Temple or Synagogue, and that’s completely natural. For us, too, Church as a specific place represents a small portion of our time in any given week.
This story demonstrates, though, that that small proportion of time doesn’t equate to a small importance.
We see Mary, Joseph and their child coming to the Temple for the Presentation of Christ and for Mary’s purification. Being done in the Temple, it puts the Temple and, therefore, the Church, front & centre.
Because of that – because Candlemas is one of the “festivals of the Church”, because it has a strong focus on the Church, it’s a good opportunity to take a moment to think about what, exactly, the Church is.
Insofar as the Church is made up of buildings, it’s often very beautiful, very expensive, and at its best serves as a valuable beacon to those looking for hope. Sometimes, the beautiful exterior can distract our attention from problems it may have – a leaky roof, or whatever.
I believe that if you think about it from God’s point of view, you can say exactly the same thing about the Church insofar as she is made up of people – beautiful – we’re made in the image of God!, eye-wateringly expensive – we cost him his own Son – and at our best, serving as a beacon, pointing people to God. And sometimes, we may use a tidy or impressive exterior to distract attention from our issues, needs or pain.
Maybe the Church-as-buildings and the Church-as-souls are not too different after all!
***
The Church made up of people is, unfortunately, prone to error and failure. It’s part of being human; and nowhere does God promise that being his Church will make us other than human. Sadly, that has led over the years to some people losing trust in it. I recall a family member saying to me, some years ago – “I love God; I will always love God. But I’m over the Church – it’s nothing like God. I have no time for the Church anymore”.
In her defence, she had some pretty good reasons for feeling that way. It was an occasion when the Church – her own Church – had sided with an abuser, rather than the small children he had abused. And that’s by no means an isolated event.
And so it can be tempting to try & walk a path where we keep our face towards Christ, but turn our back on the Church.
The Dean of Westminster points out that though, that as the Body of Christ, the Church was Christ’s gift to us – and this means it was Christ’s before it was ever ours. St Augustine (who for all that he is known as the Doctor of Grace, was capable of some pretty blunt comments) puts it more pointedly – We cannot adore Christ in his Head, he says, if we blaspheme him in his Body. Similarly, I don’t think we can claim to adore the Bridegroom yet despise the Bride. It doesn’t feel like a plausible option!
I’ve said that Candlemas is a good time to give thought to the Church, and our place in it, because it’s one of the Gospel stories that takes place in the Church (well, the Temple. Our Churches weren’t built then!)
And that’s true, but it there is a bigger reason.
Without stretching the point too far, you could say that Jesus isn’t actually the main protagonist in this morning’s Gospel story. Well, without him there would be no story; but you see what I mean! Jesus was just kind of – lying there. Maybe even asleep!
The action is with Simeon & Anna.
Simeon was a man “righteous and devout”, who was looking forward to the “consolation of Israel”. The Greek word translated as “consolation” is “paraklesis” – which is the feminine form of “parakletos”, a word often used as a name for the Holy Spirit. A very literal translation can be taken as “to call near”.[1] To be clear, it isn’t feminine in the sense of referring to a feminine Messiah; but you could certainly argue that it highlights that the Messiah has a feminine side!
Simeon has been given a profound hope – a promise that he, personally, will live to see the Messiah. The same Holy Spirit who gave him the promise, guided him to the Temple at the right moment – a nicely practical touch! But with human eyes, all Simeon would have seen is a poor young couple fulfilling the ritual requirements – Luke quite specifically tells us that they used the alternative offering available for those who couldn’t afford the “proper” one; the option made available to the poor.
Somehow, though, he saw further than that. Why?
We also have Anna.
Anna is one of only a handful of New Testament women specifically called “Prophet”.[2]
Her name means favour, or grace. She was widowed after only seven years of marriage; since then, she lived in the Temple. Most translations have Anna at 84 years old at the time of our story; but another valid translation used in some texts has her at somewhere around 104. This is because the text can equally be read that she lived as a widow after the death of her husband until she was 84, or that she lived 84 years as a widow after the death of her husband – in the latter case, around 104 if she married at about 13. Either way, she had given many, many years to God and the Temple.
Anna rocked up at the precise moment Simeon was playing Godfather to God’s son, and instead of just seeing an old chap getting clucky with a baby, somehow, again, she saw further. Anna recognised God in this boy child *immediately*.
Simeon & Anna both, unquestionably, received their knowledge from the Holy Spirit of God. But why them?
They both needed to be in the Temple at the right moment to see the infant Messiah. That’s a vital first point – if they hadn’t “gone to Church”, as we might say, that day – they’d have missed it. Yet, it’s only a beginning – lots and lots of people would have been in the Temple that day.
Simeon, we’re told, was righteous and devout, and thought deeply on the things of God – waiting for the consolation of Israel. His spontaneous prayer has been used for generations, and the “light to the Gentiles” aspect is where Candlemas comes from. Traditionally, people would bring their year’s supply of candles to Church to be blessed.
(I guess that in designing a festival, the early Church Fathers had to choose between using Simeon as inspiration and having a festival of lights; or using Anna as inspiration and having the congregations move their bedrolls into the Churches for a sleep-over! What a lost opportunity…)
Luke tells us a lot about Anna. Her entire life was in the Temple – praying, worshipping, fasting. She never left it. The consensus amongst scholars is mainly that we can take that literally; she actually lived there – living her devotion in the most literal sense.
We could say of both Simeon & Anna that they were not merely “in” the Temple; the Temple was “in” them.
And that’s exactly what we, Christ’s Church, are called to be.
It can be tempting at this point to introduce a set of rules. Do these things, and you will be a Simeon and Anna sort of person – a really devoted person.
But that brings us right back full circle. Sets of rules, however excellent & laudable they might be in themselves, don’t change us. They may support our tidy or impressive exteriors, but they can never heal our issues or meet our needs. In fact, it’s a grim truth that some of worst abuse in our Churches has been inflicted by people so outwardly righteous.
The magic of Christianity will never come through rules; it comes about through relationship. Simeon and Anna “saw deeply”, because they related deeply.
The words devout and devotion both come (unsurprisingly) from the same Latin root – devovere. It’s also where we get our word “vow” from; it has connotations of allegiance and loyalty. Our reading from Hebrews reminds us that Christ didn’t come to help angels; he came to help *us* – he came in mercy and faithfulness.
Devotion, allegiance and loyalty – flawed, because we’re human; but no less precious for that – are simply our response; in our feelings and in our way of being. This isn’t something we need to dredge up by willpower; it’s a response to a God who loves us to the limits of our understanding and beyond.
God is the one who calls our devotion forth; we only need to let it happen. And as we do that, He is faithful and merciful to meet us – exactly where we are.
Juli Meiklejohn
[1] It is a compound of “near” and “to call” – very literally, to call near.
[2] There are Philip’s four daughters, and arguably, Jezebel who was possibly a leader in the Church of Thyatira.