Candlemas Luke 2:22-40 Hebrews 2:14-end

Presentation of Christ in the Temple

The account of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple in Luke’s Gospel, may be quite familiar to us: Mary and Joseph are taking the baby Jesus to the Temple to ‘present him to the Lord’, as it says, ‘and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”’ It is this moment when the two people who are mentioned subsequently as being in the Temple at the same time, Simeon and Anna, recognise Jesus as the one who had been promised. They praise God for Jesus, and Simeon says those famous words: ‘Master, now you are 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 glory to your people Israel.’ We are using this prayer at Evening Prayer and Compline as the ‘Nunc Dimittis’, from the opening words in Latin. It is a prayer – or a song of praise – that gives us a sense of completion. It is this sense of completion that Simeon feels, now that he has identified the promised Saviour. The prayer seems to suggest that Simeon is old and will probably die soon, but that may not necessarily be the case: he is simply saying that his major wish has been granted and his life is now ‘complete’.

This account completes the season of Epiphany – the season of revelations of Jesus’ identity. We are now taken back to the time after Jesus’ birth when he is met by Simeon and Anna as a baby. This is not as strange as it may sound. For it gives the backdrop to Mary in particular about the reason for her son’s birth, and that his life is to be of very special significance to the whole world. There were those other words too: that a sword would pierce her own soul. No doubt that was a prophesy referring to Jesus’ death, that she was to witness. The promise of a special baby that the Angel Gabriel had told her before she became pregnant, might not have revealed the full scope and consequence of her experience. So Simeon’s words may have been a bit of a surprise.

And yet, the message of Simeon was full of hope: this is the Messiah, the longed-for Saviour, who was to come to comfort us. It was an amazing moment for those few people who were at the Temple that day: to actually see the One who had been promised, and who would shine as a light for all and as a sign of God’s love and grace. Simeon saw ahead, into the vision that God gave him, about the salvation that God was working out. It was a work of rescue and restoration. It was claiming God’s children back to him, restoring our relationship with him, for all and for all time, through Jesus, his Son.

The sense of completion and fulfilment that Simeon praised the Lord for, was echoed by Anna, the prophetess who was also a witness to the presentation of Jesus in the Temple. Her exact words are not recorded but she too saw the completion in the fulfilment of God’s redemption and praised God for Jesus. It was a very special day for her as well as for Simeon, and one that is recorded for us, so that we too may learn the message of hope that Jesus brought. Where there is hope, there is life. That doesn’t mean that we just forget the traumas of life or cover them up and pretend they didn’t happen. That would not be helpful. Rather, it means that we can leave our past hurts and failures in God’s care, putting them at Jesus’ feet, where he has dealt with them on the cross. God’s salvation through his Son is complete: we are safe through faith, and that faith gives us hope, as we rest in God’s love, made complete in Jesus. Amen.