Salvation Itself
Reflection for Candlemas
The Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple
Feb. 2, 2022
The Rev. Anthony Hutchinson, SCP, Ph.D.
Today, forty days after Christmas, is Candlemas, the commemoration of the presentation of the Baby Jesus in the Temple. In the Gospel assigned for Candlemas, we read the Song of Simeon, the Nunc Dimittis we know so well from Evening Prayer and Compline:
“Now, Master, you may set your servant free
to go in peace, as you have promised,
For these eyes of mine have seen your salvation,
prepared by you for all the world to see,
A light to enlighten the nations,
and the glory for your people Isra’el.” (Luke 2:29-32, The Ashland Bible)
Lancelot Andrewes, the great scholar and preacher who was general editor of the King James Bible, once preached on the text, noting that Simeon says that when he saw the infant Jesus, he had seen God’s salvation, not merely the savior, the one by whom salvation would come.
Not that Andrewes had a problem with the idea of "Savior." Once while preaching at Christmas, Andrewes had explained that the angel’s message “I bring you glad tidings of great joy, which shall be for all people. For unto you this day is born in the City of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11) in these terms of joy:
“Surely there is no joy in the world greater than the joy of a person saved: no joy so great, no news so welcome, as that when a person on the verge of perishing, someone lost, hears of another who will save them. It does not matter how they on the verge of perishing. If sick, they hear of one who will make them well again. If condemned to death by the law, of one with a pardon to save their life. If overwhelmed by enemies, of one that will rescue them and put them in safety. Tell any of these, even just make mention to them, of a Savior, and it is the best news they ever heard their whole life long.” (adapted into modern language)
But on Candlemas, he noted the further depth of Simeon calling Jesus salvation itself and not just a savior:
“Any mere mortal can save someone. But to be salvation itself, this can only be Christ the Lord. The beginning and ending of it all is this: to save soul and body; to save from physical and spiritual threats; to save us from the root and branch of our condition, sin and its pitiable results in our lives; to save us both for a time, and forever. To be a Savior, and to be Salvation itself, it is Christ the Lord alone who can be all this, and do all this.” (adapted to modern language).
For Andrewes, salvation is not a product procured and transmitted by an interloper between us and God. Christ himself is salvation and savior. It is only in relationship with him that we find the joyful rescue promised by the angels, rescue on all fronts of our lives, and beyond our lives as well.
Grace and peace.
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