A Light to the Nations (Candlemas)

A Light to the Nations
Homily delivered on the Solemnity of the Presentation of Christ

(Candlemas)

The Very Rev. Fr. Tony Hutchinson, SCP, Ph.D.
2 February 2018; 5:00 p.m. Sung Eucharist
Parish Church of Trinity, Ashland (Oregon)
Readings:  Malachi 3:1-4 ; Hebrews 2:14-18 ; Luke 2:22-40 ; Psalm 84

God, give us hearts to feel and love,

take away our hearts of stone
 and give us hearts of flesh. Amen.

Today, February 2, is 40 days from December 25.   In strict Jewish Law, a woman goes into semi-seclusion for 40 days after giving birth to a son.  It is thus today that we celebrate the coming of Mary and Joseph with the baby Jesus to offer sacrifice at the Temple at Jerusalem.   There, the elderly Simeon and the prophet Anna welcome them and express joy at Jesus’ coming.  They have been “awaiting the Consolation of Israel,” the moment God would act to set all things right.  They recognize in this baby the great light, the fire of the Day of the Lord that would burn away all that was wrong with the world.  Simeon bursts out into a song of gratitude: “Thank God, now I can die in peace!”  It is the Nunc Dimittis that we sang at the start of the procession and that we read in the Gospel.

This day is marked in the Church with a candle-lit procession, the blessing of the candles to be used in Church in the coming year, and is called Candlemas.  Included among the candles to be blessed was the year’s Pascal Candle, to be lit at the Great Vigil of Easter and then used in all baptisms. 

 

The scriptures that we use today for this feast all emphasize the coming of the “Day of the Lord” with light and fire:   Malachi says that Yahweh’s messenger will come “suddenly to his Temple,” and burn out, drive out, pollution of the Temple ministers so that the offerings they present may be pure.  Traditionally, Christians have seen this as a prophecy of Christ’s incarnation, including his driving the money-changers from the Temple, and setting up a priesthood offering the bloodless and pure sacrifice of the Eucharist, a re-presenting of what Christ did for us, and does for us.

The Hebrews passage ties in with this, since it describes Jesus’s life work in images taken from the Temple system of burnt offerings.  He is described as the Great High Priest presenting in the Heavenly Temple, once for all, a sacrificial offering to remove sin guilt.   He is thus seen as superior to Jewish Temple cult, which had repeated sacrifices in a temple made by human hands.  The incarnation, ministry, sufferings, death, and resurrection of Jesus are seen as what Jesus offers to God to purge away our guilt as the sacrifices of the Temple purged guilt.  But it also purges away death and our fear of death. 

It is important to remember that sacrifice here is a metaphor.  In Hebrews, Jesus presents his sacrifice to God not on the cross or in the garden, but after the Ascension—when he enters into the Holy of Holies in the Heavenly Temple. The Message, a modern paraphrase translation, gives today’s reading this way: 

“Since the children are made of flesh and blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of death.   It’s obvious, of course, that he didn’t go to all this trouble for angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it all himself—all the pain, all the testing—and would be able to help where help was needed” (Hebrews 2:14-18).

Christ coming suddenly to his Temple is the scene we have in the Presentation of Christ to Anna and Simeon.  Christ as a baby.  As Hebrews says, Christ took on flesh and blood in order to rescue us from death.  The incarnation, God taking on human flesh and the mortality that implies, itself is saving.  Jesus’ birth, life, sufferings and death, and his glorious conquering of death are all a package.   This is one of the great theological reasons that make it hard to reduce the glorious mystery of what Christ did to merely substituted punishment in the unjust torments he suffered before his death.   There are plenty of passages that draw on this metaphor, and talk about Jesus’ blood being shed to purge our guilt, etc.  But these are only part of the picture.  For everyone of them, there are two or three that talk about Jesus’s birth or his resurrection as key in God rescuing us in Jesus. 

Simeon sings his song,

Lord God, you now have set your servant free, 

to go in peace according to your word.

Mine eyes have seen the Savior, Christ the Lord 

prepared by you for all the world to see; 

a light for nations lost in darkest night, 

the glory of your people, and their light.

May we follow this Light to the Nations, and find hope and joy in him. 

In the name of Christ, Amen.