NewCreation

Homily for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

Welcome, my sisters and brothers, to this the homily for the Feast of the Presentation. In old English it used to be called Candlemas, because of all the lights that would be lit for the occasion, and in Spanish it's still referred to as la Candelaria. This is the feast by which we celebrate the purification of the Virgin and Jesus's first entry into the Temple, with the astounding things that happened around it. Now, just a little background first. In St. Luke's Gospel — and we're in the fullness of St. Luke's Gospel for this feast — the Temple is the constant background to everything that happens. The whole story is about the movement from the Temple. It starts with Zechariah in the Temple. Jesus comes into the Temple as an infant, and then he achieves what the whole purpose of the Temple was, rendering it otious at the moment of his death. And the new Temple starts to come into being at Pentecost, with the tongues of fire on the heads of the people. So there's an enormous amount of reference to Temple material in St. Luke's Gospel. Let's try and bring that out, because actually our readings, both from Malachi and from Hebrews, help very much. There's one thing that is worth remembering: absolutely central to the picture of the Temple was avoiding anything to do with death coming close to God. The notion that God has nothing to do with death — and that was part of what was distant between the Temple and the rest of creation. And as St. Luke explains the Gospel, Jesus coming into the world is the person who is going to be baptized with the Spirit, the Spirit that was hovering before the earth, before the creation, Over the void, comes in, baptizes him so that he can baptize us, and his baptism is in going up to death, assuming death, detoxifying death, so that thereafter the temple ceases to be, if you like, a useful symbol, because humans no longer run by death — which is exactly what the Epistle to the Hebrews tells us about today — are able to live as daughters and sons of God, not run by death and its fear. So this is a central part of Luke's story in terms of how the utter liveliness and aliveness of God comes and shows us what is going on. Eight days after Jesus's birth he was circumcised under the law, given the name Jesus, the name which he'd been given before he was conceived, and the "before" is stressed there, so the word spoken before the conception brought him into life, the word. And then 31 days after the circumcision is the appropriate time for the mother to be purified. So when the time came for their purification — and some people said, "Oh, it's only Mary who needs to be purified, surely." Well, according to the law strictly yes, but apparently in the second temple period it was assumed that the child, having been in contact with the mother's blood, also needed purification. So, given that the child had to be brought to the Temple anyhow, had to be presented to the Temple anyhow, whether boy or girl, the notion that they were both purified was just understood and taken for granted. So when the time came for that purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. That's the technical term. But it was more than simply the presentation of any child, because, as it is written in the law of the Lord, "every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord." And this is from Exodus 13. It's very, very important, because it's also the basis of the whole of the sacrificial system in the Temple, which is that the Passover — the first Passover — was lambs sacrificed and their blood painted over the lintels of the doors of the Hebrews so they could escape out of Egypt. And that was considered as saving the firstborn from destruction, whereas the firstborn of the Egyptians were destroyed. The result was that every firstborn male needed to be redeemed. It was not only designated as holy but, later, in a different chapter and verse of the book of Exodus, redeemed. So the notion was that for the firstborn a lamb should be offered. And here St. Luke is as eloquent in what he doesn't say as in what he does. The suggestion is that there was no lamb offered for Jesus. All that they offered was the sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord: a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons, which was the purification sacrifice for the mother. So the suggestion is that no lamb was needed to redeem Jesus because of course he was the promised son who is going to redeem all again. Luke very carefully just hinting at something by leaving something that might be expected out. So they come to do what was expected, even though it wasn't entirely as expected as you might think. "And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon" – not a priest, as far as we can tell; they would have mentioned it if he was a priest. "This man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel" – the term, the consolation, the comforting. "Comfort ye, comfort ye my people" from Isaiah. And of course, the Holy Spirit that comes upon you is the comforter, the defense counselor. It's the same term here. "And the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah" – the Messiah of the Lord. In other words, the Lord's anointed. "Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the Temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do to him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God." Okay, so they were taking him to be presented to a priest, and instead, someone who must have seemed like a bit of a weird old man comes rushing up to them and grabs their baby and starts praising God. What has he noticed? What's he picked up? He's picked up the prophecy which is in our first reading, the prophecy from Malachi. The Lord God says this: "Look, I'm going to send my messenger to prepare a way before me." That's interpreted as referring to John the Baptist. "And the Lord you are seeking will suddenly enter his Temple, and the angel of the covenant whom you are longing for – yes, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts." So Simeon realizes that this is what's happening – Malachi at last is being fulfilled – and then gives us what we know as the Nunc Dimittis: "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." So interestingly, this old man, this devout prophet figure – there's nothing sectarian or narrow-minded about him. "The presence of all peoples: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel as well." In other words, this is not simply something about sorting out something for a small group of people. This is God showing God's love for the world, and it's going to open up light for all peoples – the Gentiles – and will be seen to be the culminating glory of your people Israel. So there's a remarkably – please notice the word with a small c – The catholic vision here — catholicity of the Church — comes from this notion of something being shown to all people. "And the child's mother and father were amazed at what was being said about him." Well, yeah, they'd been no doubt growing in understanding little by little, as we'll see. Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel." Those are not gentle words. The falling is like the overthrowing, and the rising up — the insurrection — it could be as strong as that, of many in Israel, "and to be a sign that will be opposed," a sign of scandal, a sign that will scandalize, because it's going to change the meaning of everything. What Jesus is going to do is going to change the whole of it simply: the people who are looking for something will not recognize the one who has come, and the people who are not looking for it will suddenly find that they have in fact been taken into the inside of this new form of life. "And this sign of scandal, so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed." In other words, this is extraordinary prophecy about how it is that the Holy Spirit is going to recreate us all, and the sense of our meanings and our desires, around what's going to happen to this person. Now, the translation which we have here is slightly odd, because they all put this thing about "a sword will pierce your own soul too" in an odd place, whereas in fact it says: "He is a sign that will be spoken against, and a sword shall pierce your own soul too, so that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." The translations always assume that the sword piercing your own soul too is secondary somehow to the sign that will be opposed and the inner thoughts of many being revealed. But in fact, what the Greek says pretty clearly is: "And you also will have your sword — a sword will pierce your heart also — so that the hidden thoughts of many will be revealed." In other words, it links Mary and her role as having been considering all these things, because they're a bit amazed. And Mary had already been described as having been pondering all these things in her heart, and this role of her pondering in her heart will be part of undergoing this huge change of her publicity, and her own meditation on it will feed into our understanding. This is going to be something that works through the human level, at the level of flesh, all the way through families and people close. This is not some mysterious outside thing. Our hearts are going to be turned around, all of them. There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of great age. Well, given that the tribe of Asher had effectively ceased to exist in any recognizable sense for quite a long time, she must have been of a very great age. But probably there were descendants of the tribe of Asher who lived as kind of people who remembered the old days, not far from Jerusalem, and were horrified at the second temple regime and longing for the second temple to be itself redeemed and Jerusalem to be redeemed. So, if you like, she's a person of critical interest — interestingly, from her tribe — and she's of great age: as when seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of 84. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem, for all who were aware that the second temple thing, it's not quite the real thing. The real thing is going to come. That was what the hope of the return of the first temple was. This was something that was very much alive, if you like, and of course watched with some concern by the powers that be in the temple and around the temple. The notion that the temple was going to come to an end and the real temple was going to come. So we have these two marginal figures, not priests, and they both point to this extraordinary thing that's coming: the consolation of Israel, the redemption of Jerusalem — the one who is in fact the life who will eventually himself overcome death and therefore help make the temple moot, and the one who, because of that, is actually going to re-signify the whole of human life and make it possible for the Gentiles and the people of Israel to share this extraordinary joy. And then it says: "When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him." So again, not a magical picture of Jesus. It was a whole process of him growing up, learning, and eventually — exactly as our Hebrews passage says — as someone who was able to be tempted like others, was able to become a brother to all of us, and in occupying the place of death was able to set us free from all of those who by fear are bound down. So all of this extraordinary excitement is brought about as an early glimpse of what's going on in today's feast, the feast of the In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.