If today, February 2nd, 2020, you were to ask someone, “What day is it?”, he or she would likely answer, “Sunday.” And of course it is. If someone is alert to it being February 2nd, he might answer, “It’s Groundhog Day.” If he enjoyed numbers, he might note that it’s 2-2-2020. Or if that person is a football fan, the answer for February 2ndthis year is, of course, “it’s Super Bowl Sunday.”
Those are all correct answers. And Super Bowl Sunday is certainly a feast day in the secular American calendar. But for some reason, it is not to be found in the Book of Common Prayer.
Instead the Book of Common Prayer has today as the day of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple. And so it has been in the church since the 6thor 7thcentury if not before. In times past, this was a major feast day especially in the medieval Western church. The custom of blessing and distributing candles and then processing with the lit candles became especially popular in the medieval church to the point that Candlemas became a common name for this day. Some more high church congregations still break out the candles today as did my Oxford home away from home, Pusey House, this morning.
So today many are still observing the Presentation with enthusiasm. But it is safe to say that it is not as well observed or as well known today as in times past. Even for some in this pious congregation, to hear that today is a holy day called the Presentation of Christ in the Temple might be a surprise.
So what is today about? Well, if we were having Holy Communion, the Gospel would be from Luke 2:22-40. That passage tells us all about the presentation of the child Jesus in the Temple, so let’s turn there. (And if you don’t have a Bible handy, you can find this passage in our Book of Common Prayer on page 250.)
And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem, to presenthimto the Lord; (As it is written in the law of the Lord, Every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord;) And to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord, A pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons. (v. 22-24)
We see here Mary and Joseph, with the baby Jesus, obeying the Mosaic Law in two ways. First, forty days after the birth of a son, the mother is to become ritually pure by the sacrifice of a lamb or of two doves. For this reason, today is often called the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The option of two doves is a concession in the Law for those too poor to afford a lamb.
Mary and Joseph could not afford a lamb so they offered two doves. But, although they probably did not know it, Mary and Joseph werepresenting a lamb; they were presenting Jesus the Lamb of God which takes away the sins of the world.
By the way, it is interesting how so much of the Mosaic Law, the Torah, is a foreshadowing of what God was going to do through Jesus Christ. This is only one such case. The Law designating a lamb to be presented for sacrifice 40 days after the birth of a son foreshadows Jesus, the Lamb of God, being presented in the Temple 40 days after his birth.
The second requirement of the Law observed here is that every first born son was to be offered to God. BUT remember that the Lord does not like human sacrifice. So the first born was to be presented then redeemed by making a monetary offering. (Numbers 18: 15, 16)
Note the humility of the Holy Family. Mary knew that her birth was different, a virgin birth by the operation of the Holy Spirit just as it had been announced to her by the angel. And unlike other children, Jesus was not a sinner. So there was hardly any need for purification. But they complied with the Law anyway.
As for Jesus being presented to God, how do you present God to God? But in this and in any number of ways, Jesus and his parents complied with the Mosaic Law. Remember that Jesus did not come to abolish the Law but to fulfill it.
Up to now, if one had been there, Jesus and his parents probably seemed like any other family of modest means fulfilling their religious duties in the Temple. But then something very different happens.
And, behold, there was a man in Jerusalem, whose namewasSimeon; and the same manwasjust and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel: and the Holy Ghost was upon him. And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple: and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him after the custom of the law, then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people; A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.
If these words seem familiar, it is because this is the Nunc Dimittis which we sing at Evening Prayer. Simeon proclaimed Jesus as the Salvation of God and as the Light of the World, and we do so also. In this significant way, we remember the Presentation of Christ in the Temple every time we do Evening Prayer.
Continuing…
And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, thischildis set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And there was one Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Aser: she was of a great age, and had lived with an husband seven years from her virginity; And shewasa widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but servedGodwith fastings and prayers night and day. And she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
St. Paul, while making a defense for the Faith before King Agrippa, said these things have “not been done in a corner.” (Acts 26:26) He was referring mainly to the Passion, death and resurrection of Christ. But the same could be said about the birth of Christ.
Not only did angels proclaim his birth to shepherds, and the shepherds passed on that proclamation. A star proclaimed him in the East. Magi came from the East and proclaimed his birth in the courts of Jerusalem. And now as the baby Jesus is presented in the crowded Temple, two prophets, Simeon and Anna, greet him and proclaim him also.
By the way, do you notice echoes of Christmas in the Presentation of Christ in the Temple? You have a baby Jesus. You have Mary and Joseph. You have the theme of light. Remember Simeon proclaimed him a light to the Gentiles in the Nunc Dimittis. In Christmas, in Epiphany, and in the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, you have people of all sorts, Jews and Gentiles, shepherds and magi and prophets coming seemingly out of nowhere saying, “It’s Him! It’s the newborn Savior! It’s the newborn King of the Jews! It is Christ the Lord!”
It’s no wonder that for some, Christmastide does not end until today, forty days after Christmas, on the Feast of the Presentation of Christ.
And you think I am bad about prolonging Christmas! I will have you know I took my Christmas tree down only two weeks after Epiphany.
But echoes of Christmas do continue into the Presentation of Christ in the Temple and really throughout the church year.
The passage on the Presentation of Christ concludes:
And when they had performed all things according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own city Nazareth. And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
And this prompts me to make two very practical and somewhat difficult applications of the Presentation of Christ. This is such a rich episode and passage – so much could be said! And kick-off isn’t until after 5! But I will be merciful and confine myself to two matters.
First, note that Jesus, though unique and sinless and divine, Jesus grew. Jesus matured. And his growth into maturity was a process. Luke makes this point again at the end of the next passage about Jesus returning to the Temple at age 12:
And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Luke emphasized biographical detail more than the other Gospel writers. And there surely was curiosity around about the childhood and youth of Jesus. There certainly was later on when a so-called Gospel of Thomas came out. Of course, it was neither a Gospel nor written by St. Thomas. But it supposedly has episodes from the childhood of Jesus. And in it, Jesus is something of an obnoxious Superboy; whose super powers were causing such problems that neighbors pleaded with Joseph and Mary to take Jesus and move away.
Luke lets us know it was not like that.
And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.
Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
In other words, Jesus was a good neighbor. Neighbors were glad to have him around.
And as unique and perfect as Jesus was, his growth was a process. He grew; he increased in wisdom and in stature. He was not Superbaby or Superboy. Not only that, remember Jesus did not begin his public ministry until he was about age 30. Now if anyone was ever entitled to take shortcuts to maturity, it was Jesus Christ. Yet he did not.
If God saw it as necessary for Jesus to growinto godly maturity, how much more is that the case for us! To become godly men and women of God is a process. That process is part of sanctification. And just as physical growth and health is an everyday process, so it is with sanctification. It’s much more than just one morning a week for us – and for our children.
A whole series of sermons could be preached on this process of sanctification, of growth into Christian maturity. So I will confine myself to pointing you to an excellent passage on raising children, Deuteronomy 6: 6, 7. This is the Lord speaking:
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.
Raising and teaching children into Christian maturity is an everyday process. And so is tending to our own learning and Christian growth.
At this point, I want to speak especially to the youth and young adults here this morning. So if you were up too late last night, wake up and listen up!
You might think that teaching children is a parent’s responsibility, and you’re right; it is. But teaching children is also your opportunity. Children really look up to older youth and young adults like you. They watch you, and they listen to you. And as I see often in this congregation, they love you and want to be with you.
What an opportunity to teach these children that so look up to you! And I’m not saying you have to have an organized Bible study with them – although that might be a good idea. But use everyday life and everyday opportunities to teach them from God’s word both in what you say and in what you do.
But guess what is necessary to teach God’s word to the next generation. Youneed to learn God’s word. You need to read and study the Bible just about every day. We study the Bible, not just for our own benefit and growth – although that is certainly important: we read and study the Bible so we can teach the next generations.
So let us not be lazy about this, especially you men. I say this because I’ve been around long enough to see that men are worse about spiritual laziness than women are. That may be sexist for me to say that, but I don’t care; I’m right. And when men are lazy that way it does great harm to the generations that come after them. So I plead with you men, young and old, fathers and future fathers, big brothers, uncles and older friends, do not do that to the next generations. Don’t drop the ball!
Yes, I have to remind myself of that as well.
So this is a vital way we all need to be more like Jesus -- to learn from scripture and to grow into Christian faithfulness and maturity as an everyday process, not only for our own benefit but for the benefit of others, especially for the benefit of the next generations.
The second point I want us to note – and forgive me for stating the obvious – Jesus and his parents were Jews. And they were observant Jews, “perform[ing] all things according to the law of the Lord.” Sometimes it is easy to miss the obvious, but let’s not miss that Jesus was Jewish. And because of the Incarnation, he remains Jewish. When Jesus ascended to the Father, his humanity was glorified but it was not wiped away. Instead he took his humanity, our humanity, into the presence of the Father to be our Intercessor. And that humanity includes his Jewishness.
And beyond that, all of the Old Testament and most of the New Testament was written by Jews.
So, friends, there is no place for anti-semitism among God’s people. Again, forgive me for stating the obvious, but it has to be said given the resurgence of anti-semitism in the West – there is no place for anti-semitism among God’s people or in a decent society. Given the Jewishness of Jesus, to be anti-semitic is really to be anti-God.
A year ago, I stood before you and expressed my concern about the resurgence of anti-semitism in the West. In the year since then there have been some encouraging developments and some discouraging ones. If I may venture into British politics, I am encouraged that one factor behind the results in the recent General Election is that many rejected the anti-semitism that has been running rampant in one of the two major parties there. To their credit, even many longtime supporters of that party voted differently this time in part because they were rejecting anti-semitism. There has to be a political cost to politicians who coddle anti-semitism, and I am glad that was the case in the U K General Election. And they have set forth a good example for us here in the United States.
But a few weeks after that, in New York City, there was a rash of violent attacks on Jews during Hanukkah. And the response of authorities there was often to let the attackers go right back out on the streets.
As I said a year ago, it is beyond sad that we in the United States and Europe still have not adequately learned the lessons of the past.
Instead, let us remember and be like Roddie Edmonds. The following is from a Fox News story in December 2015:
It was January, 1945 and Master Sgt. Roddie Edmonds had a gun to his head.
The commandant of the Stalag IXA POW Camp near Ziegenhain, Germany, ordered Edmonds, of the 422nd Infantry Regiment, to turn over the Jewish-American soldiers under his command. Edmonds and his men – Jews and non-Jews alike – stood together in formation.
"They cannot all be Jews," the German said, looking over the more than 1,000 POWs.
"We are all Jews," Edmonds responded.
"I will shoot you," the commandant warned.
But Edmonds had his own warning: "According to the Geneva Convention, we only have to give our name, rank and serial number. If you shoot me, you will have to shoot all of us, and after the war you will be tried for war crimes."
The commandant stood down.
Those four words uttered by Edmonds echo 70 years later, as a testament to the solidarity he and his men showed to their Jewish brothers in arms. And because of that, Edmonds’ name will be etched in history when he becomes the first American soldier to receive the Yad Vashem Holocaust and Research Center’s Righteous Among the Nations recognition and medal.
Only four other American civilians have received the honor – Israel’s highest for [Gentiles] who risked their lives to save Jews during World War II.
Edmonds saved an estimated 200 Jewish soldiers, whose chances of survival if turned over to the Nazis were slim.
Instead of cooperating with Nazi anti-semitism, Roddie Edmonds stood his ground and said, “We are all Jews.”
Let us follow his good example and stand our ground against anti-semitism.
And in all of life let us follow the example of Jesus Himself, who with perseverance and patience, by God’s Holy Word and by the Holy Spirit, grew every day into godly maturity and faithfulness. May we all, young and old, do likewise by his ever present help for His glory, for our sake and for the sake of the next generations.
Amen.
Let us pray.
ALMIGHTY and everliving God, we humbly beseech thy Majesty, that, as thy only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in substance of our flesh, so we may be presented unto thee with pure and clean hearts, by the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
