Sunday 2nd February 2025
Malachi 3: 1-4
Psalm 24: 7-10
Hebrews 2: 14-18
St. Luke 2: 22-40
“Lord, now let your servant depart in peace…” St. Luke 2: 29
In the lectionary which most Canadian Anglican parishes use, including St. Brice’s, we read through Bible passages in a 3-year cycle. The Gospel according to St. Matthew is read in Year A, Mark in Year B, and Luke in Year C. The Gospel according to St. John is read particularly in the season of Lent, and at other suitable times in the cycle of readings… But every once in a while, this pattern comes to a screeching halt! – interrupted by a significant day… Christmas Day, December 25, is the most obvious example…
But today, February 2, is another one of those times when the regular rhythm of readings is halted. Why? Why do we have different readings today?…
Well, it’s not because it’s Groundhog Day!… However much some of us might want the snow to end, the framers of our lectionary chose a different focus for today, because of an event in baby Jesus’ life, when he was just over a month old – 40 days, to be exact…
According to Jewish Law, after the baby was born, the baby’s parents were instructed to go to the Temple, and make a sin-offering to God… This was a command in the Book of Leviticus, chapter 12. A baby boy was to be circumcised on the eighth day of his birth. 33 days later, the boy’s mother was thought to be no longer ritually unclean from the process of childbirth:
If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean for seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days… When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt-offering, and a pigeon or a turtle-dove for a sin-offering (vv. 2-3a, 6).
Well, if we take December 25 to be the day to celebrate Jesus’ birth, circumcision on the eighth day; then, 33 more days works out to be… February 2. Today. Indeed, Luke records blessed Mary and Joseph going to the place of worship to offer according to the Law, where they meet 2 devoted elderly people – Simeon; and Anna…
Okay; we see that today is the day to observe the Presentation of Christ in the Temple; also sometimes called, The Purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary… But some of us this morning might ask, Why are we observing this event?…
As Christians, we are no longer bound to the rule of the Old Testament Law. As well, is it necessary to consider the subject of blessed Mary’s ritual “purification” at all?…
Christians rightfully have moved away from thinking that some people are somehow “unclean” or to be separated from others… Why does the Church encourage us to consider this relatively minor event from when Jesus was a baby?…
I suggest that the way to understand the Feast of the Presentation is to think about the Law – the old rules of life for God’s people – and freedom from the Law, which we have through Jesus Christ himself…
It is obvious that Jesus’ parents, as devout Jews from the town of Nazareth, observed the Law, which soaked everyone’s daily life in ancient Palestine. They observed the Law!… Jesus Christ in his ministry understood himself to be the fulfilment of the Law and the prophets… Yes, the Law and the Prophets are both acknowledged on the 40th day of Jesus’ life in this world. His parents make a sin-offering, according to the Law…
But while the little family is at the Temple, an elderly man named Simeon comes along. The Lord had revealed to Simeon that he would not die, until he saw the long-awaited Messiah of his people… Jesus is the One!… Simeon takes baby Jesus in his arms, and refers to Isaiah 3: 6 and 52: 10, including these words: “All the ends of the world shall see the salvation of our God.” Simeon changes the words a bit, to say he himself has seen the Messiah with his own eyes: “For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all the peoples…” The words of the ancient prophet are being proclaimed and made alive in little baby Jesus, just as the works of the Law were being observed… The Law, and the words of the prophets, are both observed on this 40th day…
There’s something else intriguing in this passage… In the ancient Hebrew world, slaves weren’t always slaves for life. Sometimes, for example, a man would sell himself into slavery to pay off a debt. The slave was supposed to be released, for the end of a 7 year period. Deuteronomy 15: 12 reads,
If a member of your community, whether a Hebrew man or a Hebrew woman, is sold to you and works for you for six years, in the seventh year you shall set that person free.
When the slave’s debt was paid by someone else, it was said that they were “redeemed.” The early Christians borrowed this language from the slave-market. We say that we are “redeemed,” we are set free, by what God has done for us through Jesus Christ, our Redeemer…
So, in the New Testament world, slaves were often released – set free – after their time of servitude…
When a slave was being released into freedom, the slave was dismissed with a message which included these words: “Let your servant go in peace, according to your Word.” “Let your servant go in peace, according to your Word…” The slave was sent away, with the wish that the newly freed would carry the peace of God…
When the Holy Family came to the place of worship on the 40th day, the old man Simeon meets them, and Simeon says exactly these same words over Jesus, beginning, “Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, according to your word…” The very words of freedom for a slave are being spoken over little Jesus… Simeon knows fervently by the Spirit of God that this little one is the great Messiah who will deliver his nation; Jesus of Nazareth is the Bringer of God’s peace…
Yes, the Law is being observed on the 40th day of Jesus’ birth, and the words of the prophet are being proclaimed anew. But there’s something else going on here – a new freedom is being proclaimed by devout old man Simeon! The freedom is through a person – through the Lord Jesus himself… It’s not yet fully realized, but “the day-spring from on high has visited us,” as John the Baptist’s father prophesied…
As Christians, we understand that we are freed from the constraints of the old Law, by the finished work of Jesus Christ. We have a new life of grace, and we choose to surrender our lives to God through Jesus Christ. St. Paul explains it this way, in Romans 6:
(As Christians,) sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace… But thanks be to God that you, having once been slaves of sin, have become obedient from the heart to the form of teaching to which you were entrusted, and that you, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness… But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. (vv. 14, 17-18, 22)
We have a new way of living, a new covenant of grace, through Jesus Christ. We learning to seek and live God’s will, as Jesus Christ has shown us the way in himself…
The story of the Lord Jesus Christ, Blessed Mary and Joseph going to the place of worship on the 40th day of his birth isn’t just a history story, is it?… Luke recorded it for a reason, for the Church into the future… Even around the time of his very birth, God was at work, inspiring Simeon and giving a hope who will be for all people. We see both obedience to the old Law in this story, but the freedom we experience through Jesus Christ is also unfolding…
Thanks be to God.