“…a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke
2:32)
Merry Candlemas!
Yup, February 2nd, long before
it became Groundhog Day, was celebrated as Candlemas. It’s also known as the
Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord or the Feast of the Purification of the Blessed
Virgin Mary. It probably won’t come as a shock to Lutherans that we don’t use
that latter designation, but I think a word of explanation for it is in order.
Normally, we don’t make a big deal out of
this minor festival in the liturgical calendar unless February 2nd
happens to fall on a Sunday. It celebrates an event in the life of Our Lord which
Luke records and is used as the Gospel reading for the day (Luke 2: 22-40).
Mary and Joseph come to the temple in Jerusalem out of pious observation of
Levitical law. They’d already had Jesus circumcised on the eighth day after his
birth. Now they’re observing two other statutes. The first is to present this
little guy, Mary’s first born, as an offering to the Lord.[i] The second is to offer
sacrifice so Mary can become ritually clean again after giving birth.[ii] The price of being a mom
was the sacrifice of a lamb, but poor people like Mary and Joseph could get the
discount price of a bird. I always like this detail Luke includes because it
reminds us all that Jesus came from poor folk.
When Mary and Joseph bring their little
tyke to the temple, they encounter two really cool senior citizens, Simeon and
Anna. Old Simeon blesses the baby boy because God has promised that he wouldn’t
die until he had a chance to see the Messiah. He sings a little song of praise
which, in liturgical Latin, is called the Nunc
Dimittis, which are the first words of the hymn—roughly translated “now
thou dost” or “now you do.” We use this hymn often as part of our liturgy for
the canticle we sing after we’ve received Holy Communion. Like ol’ Simeon, we
too have seen the Lord’s salvation through the Holy Supper and can depart in
peace.
Where the term “Candlemas” comes in is
Simeon’s belief that this little baby boy has come to bring light to the
nations of the world. Subsequently, church tradition held that candles were to
be blessed on this festival. But preaching Jesus to non-Jewish folks isn’t the
only kind of light Simeon suggests. He tells Mary, “This child is destined for
the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed
so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed…” (v.35)
Now think about that: Would you really
want your inner thoughts revealed? If the candle of Jesus’ righteousness were
lit in the cellar of your brain, what do you think it would illuminate? We’ve always
been taught that Jesus is the light of truth. Jesus in the gospels is a light
of compassion, mercy, inclusivity, generosity, and forgiveness. It’s just possible
that we don’t really want that light
to shine on us, you think? Compassion,
after all, will cost us. It will require sacrifice we might not want to make.
Inclusivity, as Jesus showed to the Gentiles, might mean we lose our feelings
of superiority over others. Forgiveness means we might have to surrender the
grudges which provide a sugar high for the voracious appetite of our brittle
egos. If our inner thoughts were revealed, would we embrace Jesus or oppose
him? Would we fall or rise?
There’s something else I love about this
passage. I really dig that it lifts up the wisdom of two mature individuals. Anna
is celebrated as a prophet (or profhtis in Greek), a term
which refers to one who is a channel of communication between the divine and
the human worlds. There aren’t that many women who get this title in the Bible,
so you’ve really got to love Anna. She’s the first to see in this little boy
the promise of God, and she’s not afraid to tell folks about it. She may be
old, but she gets around. In my ministry I’ve known many an elderly widow who
has spent lots of time doing God’s work in a house of worship, and—believe me!—the
church could not stand without the faith and prayers of such as these.
So, Merry Candlemas, everybody. The
challenge for this feast, I think, might be to let a little of the light of
Jesus into your inner thoughts and, like Simeon and Anna, be ready to receive
him.
So glad you visited today. Please come
again.
[i]
See Exodus 13:2
[ii] See
Leviticus 12:4-5. Mary had to wait 33 days after Jesus was circumcised before
she could step back into society. If Jesus had been a girl, Mary would have to
wait 66 days. Those ancient Hebrews were really sexist bastards, weren’t they?
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