Holding the Light - Fourth Sunday after Epiphany
Author: Pastor Carolyn Hetrick
February 02, 2025
To imagine the joy and excitement and fulfillment Simeon
must have felt the day Joseph, Mary and Jesus came into the Temple is about
more than holding a baby. We don’t know how many years it had been since the
Holy Spirit told Simeon he would see the Savior of the world. Whether it was a
few years or 50 we all know waiting for something to change is hard. Maybe some
days he was at the Temple thinking today will be the day, and there were others
when the world seemed like a terrifying place to be, and lots in between. Mary
and Joseph for their part were ordered to leave their home and journey to
Bethlehem for the census by the Romans. Mary has given birth and now they have
had to journey to Jerusalem eight days later to honor their faith tradition by
presenting Jesus. They are faithful but exhausted. Can you relate?
But the Holy Spirit guided Simeon to the Temple that day.
Out of the shadows, there is light. Simeon took Jesus into his arms and broke
into praise. Mary and Joseph were amazed. But this was not just another baby at
the Temple. Maybe Simeon felt what at least one old desert mystic has observed
that when “Simeon took Jesus up in his arms, he was not presenting Jesus to
God. Jesus was presenting Simeon.”[1]
Which got me thinking about when we present babies, and
not so young ones to God. It happens in baptism. In some Christian traditions,
baptism does not happen until you can say what you believe and instead a baby
is dedicated to God. While I love our message of grace that God’s love is not
earned, it is pure gift, I wonder if we in some ways miss what it means to
dedicate our children and ourselves to God.
To see ourselves as consecrated. Set apart to live in the
world, but to live as one whose focus is to be holy. Not as a requirement to be
loved, but out of the joy and fulfillment Simeon expressed when he got to hold
Jesus. And Jesus held him. Because we too get to hold Jesus. When we cradle
communion in our hands. When we hold a candle and remember the light of Christ.
Since we too get to hold Jesus, what does it mean to imagine we are presented
and dedicated to God? To be given a priority for living. To be a gift to God?
We focus upon water and word and God’s action. But let’s ponder what it means
for a child, or for any of us to be dedicated to God.
Simeon says that Jesus will reveal God as a light to the
Gentiles, which means to be a light to anyone who is not practicing Judaism in
first century Palestine. Jesus will reveal God as a light to all peoples. There
will be joy and glory. Perhaps especially helpful for us is remembering that
these words are spoken in a time when the world did not feel like light. People
were doing their best to live in a country where they were occupied by an army
that kept peace by force. Where, as we know, you could be told to travel for a
whim, as Joseph and Mary had to. Where it will not be long before they must flee,
taking shelter in another country to keep their child from being killed. Where
indeed many other children were killed by Herod. Where famine is a real
possibility. Where the gap between rich and poor is a canyon. Where disease and
suffering can leave you cast out and without care, and where violence will be
rebuked by Jesus as a man who will say that those who live by the sword can die
by it.
The day in the Temple when Jesus is presented happens in
such a time. Now imagine how it feels to encounter light from God-to hold the
future and hope in your arms even for a moment. Amazement indeed.
But Simeon also says that Jesus will be opposed and
hearts that love him will be pierced too. In our baptismal liturgy we use a
candle that is lit from the larger candle we call the Paschal Candle. “Paschal”
refers to Jesus as the Paschal Lamb-The Passover Lamb. That he takes the place
of the lamb that would have been sacrificed to seek forgiveness for sins when
people were practicing Judaism in first century Palestine. Jesus’ death on the
cross assures us that because he died to take away the power of sin, and then
rose, we will too. It’s a promise given in our baptism where we light a candle
from the light of the Paschal Candle and then that light is given to the family
of the person baptized with the words, “Let your light so shine
before others that they may see your good works and glorify your
Father in heaven. In other words, you will be a light to reveal God to
the nations.
We are that light when we live out the promises made in
our baptism- that our identity sets us apart. When we promise to gather with
other faithful people, instead of refusing to meet. When we share in communion
both as a sacrament that reminds us of grace and as a way of following Jesus
together and drawing strength to keep being light.
When we study together what God tells us in Scripture and
ponder how God is Our Father in the Lord’s Prayer and pray for God’s will. When
we work for justice and peace, and when we proclaim God’s light and good news
in what we say and do where others have not seen it. We are dedicated to God.
Along the way, Jesus the light is here. We hold candles
on Christmas Eve to symbolize the birth of Christ as the light when we sing
“Silent Night.” I love watching you all share the light with another until the
whole room bears the light. We turn off the other lights, so we see two things.
Both the light of Christ and the light we are sharing together. This is a
helpful way to see our walk in the world.
Our hearts too are pierced when we share in the absence
of light on Good Friday to remind us of the time it seemed the light would be
gone. When we light candles on All Saints Sunday to remember those whose
earthly light has left us, yet hold onto God’s promise of the communion of the
saints.
We take our light from The Light of the World. It’s so
central to us here that each Sunday we share in the light of some candles here
to remind us of God’s perpetual presence here with us. God’s invitation is to
come and be enlightened so these things are revealed to us over and over so we
can carry on and not so much bear light as we become light.
It's the light shining within ourselves and the light we
radiate to our neighbors. In a moment we will bless the light we bear into our
homes and into the world to remind us that the light of Christ is not confined
to this space and time, but shines everywhere. We have been presented to God
and held the grace, love and peace of Christ. We can leave here again as God’s
servants going in peace, knowing God’s word is fulfilled.
“May there be a (light) in your heart, in your hand and
in your mouth. Let the (light) in your heart shine for yourself. The (light) in
your hand and your mouth shine for your neighbors.”[2]
Having held the Light of Christ, and been held in God’s
embrace, may we reveal this God to the world.
Copyright Rev. Carolyn K. Hetrick, 2025 All rights reserved. May
not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission.
[1] Ephrem the Syrian
[2] Guerric of Igny
Sermon Text: Luke 2:22-40
22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, [Mary and Joseph] brought [Jesus] up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), 24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the
consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, 29 “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the
presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”
33 And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to
his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
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