Luke 2:22-40

Candlemas- The feast of the purification of the Blessed Virgin Mary. (40 days after birth of – Feb.2nd)

The Reason for the Season

Today I’d like to look at two people who, while they were not present at Jesus’ birth, waited with great anticipation and expectation for the day to arrive.

None of us are very good at waiting. We don’t like to wait. And it's especially hard to wait for God. We want things to happen now if not sooner. God, however, seems to take His time. Some are waiting for prayers to be answered; at least answered in the way they think God should answer them. And while all this waiting is difficult, what we need to realize is that God is working out His perfect will through the waiting process.

Take for instance the miracle of birth. There's nothing quite like waiting for the arrival of a baby. But even while the expectant mother waits, God is at work forming and shaping that baby’s life inside her womb.

Conception is the promise. Delivery and birth are the fulfilment of that promise. In Luke’s Gospel reading today we come across two people who make their appearance in the final act of the drama. One is a man named ; the other is a woman named Anna. They don’t appear in any nativity scenes but they’re significant players in the Christmas story.

Both of these individuals were waiting with great anticipation and expectation that they would see the coming Messiah. But the promise and the fulfilment were far apart, and so they waited, looking forward to God’s promise of redemption. And while they were both waiting for the Messiah, they were both waiting for a different aspect of His coming.

Firstly there’s Simeon. Why was he waiting? Because the Holy Spirit promised that he would not die until he saw the Messiah. And so, Simeon was waiting for comfort from the Comforter.

Simeon’s expectation focused on the comfort that Christ, the Messiah, would bring. The desire to be comforted is a universal need. We all struggle at times with loneliness, emptiness, and insecurity. As Simeon was waiting, he was moved by the Holy Spirit to go into the temple courts at the time when Joseph and Mary were bringing Jesus to offer up the necessary sacrifice under the law, for the birth of a firstborn male child, Leviticus 12:2-8.

When Simeon saw Jesus he knew that God’s promise had been kept. Here was Immanuel, “God with Us,” to make everything right, to bring comfort to those subjected to years of rejection, fear and loneliness.

Simeon then acknowledged that God not only fulfilled the individual promise to him, but also the promises of the prophets to send the Anointed One to comfort both Jews and Gentiles. This is the part of the reading that we now know as the Nunc Dimittis.

Next we turn to Anna. She was looking forward to the same person as Simeon, the Messiah, but for a different reason. Instead of looking for comfort, Anna was looking for redemption or forgiveness. The word redemption is related to the idea of captivity, of being held captive. , and the release of Israel from Egyptian slavery, stood as the ultimate redemption and was symbolic of God’s power to release captives. Passover also pointed ahead to that day when God would provide deliverance from the slavery of sin.

When Jesus came He provided the very things that Simeon and Anna were waiting for: God’s comfort and forgiveness. Some of us identify with Simeon. Some of us are really hurting. We feel lonely, empty, afraid, and maxed out, and we need some comforting and a fresh sense of God’s presence. And we can find it in Jesus. He came to console and bring us comfort right now.

Or maybe we identify more with Anna? Are we plagued with guilt because of something we’ve done or the way we’ve been living? Do we feel like we’re trapped in a pattern of behaviour that we can’t break out of? If we need forgiveness, Jesus can give it to us. No matter what we are waiting for, there are three things I find in these two stories that will help us experience God’s comfort and forgiveness.

Firstly: Approach the Birth of Christ with a sense of wonder and awe.

To help put the wonder back into Christmas, take a moment and put yourself in the place of one of the characters in the Christmas story. How would you feel and what awe would it bring if you saw the heavenly host of angels, or held Jesus in your arms like Simeon, or took that journey of faith the Wise Men did in search of truth? If we do then we’ll begin to approach Christmas with new wonder and awe.

Secondly: Let the Spirit Move.

Both Simeon and Anna were directed and moved by the Holy Spirit. When the Holy Spirit said go to the temple, neither of them sat still. They moved. Now, not all promptings are going to be joy filled. For some it’s dealing with difficult situations. Consider what Simeon told Mary. He said, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel. And a sword will pierce your own soul too” (Luke 2:34-35).

That is not a joyful Christmas greeting. It’s not “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.” And it never will be as long as people avoid the reason for the season. Christmas splits people into two camps, hence the words, “falling and rising of many.”

Christmas forces us to make a decision about Jesus. Jesus is either the rock we build the foundation of our lives upon, or He’s the rock we stumble over. We can’t stay neutral when it comes to Jesus. He doesn’t let us. He said, “He who is not with me is against me.” (Matthew 12:30 ) .So we’re either allowing the Holy Spirit to move us closer to Jesus or we’re allowing the world and critics to move us further away.

Thirdly: Praise Christ.

When we approach Christ with wonder, and allow the Holy Spirit to move us, then we can do nothing less than to give thanks and praise to Jesus, the one who put Christ into Christmas, the reason for the season. Amen