Easter 5 Simeon says

LUKE 2: 25 - 33


There are times when the lectionary seems just a little perverse. Today’s lectionary is one such occasion. We are still in the season of Easter and yet the Gospel reading for the second service today, takes us right back to beginnings, to the time when Jesus was still a helpless, gurgling baby.

And yet the story of the presentation of Jesus at the Temple is a story that is bubbling with meaning and important messages that we do well to take seriously.

Let’s for a moment go back to just before our reading from Luke’s Gospel begins. For we find two significant early events in the life of Jesus. Firstly, he was circumcised on his eighth day in accordance with Jewish requirement and with along with that he was named Jesus or Yeshua as it probably was in the Hebrew. Secondly, there was the purification of his mother which would have been 40 days after the birth. This would be combined with a sacrificial offering.

Why does this matter? Well it is important to remember the Jewishness of Jesus. Yes, we can say that Jesus is for all people but the specifics of his birth are that he was born, lived and died a Jew. And his parents were quite clearly observant Jews. To fully understand Jesus, it is important to appreciate that he was a Jew and not a Christian. That heritage needs to be taken seriously if we are to be diligent in seeking an understanding of Jesus.

It also leads us into the matter of anti Semitism. The church needs to be aware that there is a long history of Christian anti Judaism which has been a breeding ground for anti Semitism. The failure to appreciate the Jewishness of Jesus, has often led to anti Jewish violence particularly at Easter. That this unsavoury history of anti Jewish Christian thought was a contributing factor in the Holocaust is beyond doubt. As the Dabru Emet statement of Jewish scholars makes clear, whilst the Holocaust was not a Christian event, it could not have happened without the history of Christian anti Semitism. Certainly we need to exercise care in how we read the Gospels for whilst at times our translations suggest a negative picture of Jews, these Gospels were written by Jewish men to point us to a Jewish saviour. Where hostility is suggested, it needs to be read in the context of a family quarrel in which the possibility of a middle ground is squeezed out.

So anti Semitism is not a valid Christian option. In the coming fortnight much of the country will be having local government elections. We are an exception. Now I have deliberately never used the pulpit to endorse political parties - it would be an improper thing to do. However, I have absolutely no hesitation in affirming that a vote for the BNP is a vote against Christ. Why? Because this political party comes from a background of neo Nazism which has historically been involved in vicious anti Jewish campaigning. It makes no difference that it now has taken to turning its bile against Muslims, may of whom are themselves semitic peoples. It is the same poison directed against specific people who are other than the perpetrators of hate. Look at it this way. Jesus came from a people who have more than most been at the receiving end of hatred and prejudice. This being so, invalidates all prejudices against other groups who from time to time enter the firing line. Such prejudice is wrong on principle as well as being contrary to the teachings and practices of Jesus.

But in these rituals something else can be discerned. That something is the material lack of wealth on the part of the Holy family. Back in Leviticus, there had been laid down the requirements for the sacrifice to be made when the days of a mother’s purification were over;

“If she cannot afford a lamb, she is to bring two doves or two young pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering.”


Well Luke suggests that it is the poorer option of payment that is taken by Mary and Joseph, not entirely surprising as they will soon be living in the backwater of Nazareth. Now this does not mean that they were amongst the desperately poor. It merely suggests that they were people of limited means - not exactly the sort of people likely to have a child that would turn the world upside down. These are simply humble folk coming to consecrate their first born child to God - as should be the imagery of our infant baptism.

But now something remarkable is to break in on this everyday Jewish happening. And the sign of it is an old man named Simeon. An elderly man, he longs to end his days in peace, released from regrets. Within him as the flesh grows weak, however is a hope and a longing that he might witness the consolation of Israel. And in a split moment, that longing finds fulfilment. Driven by the Holy Spirit, he enters the temple courts. Seeing Mary and Joseph with the child, he takes the child into his arms and says the words that we echo in our Nunc Dimitus, used at many a funeral;

“Lord now lettest they servant depart in peace.”

It’s OK. He can leave this world in peace for now he is sure that God is fulfilling the hopes of all the years. And he, Simeon, is a witness to this. Now he can leave this world in peace and tranquillity for he knows that God has stepped into a world of woes - through a peasant couple and their baby. Whilst we too often make a hash of dying, this man is able to go in peace.

But what is particularly wonderful is how this man grasps the significance of the child. Any nationalistic expectation that he had hitherto had, goes out of the window. As indeed should our feeble efforts to portray God as an Englishman. I am reminded of a church in Cornwall where at a civic service the civic leaders intended that Robert Hawker’s “Song of the Western Men” be sang. It’s a sort of Cornish National Anthem and frankly with words as meaningless as most National Anthems. But because of the violent air to those words which hearkened back to a Cornish rebellion when James 11 incarcerated Bishop Trelawney, the minister refused to have it sung in an act of worship - a stance I hope to take should I ever be confronted with similar circumstances. Quite a row broke out and a lot of nonsense was spoken by the Councillors of Cornwall - not unusual believe you me! The one note of sanity was when the minister said that what was sung should reflect the fact that we worship “the God of all peoples and not all things Cornish.”

Well Simeon would agree on that for now he speaks of a salvation;

“prepared in the sight of all people,
A light for revelation to the gentiles
And for glory to your people Israel.”


Do you get it? This very Jewish boy is not a revelation of a tribal God but of a God whose salvation and grace is for all the nations of the world. Whilst we erect walls that keep people apart, this Jewish child reaches out beyond each and every one of these barriers. And in a sense that was not new. Whilst in ancient Israel, there were those who saw God as being for one nation, the Hebrew Bible has far more about welcoming foreigners than loving neighbours - something the British Government might just take on board when deporting unsuccessful asylum seekers to lands such as Iraq, Zimbabwe and Uzbekistan where they face unsafety or cancer sufferers to lands that cannot provide sufficient medical care.

But the picture I like most from Simeon is that of providing light. The more time I spend in North Devon, the more I become aware of people being trapped in darkness. My town has many inadequately housed people, people unable to find stimulating employment, people trapped in addiction be it alcohol, drugs or gambling, people struggling for a sustainable lifestyle that will not keep putting them in conflict with the law, people even young people sinking into a morass of depression. Christ offers a light to these people by telling them that they count and are of worth, and by kicking our behinds that we might challenge the morally bankrupt structures of our society that have become a force for continual darkness. And that which is the case in North Devon is equally the case elsewhere - sometimes even more dramatically. This Christ directs a light on all that dehumanises or creates fear. His light shines in the darkest of places. And all of this was revealed to Simeon. Easter tells us that despite undergoing death, Jesus is alive and God has given a Yes to all that Jesus has said and done. If we need to see more of that purpose, well Simeon has seen to it for us - it is to bring the light that will bring salvation to those entombed in darkness



TORRINGTON METHODIST CHURCH SUNDAY APRIL 20TH 2008