The season of joyful celebration of the birth of Christ continued through the Sundays of Epiphany where his identity was made known in various stages through our liturgies – Wise Men visiting the child, Baptism by John in the Jordan, Cana Wedding Feast, and self-revelation in his home synagogue. This festal cycle comes to an end this Sunday with a return to Jesus’ infancy for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord in the Temple in accordance with the Law of ancient Israel. He is recognized by the Spirit-filled Simeon and Anna as both ‘a light to lighten the Gentiles’ and ‘the glory of God’s people Israel.’ But as in Simeon’s prophecy, the salvation this child will bring will be won through suffering. The Incarnation will come to a climax in the Passion. Simeon’s final words direct us away from the joys of Christmas towards the mysteries of Easter and the heartache and ultimate triumph which awaits us there.

Malachi 3: 1 – 5

The herald of the great ‘Day of the Lord’ is identified with Elijah in the final verses of this chapter. In the Gospels (Mark 1: 2 and Matthew 11: 10) this text refers to John the Baptist who is also identified with Elijah. The angel (or messenger, same word) of the covenant who will come to the Temple is no doubt the Lord himself. The people of Malachi’s time (c. 430BC), a century after the beginning of their return from the Babylonian exile, living in expectation of the Messiah’s coming and perhaps imagining that his coming would be pleasant, had better think again, the prophet is warning.   His coming will be like a purifying fire burning out the dross among the people, those who have failed to live by the covenant with God. The dross is those who continue to practice various forms of injustice and greed. We are reminded of John the Baptist’s appeal to the people to change their ways, and his words about Jesus who will ‘baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire. (Luke 3).

Texts like this prompt us to ask ourselves: is there anything in our lives, including in our life of faith, that needs to be repented of, refined, removed, in order that we may welcome the Christ in our hearts and live as his faithful followers and representatives?

Psalm 24

This psalm is a prayer commemorating the entry of the ark of the covenant into the Jerusalem Temple. It stresses the holiness of the Temple and the reverence and awe required by the people entering it. We will recite the final four verses at our services, the question-and-answer routine which asks us to acknowledge the identity of the King of glory. We may be usefully reminded of the importance of preparation for worship and consider whether our state of mind and heart is appropriate as we enter our own temples of the Lord.

Hebrews 2: 14 – 18

Hebrews is a difficult letter to read unless we understand that it was addressed to Jewish priestly converts to Christianity who missed the splendour and ritual of the (now destroyed) Temple and its sacrificial worship. Christ as priest is an important image of the letter. As in our passage, the essence is that in sharing our human nature, he expiated sin by his perfect obedience and in so doing, brought humanity back into a state of obedience. The idea that his death on the cross ‘brought our peace with God’ still influences the liturgies of the Church but is for us who are far removed from ancient sacrificial practices and language, a rather unsatisfactory expression of the atonement, that is, what Christ’s death achieved.

Luke 2: 22 – 40

Here is Luke’s story of the presentation of Jesus in the Temple forty days after his birth. It is in Jerusalem that the Old Testament gives way to the New. Luke stresses that Jerusalem is the starting point of the Christian mission. Simeon and Anna represent the faithful remnant of Israel who, through all the many centuries, had kept alive the hope of the reign of God. They can now die in peace because through this child their hopes will be fulfilled. The salvation that he brings would be universal. As well as for the glory of Israel, Jesus would be a light to lighten the nations, the Gentile or non-Jewish world. 

However, his mission would be costly for him, and his mother would be heartbroken when his earthly ministry comes to an end on the cross. So our reading along with today’s feast begins to move us away from the birth towards the Passion and Easter, when Christ’s glory, glimpsed through the Spirit’s revelation to faithful Simeon and Anna, will be ultimately manifested. 

And we, in our turn, are called to follow him on his road to glory. That was the pledge of our baptism. The Christian life is a spiritual journey with Jesus to Jerusalem, the place of death and resurrection. It is a life of personal and community transformation, dying to self, living for Christ. (Philippians 3: 8 – 11).

A Prayer for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord:

God our Father, you know our weaknesses only too well.  It is hard for us to say farewell to all that looks familiar and safe: our settled ways, our self-complacency, our certainties and conventions.  Help us to offer ourselves wholeheartedly with Jesus our Lord and give us the strength and resolve to follow his light.  Help us to accept with him the insecurity of true renewal and to bring to all around us his light and warmth.  Let this be the sacrifice we offer you today with Jesus, and with Mary, his mother and ours. We ask this in his name, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen