"My eyes have seen"-Sermon for the Presentation of the Lord, Luke 2:22-40
Today is a Feast Day in the life of the Church that is celebrated each year on Feb 2nd. It is called, “The Presentation of our Lord”…or more descriptively “The Presentation of Jesus at the Temple”. And, as the 2nd of February only falls on a Sunday every seven years, we don’t actually celebrate this feast that frequently. Thus, perhaps the story, which actually takes us back to Jesus’ infancy, is less familiar to us than some of the other major feasts that we use to mark milestones in Jesus’ earthly life that we do celebrate each year…celebrations like Jesus’ birth at Christmas, his baptism by John in the River Jordan, his death on Good Friday, and his glorious resurrection at Easter. In fact, if anything from this story sounds familiar, it might be the first of the two oracles spoken by a person named Simeon as he holds the babe, Jesus, in his arms…prophetic words we have come to know in the Church as the Song of Simeon. And, the reason they may sound familiar is that we pray them together in the much beloved service of Compline.
Now, just in case Compline is not a part of your own devotional life, it is the service in the Episcopal Church set aside for the end of the day or the completion of the day…some call it Night Prayers. Our youth group prays Compline each Sunday evening at the end of their time together each week…right here circled around our altar. And, I can feel it…all those prayers prayed by our children in this very place makes it feel even more sacred to me. Similarly, we pray Compline as a community at the end of our Wednesday evening gatherings during Lent. Compline is also how we complete our day when on the annual Men’s Retreat and Youth Retreat and, though I have never been on one of our Women’s Retreats, I have a suspicion that Compline will likely be prayed as many of our women gather at Camp Buckner next weekend. The Song of Simeon comes toward the end of Compline and the translation in our prayer book, which is slightly different from the version we just heard in Luke’s Gospel, reads, “Lord, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised; for these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, whom you have prepared for all the world to see: A Light to enlighten the nations, and the glory of your people Israel.”
Now, back to today, perhaps one of the gifts that this feast provides for us is the opportunity to consider the biblical context of this familiar and beloved hymn or prayer and, further, perhaps rooting ourselves in that context, in that story from which these words find their genesis, can give us an even greater appreciation and deeper affection for these words that are written on the bones of so many of us, who have prayed these words on many ordinary and extraordinary occasions and with so many different people…many of whom we love and worship alongside in this place.
So, to begin with, Luke tells us that Jesus, who again is still an infant, is brought to the great temple in Jerusalem to be presented. This Presentation, that has its roots in the book of Exodus, is a ritual in Jewish life where a family presents, hence the title, their first-born sons to God…dedicating their lives and all they contain to participate in God’s love-spreading, life-giving work in and for the world. The ritual recalls the time when God saved the first-born sons of the People of Israel, as the angel of death passed over their homes, during that final terrible plague that led to their freedom from slavery in Egypt and inaugurated their long journey to the Promised Land. In my mind, this ancient Jewish ritual remains resonant in the church today as we still present all of God’s people, not just first-born sons and not just infants, but of all God’s people to God’s work of love in the world in the sacrament of Baptism. A sacrament in which we recall that our own lives, and the lives of all people in all times and at all places, have been passed over by the powers of sin and death, not through the ritual sacrifice of a lamb like at the first Passover, but through Jesus sacrificing his own life, presented and dedicated to God, on the hard wood of the cross.
Now, Luke also tells us that there was a devout man, as I already noted, named Simeon living in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ birth who had been told by the Spirit of God that he would not see death until first seeing the Lord’s Messiah…that is God’s anointed one who would usher in God’s Kingdom of life, light and peace…the one who would fulfill the very purpose for which the people of Israel had been chosen by God in the first place, which was to present, to birth out of their great family…generations of people seeking the face of God…generations of Jewish mothers and fathers giving life to children…to birth from their family a child at the God-appointed time…when the universe was ready to be reborn to its forever life…birth a child who was to be the, “Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”…a child we have come to know as Jesus…birthed through Mary’s womb…that teenage, Jewish girl…Jesus’ mother and first disciple…who following the angel’s annunciation that God would use her to bring God’s own child…God’s Messiah into the world…responded, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be…”.
Further, Luke tells us that God’s own Spirit leads Simeon to be present at the temple that day of Jesus’ presentation, and, upon seeing the babe, Jesus, with Mary and Joseph his parents, the Spirit quickens Simeon’s heart. He knows instantly that before him is the one so long-awaited…Emmanuel…God with us…the one who will save God’s people. And, he takes the babe into his arms, praising God and, in mind more singing that speaking, cries out those beloved words that are surely written on my heart…feel free to say them with me, “Lord, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised; for these eyes of mine have seen the Savior, whom you have prepared for all the world to see: A Light to enlighten the nations, and the glory of your people Israel”.
And, just to be clear, Simeon is not saying he can go home in peace to enjoy a celebratory meal marking a momentous occasion in his life before heading peacefully off to bed or some such. Instead, he is saying, he can end his life in peace…die in peace. For God has kept God’s promise that the light of the world, that the darkness cannot overcome, has come among us…a light for Israel and all nations…all people in all times and in all places…even you, even me…even when suffering, even when it feels very dark…the light of God’s own glory…light that even the darkness of death cannot defeat…shines in the face of Jesus…lighting up Simeon’s life and our own lives from forever to forever. And, I think this why Simeon’s words, that remain for us both a song of praise and a prayer, live on so profoundly in the very place they do in our service of Compline…our night prayers…our prayers for the completion of day…to remind us…as our day ends…that whatever it may have contained…triumph, disappointment, boredom, uncertainty, fear, joy, loss, tears, laughter…that as we lay our weary heads down to sleep…may we rest in peace…trusting in the sure and certain hope that the Light of the World has taken flesh in Jesus and come among us…a light the darkness cannot overcome…not ever…and not for any of us.
For, like Simeon, whose eyes were filled with light and joy as they rested on Jesus’ own face, I believe that in our waking lives, even in the midst of all the trials and tribulations, the questions and the complexities, the successes and the failures…these eyes of ours have also seen the Savior, whom God has prepared for all the world to see…in the ordinary and extraordinary alike…Jesus, the Light of the World, our Savior and God, shining in the faces of those speaking up for those whose voices are being diminished, like the group of clergy I am working with, even now, who are providing legal and spiritual support, such that, the Church may truly be a place of sanctuary for all those living in fear or uncertainty. Jesus, the Light of the World, shining in the hopeful, future looking faces of our children who find friendship, love, safety, and support in this very confusing and unsettling world through the ministry we offer here and in this diocese for young people. Jesus, the Light of the World, shining in the allies and affirming communities, like St. Julian’s, that recognize and celebrate the dignity of every human being. Jesus, the Light of the World, shining in faith communities, like our own, that are growing, thriving and healthy in a world that is increasingly skeptical that God is love…that God is real. Jesus, the Light of the World, shining in the lives of scientists and academics that continue to work hard and believe that the earth, our fragile island home, and those who live on it can find a way to live an interdependent life of mutual blessing. Jesus, the Light of the World, shining in the pastoral care, in the love and support for those grieving, in the spiritual direction, and in the faith formation offered by the caring and gifted people who serve in this family of faith. And, perhaps most of all, Jesus, the Light of the World, shining in the faces of those who we love and who love us, care for us, carry us when need be, and lift us up when we fall. For these eyes of mine have, indeed, seen the Savior, prepared for all the world to see.
Friends, I hope to pray Compline alongside each of you countless more times on this side of glory…that is before my own race has run its course. I hope to find peace many more times as I lay my weary head down to sleep…especially at the end of uncertain and difficult days…the peace that comes from the sure and certain hope that Jesus, the Light of the world, has dispelled all the darkness that seeks to overwhelm us. But, most of all, I hope that like Simeon, at the end of my days, the last time I lay down my weary head, that these eyes of mine may see a lifetime’s worth of light filled encounters with my Savior…as my whole life lived rushes through my mind…in the face of my wife, my children, my friends and loved ones, those whose sacrifice, wisdom and service has inspired my own, those like you who make up this family of faith and are for me a constant living expression of Jesus alive and present among us…that I might be set free, from all fear and worry, to go in peace...trusting that, like Simeon, when my eyes meet Jesus’, on the other side of glory, I will already know the familiar lines on his light filled face. Amen.