Cathedral Sermons
The Feast of the Presentation of Christ, 31 January 2010
Gospel Reading: Luke 2:22-40
It seems to have been a week for people fronting up. Tony Blair fronted up to the Commission of Enquiry into Britain’s participation in the Iraq war to answer questions about his part in the decision to go to war and the basis on which the Blair government did so.
Barack Obama fronted up to the Senate to present his State of the Union address and to endeavour to reignite his vision for the future, in particular the American economy, job creation and health reforms.
And here at home, Phil Goff fronted up to a gathering of Labour Party members to set his political agenda for the year and to re-establish his leadership as a new year unfolds and Labour seeks to gain ground in the mid-term year.
Each of them was engaging in a process of justifying and revisioning; they were stating again the things that they stand for, and asserting their credibility in the face of challenge and criticism. They were seeking, (we trust) to be true to who they are and the things which they believe in.
Well, Mary & Joseph do some fronting up in what we read from the gospel today. They bring Jesus to be presented in the Temple in accordance with the Jewish Law. They are being true to who they are, the faith they hold, the things they believe. And Simeon and Anna likewise front up about what they believe about the Messiah and proclaim it to Mary and Joseph and all in the Temple that day.
Jewish Law stated that following the birth of a son, the mother was unclean for seven days until the circumcision, and then had to remain home for a further 33 days. On the 40th day she offered a sacrifice in the Court of Women. That is the first element of what takes place here. The second element is the offering of the child to the Lord in the Temple. Each first-born child was offered to God and a price paid for the child’s redemption. But given that the child Jesus is here brought to the Temple, which was not necessary, and that no redemption is paid in respect of him, we should probably assume that this is an offering of Jesus in the service of God by his parents, perhaps in response to all that has happened around his birth.
It is in the context of this then that the prophecies of Simeon and Anna occur. Both of them are described as having great devotion to the life of the Temple, and living in expectation of the Messiah’s coming. Hence Simeon’s initial poetic words that announce his ability to die in peace, fulfilled, for he has discerned that in Jesus, the Messiah has come. It is that part of Simeon’s prophecy that is of course so familiar to us, because we know it as the text of the canticle the Nunc Dimittis in the Evensong service. As a result we are not so aware of the rest of the prophecy, and it is that later sentence that I want to focus on: “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed — and a sword will pierce your own soul too”.
It is the dark thread in what is a bright tapestry of hopes and inspired songs. Jesus will bring truth to light and in doing so will throw all who come into contact with him into a crisis of decision. In that decision is what Simeon calls falling and rising. In Jesus, the movement of a person’s life is determined, either toward or away from God. For as much as we like to join the name of Jesus with all the positive and satisfying and blessed things of life, the reality is that the presence of light also casts shadows, places to hide from the truth which the light of Christ reveals. And the gospel is clear that the light of Christ shines in the world but that people can choose to still walk in darkness.
So Mary and Joseph front up in the Temple, being true to their faith tradition, and responding to the light of what they have been shown through the birth of Jesus, offering this first-born son to the service of God. Simeon and Anna front up, and discern in this child all for which they have faithfully been praying and watching. Jesus also in time will front up, his ministry precipitating a crisis of decision for people as they respond to what they encounter in Jesus.
In Jesus then, we are faced with this demand to front up. And I call it a demand rather than an opportunity. For to encounter Jesus is to be faced with a crisis of choice. It is a call to see the light and therefore to walk in it, and not to hide in the shadows. In John’s gospel this is the truth about Jesus. Truth for John is embodied in Jesus, connecting with the Hebrew idea that truth is the character of God. Jesus as the image of God in creation reveals reality over mere appearance, truth over falsehood.
A post-modern understanding of truth struggles with the implication of that. In post-modern thinking there is no longer Truth with a capital “T”. What is true for one person is not true for another so that we must all live as being true to ourselves. Of course one of the failings of such thought is that to say “there is no universal truth” is a statement of universal truth in itself. Nevertheless I do think that some relativising of truth is right and important. Great damage has been done through the imposition of universal truth onto others, and I mean that in a broad sense that includes economic and political and moral truth as well as religious truth.
But to speak of Jesus as the embodiment of truth is not simply about something that is believed or spoken. It is instead a way of being. The very life and being of God is revealed through Jesus, a truth which dwells in our inward being and sets us free to live fully with an integrity that brings a correspondence between inward thought and outward action. Thus a commitment to truth is proven by the deeds of one’s life. God seeks not mere intellectual assent to a set of beliefs but instead an entire way of life that reflects the divine nature and will. To live in the truth is about Christian discipleship. It is about paying serious attention to the transforming presence of the Spirit within us. It is about a conscious choice to move out of the shadows and dwell in the light which Christ brings.
Leaders in all spheres of life must at times front up and be accountable for their decisions and actions. As those various political leaders have done this week, they must be ready to stand up for what they believe and set forth the vision which is the basis for their actions.
To live in truth as Christian people is about fronting up to the light revealed in Jesus Christ, and not to seek the shadows, but to live in the truth which that light reveals. It is about the integrity of being true to ourselves, but in the sense that our hearts and minds have been transformed by the light of Christ revealed to us. This Eucharist is a call to front up. Each time we participate in it God is at work among us, shaping us into the Body of Christ.
Let us seek to know the truth. Let that truth transform our hearts and minds that we may live the truth. Then will God’s kingdom come. Then will God’s will be done.