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Sermon for the Presentation of our Lord – February 2, 2025
Luke 2:22-40
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
We see it every Sunday: the elderly making their way into our sanctuary, some of them moving slow, some shuffling behind walkers, some holding onto the arms of friends. Their determination in being here always impresses me. There is a joke among clergy that when the weather is really bad in the winter, the only people who show up for worship are the aged and the infirm. That’s how it often is.
And maybe part of the reason for this determination week after week is that the aged know better than anybody else about the reality of death. Their aches and pains are a constant reminder that their bodies are wearing out and winding down. One of the great burdens of growing old is the steady drumbeat of loss as you stand over the graves of one friend or family member after another. I’ve heard more than one “chronologically advanced” member of our congregation lament that all they do now for their social life is go to funerals. And then of course there is that particularly devastating loss that comes with the death of a spouse. We don’t like to think about it, but this will inevitably happen in every single marriage, and it is a loss many of our members have already endured. The aged do not have the luxury of living in denial of death. Maybe that’s part of what drives them to claw their way into this sanctuary week after week. They come seeking solace, seeking comfort. They come needing to hear of the One who has conquered death. They come so that their tearful and fading eyes might see his salvation.
We have two elderly individuals in our gospel reading today: Simeon and Anna. We don’t know exactly how old Simeon was, but the context suggests and tradition holds that he was very old, near the end of his life. St. Luke tells us Anna was 84 years old, and mentions that she lived many of those years as a widow. It isn’t too difficult to imagine what their lives were like. Their demographic is well represented in our congregation. We can imagine Simeon moving slowly as he shuffled into the Temple, perhaps with his hand on his aching back. We hear that Anna lived at the Temple, which brings to mind the many beloved church ladies all of us have known who practically live at the church. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if dear, holy Anna made quilts in some back room of the Temple complex or taught Bible study in a women’s circle.
These two knew of the reality of death. At some point in his life it had been revealed to Simeon that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Some people have a bucket list – things they want to do or see before they die. Well, Simeon had a bucket list with one thing on it, put there by God. Before he died, he would see the Christ. He would see the long-promised Savior. This is what the Spirit revealed to him. Simeon is described as righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, so this would surely have been a welcome promise, but it is hard to avoid the morbidity of it too. This was also a reminder that he would die one day. He could not live in denial of this reality.
Anna couldn’t avoid the reality of death either. Considering the actuarial tables, especially in the ancient world, at 84 years old she had no doubt already outlived most, if not all, of the people she grew up with, including many of her family members. She had already said goodbye to the one dearest to her, her husband, the one to whom she had been joined together as one. She had already spent many years with that aching absence in her life. So she, too, knew the reality of death. There was no denying it for Anna. No escaping it.
One day when the two of them were at the Temple, a young family came to worship. The mother held a swaddled infant in her arms, only six weeks old. This family had come for the ritual purification of the mother, which was required forty days after giving birth. They had also come to present their first-born son to the Lord, as required by God’s law. They were a poor family by the looks of them. While the usual sacrifice given for a first-born was a lamb, there was a sliding-scale for those who couldn’t afford it. The poor could bring turtledoves or pigeons instead, which is what they did.
Simeon noticed this young family. It was the Spirit who guided Simeon into the Temple that day, and so it must have been the Spirit who helped him recognize who that baby was. Simeon went up to Mary and Joseph. No words between them are recorded, but Mary, perhaps herself prompted by the Spirit, entrusted her precious baby to Simeon’s arms. Simeon held the baby Jesus close. He knew who this baby was! He knew he was holding the long-promised Savior, the one God promised he would see! And so as he held Jesus close Simeon praised God, saying: “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”
At that very moment, Anna came in. She hobbled in closer to get a better look. She saw the baby in Simeon’s arms, and she too knew who that baby was! She knew that this baby was the fulfillment of God’s promise! She knew that the redemption of God’s people had come! Overcome with joy, she started telling anybody who would listen!
This baby brought peace. As soon as Simeon held that infant Savior in his arms, he was at peace. His waiting was over. His time had come. He could depart in peace.
This baby brought joy. Anna, even in the midst of all the pains of advanced age and the sorrows of widowhood, gave joyful testimony to the presence of the Lord’s Messiah.
Simeon’s words have become a part of the liturgy of the Christian church. His words are often sung after receiving Holy Communion: “Lord, now you let your servant go in peace. Your Word has been fulfilled.” Simeon’s words are an underused part of the liturgy, but they have a history of being sung in worship by Christians for centuries. Some of you will remember it was standard in the old LBW, the old green book. We’ll use that setting again soon during the season of Lent. We’ll sing a hymn-based setting of it as our sending hymn today.
But whether we sing it every Sunday or not, Simeon’s words should frame our understanding of what is happening every time we gather for worship, and especially every time we receive the Lord’s Supper. Because as we gather here for worship, Christ is present. He is presented to us. As we gather here, Jesus comes to us so that we can take hold of him. As he comes to us in bread and wine, we can literally hold him. God sends the Savior to us, that we might hold him close to our hearts, receiving the peace and joy he brings. This is what Simeon said this baby would do. He describes Jesus not only as the glory of God’s people Israel, but also as a revelation to the Gentiles – which means you and me, here and now.
No matter how young or old we are, whether we shuffle in here slowly or skip in on nimble feet, whether our hair is still brown or has turned white or is a little of both, or is all gone, we all – young or old or somewhere in the middle – we all come into this sanctuary from a world outside that is full of death. The older people usually know this better than the younger people do, but there are times when even younger people can’t deny the reality of death. We watch our parents get older. Our bodies start to give us hints that they have begun their inevitable decline. We learn from social media of former classmates battling grave illnesses or even dying. We hear of another jumper on the bridge or another overdose death. We hear of fatalities on the freeway. Thankfully we don’t hear about airline disasters very often, but we’ve heard of the terrible loss of life in Washington DC this week. We live in a world full of death. It is a reality we all must face. It is a reality we all will face.
We live in a dying world, but we have a living Lord – and it is here that he comes to us. It is here that we take hold of the Savior God has sent to conquer death for us. It is here that we can take hold of the promised Redeemer, who brings us forgiveness, life, and salvation. It is here that Christ Jesus is laid in our arms, that we would hold him close to our hearts and know the peace and joy he brings.
This child, Simeon reminds us, will be opposed by many, so it won’t always be easy being one of his followers. Just as Simeon foresaw that a sword would pierce Mary’s soul, so too will our souls be pierced with heartache at times. There will still be sorrow, and pain, and loss. There will still be death.
But this child also brings peace, and even joy. He comes to you in love as a fulfillment of God’s promise to bless all the peoples of the earth, as a fulfillment of God’s promise to break the curse of sin and death which hangs over all of humankind. Just as Christ Jesus entered the Temple, so too is he presented to you here in our sanctuary.
And so today we can sing with Simeon and celebrate with Anna. We too can depart in peace as we leave this place, no matter what our dying world has in store for us beyond these walls – whether it is a new ache or pain, another funeral, or even death itself. For our dying world has been visited by our living Lord, who is placed into our arms today, so that we too would see his salvation.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church