Malachi 3: 1-5 (page 802 in our pew Bibles) People desire God but are they ready
to accept his judgement?
Hebrews 2: 14-end (page 1002 in our pew Bibles) Jesus needed to
be fully human to identify with the suffering and death common to all human
beings in order to save them
Luke 2: 22-40 (page 857 in our pew Bibles) What is being described here is both
the presentation of Jesus and the "purification" of Mary. Simeon and
Anna represent the patient Spirit-led people of Israel awaiting their Messiah.
Candlemas is
the great turning point in our liturgical year. Up until now we have called the
Sundays “of Epiphany” but after this Sunday we count the Sundays as “before Lent”.
From here we
glance back at the whole Christmas and Epiphany season and now turn to face the
cross, so Candlemas is a bitter sweet occasion.
Simeon and
Anna are old and represent the faithful people of Israel who have been waiting
their entire lives for the appearance of their Messiah and finally in that God
given moment of insight and perception Jesus is recognised for who he really is.
It is the
Holy Spirit that leads Simeon to recognise this child for who he is, and what he
shall become.
But this
recognition isn’t just a moment of unbridled joy and the revelation of light
appearing in the darkness as recorded in Simeon’s words (that we now know as
the Nunc Dimitis) , it is filled with portents of a darker nature.
Jesus will
be the cause of the falling and rising of many in Israel, and he will invite
great opposition, and a sword will pierce Mary’s soul also in a premonition of
the cross.
Great thanks
for the gift of the light of the world tinged with sadness at the rejection and
death on the cross where his life will lead.
This general
mood of a double edged sword is matched by Malachi which is a Hebrew word meaning “My
Messenger” when he writes predicting the coming of Jesus to the Temple,
The Lord you
seek will suddenly come to his Temple, but who will be able to bear it? He will
be a refiner, a purifier, and bring judgement on those who flout the Spirit of
God.
He will bring Judgement against
the "sorcerers, adulterers, the liars, and oppressors of the weak and
defenceless." of which there seem to have been many in Malachi's day
The representatives of those worthy of sanctions will eventually, in Jesus's day, conspire to have him crucified and imagine that
they had won the day, but their moment of victory would be fleeting.
When those
conspiring against him do finally get their man and have him killed it is
important to realise that Jesus’ suffering and death were real. He suffered
terribly and he really died. Because he was human just like you and me.
There is
nothing we can go through where God in Christ has not been there, walked the
walk and experienced. He can identify with every one of us because he shared
our fate and that was important. As Hebrews says,
“Because he
himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being
tested.”
He didn’t
come to help angels, he came to help us human beings and set us free from the
fear of death.
For lest we
need reminding the mortality rate for human beings is 100%.
We all die,
but as many as can believe it we will also all be raised.
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