When we study the Scriptures, and by that, I mean think and pray about them and perhaps use a commentary on them to deepen our understanding of them, rather than simply read them, we soon realise that a lot of the stories we read in the Scriptures have multiple meanings. There’s the story itself, there’s the meaning of the story, and then there’s the lesson the story teaches us if we apply the meaning of the story to our own lives. But very often, there’s more than one meaning to a story in the Scriptures, there are multiple meanings that we can see, and hidden meanings too, meanings within meanings, and each meaning has its own lesson for us. And this morning’s Gospel is just such a story.
The story itself, of course, is quite a simple one. Mary and Joseph take Jesus to the temple to present him to the Lord so that he could be consecrated, designated as a holy child, which is what they were expected to do in the Law, because Jesus was their first-born. And whilst they’re at the temple, they meet two people, Simeon and Anna, both of whom make a great fuss about the baby Jesus. We’re not told what Anna said, but Simeon had some quite extraordinary things to say about him. And then they go home. So it’s quite a simple story and, on the surface, it has a clear meaning; it’s about doing what the Lord expects of us. That is the clear meaning because we’re told four times in the story that what Mary and Joseph did was done according to the Law of the Lord, and we’re told that they only went home,
“.. when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord …”
So the obvious lesson for us in this story is that we should follow in the footsteps of Mary and Joseph and do what the Lord requires of us. But there’s another, perhaps not quite so obvious meaning to this story, and if we see it, and take its lesson to heart, it’s one that will help us enormously in doing what the Lord requires of us.
We find this other meaning in the actions of Simeon and Anna. We’re told that Simeon was righteous and devout, and that Anna was always in the temple, where she worshipped God “with fasting and prayer night and day”. So these were two people who prayed regularly and did what the Lord required of them in their lives. We’re also told that “the Holy Spirit rested” on Simeon, and that he went to the temple when he did that day, under the guidance of the Spirit.
We’re not told that Anna acted under the guidance of the Spirit, but it’s perhaps implied that she did because we’re told that she also came to the temple “at that very hour”.
What the story of Simeon and Anna tells us about them is that they were two people who were looking for God in their lives. Not only that, but they were also expecting God to enter their lives. And because they were looking for God and expecting God, they recognised him when he did enter their lives. They believed that God had spoken to them through his Holy Spirit, and they believed what the Spirit had told them. And because of all these things, they recognised God in the infant child of two lowly, needy people whom they saw in the temple that day. And what that teaches us is that we have to look for God in our lives. We have to expect God to enter our lives. We have to believe that God will and does enter our lives. And we have to do all those things if we want to be able to recognise God when he does enter our lives.
A few years ago, when I was serving in another diocese, the diocese published some material as part of a ‘mission initiative’ (these things don’t only happen in the diocese of Manchester). One of the stated aims of the initiative was to ‘help people find God in a graceless world.’ I was quite surprised that a diocese would publish something like that actually, and even more surprised that a bishop would put his name to it, which he had. Because to say the world is ‘graceless’ in a Christian sense, is to imply that the Holy Spirit is not present, or at least not active in the world, and that is heresy. I actually said to a clergy colleague that I was surprised that the bishop had put his name to such a heretical document. It didn’t do me much good to be honest because, sure enough, what I’d said was reported back to the bishop, but not in the way I’d said it. As I understand it, what was said to the bishop was ‘Fr Stephen Smith says you’re a heretic!’ which, quite obviously, didn’t go down too well with him. Once it had been pointed out to him why I’d mentioned him in connection with heresy, I believe the bishop did admit that he hadn’t actually read the document properly when he put his name to it and that it did contain ‘a rather unfortunate choice of words’.
Now, I understood what that document was trying to say. But the problem is not that the world is graceless, that the Holy Spirit is not present and active in the world, the problem is that most people aren’t looking for God in their lives. They don’t look for God because they don’t expect God to enter their lives and because they don’t believe he will. And because they’re not looking or expecting and believing, they don’t recognise God when he does enter their lives. It’s not that the world is graceless, it’s rather that grace isn’t sought, expected or believed in and so it’s not recognised for what it is when it comes our way. And because it’s not recognised it’s not used. And because it’s not used, it can’t help us do what God requires us to do.
That’s a problem in our society generally, where so many people either don’t believe in God at all, or if they say they do, don’t allow that belief to affect their lives in any way. It’s a problem in a country in which, for example, almost 60% of the population say they’re Christians, but in which less than 5% attend church services. But I think it’s a problem even amongst people whose Christian faith is more than merely nominal.
If we think about our own lives, how many times have we been faced with a problem, for which we’ve struggled to find an answer, but the problem has actually been resolved or answered unexpectedly, or in a way we didn’t expect? I’m sure we’ve all been in that situation at some time in our lives. I know I have, and I know other people who come to this church have, because they’ve told me about it. But when we have been in those situations, how often have we simply thought that the solution to our problem has just been the result of good luck, or coincidence, that our problem’s been solved, or at least eased, because something’s happened at just the right time? But isn’t it possible that those have been times when God has entered our lives? That he has had a hand in the solution to our problem? There have probably been many times in our lives when we’ve thought that we’ve simply been lucky, when in fact, God has entered our lives and we’ve not realised it because we’ve not recognised him.
How many times in our lives have we read a passage of Scripture, or sung a hymn, something that we’ve read or sung so many times before that we know it by heart. And then, suddenly, we see something in the words that we haven’t seen before and we come to a new and much deeper understanding of what we’re reading or singing about? That happens a lot too. But when it does, why do we think it’s happened? Do we think it’s because we’ve known this story or hymn for so long, and we know it by heart, so we haven’t really been reading it properly before, and that now we have, we understand it a bit better? Or do we believe that this sudden revelation has come to us by grace, that it’s the Holy Spirit who’s visited us and opened our eyes to really see and understand these words, perhaps for the first time?
When we see and meet and talk to other people, how often do we simply see and hear another human being? Of course that is what we see and hear, but how often do we see and hear God speaking to us through that other human being? When we speak to someone about our faith, for example, do we simply see and hear another person who goes to church, just like us? Or do we see and hear someone who might have an understanding of what it is to be a Christian that we don’t have? Someone who, through their experience of God, might have insights that we don’t have but that they could share with us, if only we believed they might have them and looked for them so that we might recognise them? Do we see each other as ways through which God enters our lives and speaks to us?
And when we see people in need, do we see God entering our lives in and through them? We know we’re called to love our neighbour and that Jesus said that what we do for others, we do for him, but do we really see Christ in those in need? We might see the suffering of those people mirroring the suffering of Jesus in some sense. We might, and probably do see an opportunity to use grace and do what God requires of us when we see and hear about people who are suffering and in need. But do we really see God entering our lives in those people? Do we look for God in those people? When we see people who are suffering and in need, do we just see their faces, or do we really see and recognise the face of Jesus, in their faces?
There are so many ways that God can and does enter our lives. But if we’re waiting for him to appear, unmistakably, in dazzling light and with thundering voice, we’re probably going to disappointed. God usually comes to us in much quieter, gentler ways that are not so easy to recognise, and are much more easily missed. So if we’re going to recognise God when he enters our lives, we have to look for him, we have to expect him to enter our lives and we have to believe that he will enter our lives. If we can do those things, then we’ll be much more like Simeon and Anna and be better able to recognise God when we see him. And we’ll be much more like Mary and Joseph too in being better able to do all that God requires of us.
Amen.
The Propers for The Presentation of the Lord (Candlemas) can be found here.
Parish Church of St Mark Chadderton 