Revealing Light
Presentation of our Lord - February 2, 2014
Watch the sermon here.
On this Groundhog Day, I couldn't help but think of the movie by the same name. You remember that one, right? The one with Bill Murray as Phil Connors, the weatherman from Pittsburgh who is sent to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania to cover the hoopla that is Groundhog Day, when everyone gathers and waits with bated breath to see if the long winter is nearly over or if we’ll have to wait 6 more weeks for spring? Phil goes resentfully, hating the assignment, hating the town, hating the whole thing, and just longing for it to be over so he can high tail it out of town, only to be stuck by a huge snowstorm that makes him spend another night there. And so he goes to bed, sets his alarm, and goes to sleep, looking forward to making his escape early the next morning.
Except that when he wakes up, it’s to the same song on the radio, and the same words from the same DJ. At first Phil thinks it’s just a bad case of déjà vu, but gradually it dawns on him that it is Groundhog Day again. Phil is stuck in a never-ending loop, going to bed and waking up every morning to find that he is condemned to live the same lousy day over and over again, with no hope of escape, no matter what he tries.
Sometimes our lives feel like Groundhog Day, don’t they? Sometimes our lives just feel like they’re stuck, that we are caught in a loop that has us reliving the same day over and over again. It could be the mind-numbing job with the irritating co-workers and the demanding boss. Maybe it’s the rounds of chemotherapy and all of the body-wracking side effects that go along with them while we wait to find out if they've killed off the cancer that threatens our lives. Perhaps it’s your battle against the depression that drains you dry and leaves you struggling just to get out of bed and get dressed in the morning. There are fights with parents or children or spouses that feel unresolvable, like we’ll never get to a place of agreement and peace and harmony. It’s the daily grind of caring for our little children or older loved ones who are no longer able to take care of themselves, and though we love them and are happy to do it, my goodness, wouldn't it be nice to get a break from the monotony of it all once in a while?! And we wonder along with Phil if these days will ever end, what we need to do to escape this place where we never really wanted or expected to be in the first place. And perhaps we wonder where God is and why God is taking so long to show up and rescue us!
I suspect that both Simeon and Anna had days like that too. Luke is the only gospel to tell us about them. And from what Luke tells us, we know that Simeon and Anna have been waiting for God’s salvation to show up for a long time. Simeon has probably outlived his wife, his siblings, his friends. He is a righteous and devout man, Luke says, looking forward to God’s coming consolation for his people and nation. He is waiting for God to act, for God to send God’s revealing light into the world, to give him a sign, because it has “been revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah” (v 26). And so now, he’s just waiting for that to happen so he can die in peace.
Anna, too, is on in years – 84 years old, to be precise, and I don’t have to tell you that’s a LONG time to live in the ancient world. She’s pretty much taken up residence in the temple, worshiping there with fasting and prayer, night and day. And she is also looking for God’s coming redemption, not knowing when it will come, perhaps beginning to wonder if that redemption will appear in her lifetime, waiting in the darkness for God’s light to dawn.
And suddenly, there he is in the temple, nothing like what they were expecting. He comes carried in the arms of Mary and Joseph, a poor couple who travel to the temple to present their firstborn, to give his life into God’s hands, and to make the required sacrifices for Mary’s purification after childbirth. Jesus – 40 days old, just shy of 6 weeks. Can you imagine? Simeon is drawn to the temple, guided by the Holy Spirit, and seeing them, he knows. This is it. This is God’s salvation, and not just for Simeon longing for the release of death, but the salvation of God prepared in the presence of all peoples, God’s light sent to reveal God’s love and power and mercy, not even just to the people of Israel, but to all nations! And it’s not just Simeon who sees this – Anna, this wise woman of God who has devoted her life to worship, she sees Jesus and Mary and Joseph, and her heart overflows with praise to God who has brought this helpless baby into her presence. She sees Jesus, and she shares the good news with everyone there that Jesus is the one they have been waiting for; he is the one who will bring redemption to Jerusalem. Jesus is the one who will break them out of the cycle of destruction and loneliness and longing and sin that they have been caught in for so long. He is the one who will bring about God’s new day for all the world!
This is such good news to those of us who have been stuck in never-ending Groundhog Days of our own! God doesn't leave us alone to struggle and dig our way out of endless bad days and seasons of life. You know, in the movie, Phil is left to figure out his own means of escape, reliving Groundhog Day after Groundhog Day unable to break free until he learns to move past his own selfishness and impure motives and instead offer himself in service and love to those around him. And that’s a great moral lesson from the movie, but that’s not what God does. Instead, God breaks into our vicious circles, not abandoning us until we learn our lesson, but sending Jesus, suddenly, unexpectedly, to live and walk and work among us, offering us himself in love, revealing God’s new day in our every day. He comes to break us out of our self-destructive patterns, offering hope and love and abundance life. He is God’s revealing light, shining in our darkness, God’s plan of salvation prepared for all people. May God give us eyes to see this salvation breaking in all around us, and voices to sing God’s praises about this child who brings redemption.
Amen.
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