Homily for the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord

The child masks the power of God in apparent weakness, yet it is in just such weakness that the true power of God’s saving love is revealed. 

I have Mass on Sunday, February 2, at St. Isidore @ 7:30/9:30 am

The 7:30 am Mass will be live streamed. https://stisidore.church/worship-online/

frjoedailey@gmail.com

Transcript

A reading from the Holy Gospel according to Luke. 

When the days were completed for their purification, according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord," and to offer the sacrifice of a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, in accordance with the dictate in the law of the Lord. 

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, awaiting the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he should not see death before he had seen the Christ of the Lord. He came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to perform the custom of the law in regard to him, he took him into his arms and blessed God, saying, "Now, Master, you may let your servant go in peace according to your word, for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you prepared in the sight of all the peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory for your people, Israel." 

The Gospel of the Lord 

February 2nd is midway between the shortest day of the year and the spring equinox. Beneath the surface of winter, the miracle of spring is already in preparation. The cold is relenting. Seeds are waking up. Others are beginning to imagine how they will return. 

So why do we celebrate the feast of the presentation on this day in the solar calendar? Because after Israel's long winter, today you see a sign of the spring for which they yearned. The Lord comes to his temple, but hardly anybody noticed except for a couple of old people. 

We know today better by its cultural name, Groundhog Day. Everybody watches at dawn's first light to see if the groundhog sees his shadow. This prognosticator of spring always seems to get the forecast right. There are always about six more weeks of winter, give or take. But what the groundhog sees is not his shadow. The groundhog sees the light, the light that has come into the world, that the darkness cannot extinguish. This is the true light of the world, the Son of God who comes to reveal God's presence in the world. 

The 40th day of Christmas signals the approaching 40 days of Lent, six more weeks of winter, and the feast of Easter dawn that follows. 

The Gospel reveals the true identity of the child. He is the light of revelation to the nations, the sign that will be contradicted, the strong and mighty King of Glory who comes to the temple, the faithful High Priest who stands before God in the name of others. 

The child masks the power of God in apparent weakness, yet it is in just such weakness that the true power of God's saving love is revealed. This child is destined for the fall and rise of many in Israel. The cross is first a sign of failure before it dawns on us that God has transformed death into new life. And you yourself, a sword will pierce. From this perspective, we begin to see even suffering as potential openings for God's grace and new life. 

Jesus is the new temple where we meet, for where two or three are gathered in my name, Jesus promised, I am there among them. Like living stones, we read in 1 Peter 2, verse 5, "Let yourselves be built into a spiritual house." 

At the Last Supper, as he was going to his death, Jesus said to his disciples, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God. Have faith also in me. In my father's house there are many dwelling places." James Allison says that what Jesus is saying in effect is, "I know that you find it very difficult to believe that God loves you. I know that you are inclined to be frightened of death. And because of that, you are inclined to run from death, to meet it out to others, and engage in all sorts of forms of self-delusion and self-destruction. I am setting out to prove God's trustworthiness for you." 

"Through death," the author of Hebrews declares, "Jesus might destroy the one who has the power of death and free those who, through fear of death, have been subject to slavery all their life." As someone who was able to be tempted like others, Jesus was able to become a brother to all of us. In occupying the place of death, he was able to set us free from all those who by fear are held bound. 

The fear of death structures everything in our culture, our society, in everything from gossip to competition, from scapegoating, to all manner of rivalries, to war. In other words, death is a tyrant. Jesus was able to conduct his life in a way that was not moved by death. Jesus' imagination was entirely fixed on the creative and living presence of God who does not know death. 

Through the eyes of Simeon, we see what God's love for the world looks like. You prepared in the sight of all the peoples a light for revelation to the Gentiles and glory for your people Israel. This is the Catholicity of the Church, Catholic with a small sea. Completing the glory of humans was made possible because of the solidarity Jesus had with them. Now we can begin to see the world through God’s eyes.

In his public talks, Alison likes to ask people to imagine heaven. Apart from clouds and harps and winged creatures, people tend to talk about a place where there are lots of people they loved but have since died, lots of people like us. But Alison wonders, might there be more? Might the sheer excitement and dynamism of heaven be enriched by the zest which flows from discovering that I am not all that different from those I have defined as other, those of whom I was frightened, or those of whom I disapproved? 

In Luke's Gospel, the thief hanging next to Jesus on the cross says to him, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom." In reply, Jesus says, "Today you will be with me in paradise." Alison asks, "How many of us have even begun to imagine what it's like to find the company of such a person forever delightful?"