The Presentation of Christ in the Temple

Hebrews 2.14-16; Luke 2.22-40

Today we come to the official end of the Christmas season and to the turning point in the Church's year that takes us in the direction of Passiontide and Easter. And we shall mark that especially towards the end of the service with our now traditional procession to the font, the place of our initiation into the Body of Christ and our own dedication to God.

The reading from Hebrews this morning reminds us in its own way about God's incarnation in Jesus Christ and what that means for us and our relationship with God through Jesus. It reminds us that Jesus was like one of us, really and actually. Although we believe him to be God he was a real human being exactly like us. And because of that his suffering on the cross, his sacrifice bridged the gap between us and God so that our relationship with God was renewed and restored for all time. A new covenant was made, once and for all. This could not have happened if God had not come in human flesh. Without Christmas there can be no salvation.

And the gospel reading, in a way, highlights the fact that Jesus is truly human but also God and God's anointed one. His parents bring him to the Temple to perform their religious duty as they would with any child of theirs and being their first born he is specially dedicated to God as their religion prescribes. So that's an acknowlegement from the human side. But then we see Simeon, prompted by the Holy Spirit to recognise Jesus as belonging to God in a special way. It has echoes of John the Baptist, still developing in Elizabeth's womb, moving when Mary comes to visit her cousin. And then John in his ministry recognising Jesus without having to ask who he is. The Holy Spirit is already working in and around Jesus. And the prophet Anna too, recognises Jesus as the one to redeem Israel. And we are reminded that St. Paul says that you cannot call Jesus Lord, except by the Holy Spirit working in you. So we see the Holy Spirit working in all these encounters that people have with Jesus, the better for us and everyone else to be convinced about him.

But we aren't convinced that Jesus is God solely by the words of other people. There's much more to belief and faith in God than that. In our baptism we are dedicated to God and much more than that we are baptised into the life of Jesus. We become, in our baptism, part of the Body of Christ. By the Holy Spirit, given in baptism we are able, by God's grace to live in relationship with him all our life, to receive the gifts of the Spirit that God deigns to give us, and bear the fruit of the Spirit.

But, the way that most people look at baptism is that once it's done that's it, they've got their child's passport stamped, they need not fear for the child's eternal salvation and it can all be left at that. And sadly, many so called committed Christian, church going people believe that too. They think that leading a good life is simply enough for salvation. Well, unfortunately that's very far from the truth. If it was the truth we need not come to church, we need not confess our sin during every service, we need not forgive or be forgiven, we need not worship God at all. No, baptism is simply the start of a relationship in which we are to respond to God's grace by doing the work on ourselves that makes us daily more like Christ himself, who was without sin. Jesus said to his disciples, 'be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect', and he meant it. We are to strive to perfection, to work out our salvation in fear and trembling as St. Paul says.

And why does this not happen, why do people not respond to their baptism in this way, and strive to be perfect as Jesus commanded? Well I do believe it's that these days there is no fear of God and therefore no feeling of the need for love of God either. We are 'dead in our trespasses and sins' as St. Paul so eloquently put it in his letter to the Ephesians. And we are content to be dead because being dead doesn't take any effort at all. But the realisation of that can be the starting point for God's grace to work in us. As I said, today we turn to look towards Passiontide and Easter, our greatest festival. And just as Jesus was resurrected to life more glorious by the grace and power of God, so we are called to be resurrected from our death in trespasses and sins to the glory of life in Christ through the power and grace of God working in us now, today.

Each one of us here today who has been baptised has been specially dedicated to God and been given the gift of the Holy Spirit. As we turn from Christmas and look to Easter, now is the time to let God's grace work in you by striving to conform to His commandments to love Him and our neighbour, to make His will your will, to repent and believe the gospel.