Sermon: Candlemas

Cadlemas is a half way point between Christmas and Easter,  a time to look back on Christmas and a time to look forward to Holy Week and Easter.  Candlemas is 40 days after Christmas and it is not far away from Lent. 

The festival has three names and each name tells us something of the story we have heard and its meaning.  Luke gives an account of how according to custom and according to the requirements of the Jewish law, Jesus was brought to the Temple soon after he was born as a thanksgiving for his birth.  For this reason the festival is called “The Presentation of Christ in the Temple”.    Also according to the law, Mary was required to come to the Temple too, so the festival is also called “The Purification of the Virgin Mary.”  

For us, it is of greater interest to see what happened when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the Temple.   They were met by two very old and devout people, in fact two prophets,  Simeon and Anna.   As Luke tells the story, he wants his readers to know that they were very old.  Simeon is shown as having been promised by God that he will not die before he sees the God’s promised Messiah.   Anna is shown in the story to have been a widow for a very long time, and of very great age.   They both have a message. Simeon’s message is one of both joy and sorrow.   There is joy as he speaks of Jesus as “a light to the Gentiles” and “the glory of Israel”.   There is sorrow as he speaks to Mary and says “A sword will pierce your own heart”.  He is of course speaking of Jesus’ coming crucifixion and the sadness that will bring Mary.   So we see how for us Candlemas is a looking back in joy to Christmas and a looking forward to Holy Week with all its solemnity, but leading again to the joy of Easter.

Simeon speaks also that “this child will be set for the rise and fall of many in Israel.”  By this his is saying that now Jesus is born, things will never be the same.  Some will accept Jesus, some will reject him.  Simeon speaks too of the salvation Jesus will bring to all the world. Anna speaks to everyone in the Temple telling them that this child Jesus is very special and how he is the Saviour. 

It is Simeon’s words  “a light to lighten the Gentiles” that gives this festival the name “Candlemas”   So see Jesus as our light, Jesus who said “I am the light of the world” and we recall the words of John’s gospel  “The light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.”    

We live in a culture where candles are important.  People light candles in their homes.  There are candlelit vigils for the causes of peace and justice.  Candles are lit as a sign of prayer, or in someone’s memory.   A candle gives light to others but in doing so burns itself out.  In the same way Jesus gives light to others and gives his life on the cross. 

In this story, Simeon and Anna represent the old, Jesus represents the new.  Although Simon and Anna are old, they look forward to the new hope for the world which Jesus brings.   

Their messages  help us to think about the joys and sometimes the sorrows of following Christ.  There seems to be so much to worry us in our world, so many problems that cannot be solved. There is an old proverb that says,  “It is better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.”   So as we celebrate Candlemas,  when we see a lighted candle, let it remind us of Christ who is the light of the world,  a light that darkness can never extinguish. However dark life appears, there is always hope in Christ. 

Preached by Rev.J.B.Davies at Llanfwrog and Llanynys parish churches on 4th February 2007.