Depart in Peace

Depart in Peace

Purification of Mary and Presentation of Jesus T Luke 2:22-40

INI

What are some things or big life events that you’d like to see before you die? Would you like to travel to see the pyramids of Egypt? Or if you’re young enough, get married? Have children and start a family? Would you like to see your grandkids get married, or see them graduate college? Are there successes that you’d like to experience? If you remember the movie The Bucket List with Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, that’s the premise. I remember after that movie came out, I’d often hear people talk about things they want to do or see before they die. And I remember the reality of that movie between the characters – they had a real anxiety and fear of death.

            In our text today, God had placed a bucket list item before a very pious man named Simeon. He was elderly. He had spent his whole life in the fear and admonition of the Lord. He was a man who longed for the day when God would free the nation of Israel. The Lord revealed to him that He’d see the fulfillment of his desires – that he would see the promised Messiah before he would die. That’s quite the bucket list item, isn’t it?

            The holy family went to Jerusalem to fulfill the requirements of the Old Testament Law from Exodus and Leviticus. Today, we remember what they did, hence our feast day today recalls the “Purification of Mary and the Presentation of our Lord”. We celebrate this feast day today, February 2^nd, because today marks the 40^th day after Christmas – which is the day Mary would’ve gone to Jerusalem to receive ritual cleansing after haven given birth to a baby boy. That was in alignment with the custom God gave to His people in Leviticus 12. Mary was expected to go to the Temple in Jerusalem and offer a sacrifice. Thus, Mary would be purified according to God’s Law and restored back into ritual and liturgical fellowship with God and man.

            Jesus was also presented in the Temple in accordance with Mosaic Law, as commanded in Exodus 13:2: ‘Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.’ This law was given as a reminder of God’s deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt—specifically, the 10th plague, when God spared the firstborn of Israel while the firstborn of Egypt perished. By this act of consecration, God claimed the firstborn as His own, pointing to the reality that our lives belong to Him. In this way, every firstborn was symbolically offered before the Father as a living sacrifice.

            But why do these Mosaic rituals matter? Why should we care about these ancient and archaic rites? Now, these two rituals – the purification of Mary and the presentation of Jesus – were distinct, but Luke presents them together to show us that Christ is the fulfillment of both. Jesus said about Himself, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.”

            These Mosaic laws matter because they point us to this particular child, and what He was sent to do. He was born to bear our sins, and cleanse us of our iniquities. Through the waters of baptism and the lavish washing away of our sins by His sacrificial blood, you are cleansed – purified from your uncleanness, just like Mary. You are freed from the terror of the Law and what it leads to: death. Christ has accomplished all that the Law requires, that you might have freedom from its terror and anxiety.

            He was sent forth to take on flesh, be born of a woman, born under the weight of the Law. Yet, He did so with a purpose. He became the firstborn of all creation, to redeem a creation born under the weight of the Law. Yet, what we could not do, God in flesh did. He even fulfilled the Law of cleansing and consecration that the Mosaic Law required – practices that may seem distant to us today. But take comfort knowing that He has done all this for YOU.

            There’s an old Lutheran saying – “the Law always accuses.” And it’s true. The Law shows just how distant sinners are from God, and the great need for reconciliation between God and man. The Law shows us our uncleanliness, and our need for purification and consecration to God. A perfect sacrifice is needed to restore us to fellowship with a holy God – and that sacrifice is Jesus Himself..

That’s why Simeon and Anna were so joyful. They weren’t just seeing a baby – they were seeing their salvation. They had received their bucket list item – that they and all the nation of Israel would receive the Messiah, and through Him, be restored back into a peaceful fellowship with the heavenly Father. That was Simeon’s prayer of thanksgiving in the Temple. Simeon held the baby Jesus in His arms and recited the very thing we sing in the Nunc Dimmittis after we partake of the Lord’s Supper – “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your Word…” The first thing Simeon says is – ‘okay, I’ve seen my last bucket list item. I’ve seen my Messiah. All the hope I’ve had in God has led me to this moment. I can depart in peace now. I’m ready to die.’

            And that’s what you pray in the Nunc Dimmittis after receiving the Lord’s Supper – ‘I’m prepared to die. I have peace from God – what other thing could I ask for? Do I have to stay around so that I can see the pyramids in Egypt? Do I need to stay around so that I can see my grandkids graduate college? Do I need to stay around and start a family?

            Now, there’s some good things in there worth accomplishing. But I’m okay if I don’t get to do those things. Because I’ve received forgiveness, life, and salvation through the body and blood of my Savior, Jesus Christ in the Eucharist. So, Lord, let me depart in your peace.’

Earthly goals are good. But too often, we pour our hopes and our lives into those things – successes, family, accomplishments – thinking that those things can bring us peace. We so often fear death and have anxiety about it’s coming because we have FOMO – the fear of missing out. Yet the Law reminds us that nothing in this world can truly satisfy us – that there’s nothing here that we should fear or have anxiety over. The Law reveals our sin, our unworthiness to come before a holy God, yet the God of all grace comes to us in flesh and blood to give us what He gave Simeon: peace with dying.

Christ has come to bring you a peace which surpasses all understanding, a peace that pales in comparison to what the world gives. He was presented in the Temple, not just as the firstborn of Mary, but the firstborn of ALL CREATION. He was consecrated to his heavenly Father so that through His death and resurrection, He might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil. Thus, the Christian has no need to fear death, because they live through the victory of Jesus’ own resurrection from the dead. He has purchased you not with gold or silver, but with His holy precious blood.  Thus, He has given you the blessed assurance of life everlasting with Him. He gives you new life, even now, as you are purified through God’s gifts today, that you might be a consecrated, living sacrifice to the Father too.

 So now, having received Christ in Word and Sacrament, you can truly depart in peace – whether from this altar today, or from this life when your time comes – knowing that your salvation is secure in Him. He has done everything for you. You don’t need to search for peace – you already have it through your faith in Christ Jesus.

INI