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Second
Sunday in Easter ≅
Year B
Saint Paul's Episcopal Church
January 1, 2006
Waiting is the hardest part
of loving . . .
Lessons
for the Day
X
Psalm 8
X Exodus
34:1-8
X Romans
1:1-17
X Luke
2:15-21
Homily
I greet you in the name of God our
Creator, Christ our Brother, and the Holy
Spirit who sustains us and empowers us to love and
serve them both. (Pause)
Amen.
Waiting is the hardest part of loving . . .
We have waited
with Ginny and Stephen for the arrival of little Eli
Chandler -- waiting through all the tests and all the
uncertainty that always accompany the birth of a little
one.
We have waited
through Advent to Christmas, so we could once again
celebrate God's great gift of love to us in the Christ
child.
And -- for those among us who are converts
-- we have waited through the four long weeks of
Advent until finally we could sing
the Christmas carols we love so dearly.
Waiting is the hardest part of
loving . . .
Think for a moment about the waiting
of the Jewish people in the time of Jesus' birth. They had
waited for centuries for their Messiah: for God to provide
a mighty political leader who would deliver them from
oppression, or a savior who would free them from sickness
and physical hardship.
Waiting truly was the hardest
part of their loving . . .
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Holy
Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, and today's Gospel lesson
tells us, "he was called Jesus, the name given by the
angel before he was conceived in the womb". It's easy for
us to take this name for granted -- we've heard it so
often. Of course they called him Jesus -- whatever
else would they have called him?
But there's more to this name than meets
the ear. Jesus is the Greek equivalent of the Semitic word
"Joshua" -- a word that means: "The Lord is
salvation . . ." And salvation was something the
Jews had been waiting for centuries. Jesus was the
fulfillment of the Jew's anticipation -- of their patient
waiting.
Immediately after today's Gospel lesson we
meet two experts in waiting -- Simeon and Anna. Let me
tell you a little of Simeon's story -- I'll leave the
reading of Anna's story to your later study.
Five verses after today's Gospel we pick up
Luke's narrative again:
"Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose
name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout,
looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy
Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the
Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen
the Lord's Messiah.
Luke 2:25,26 (NRSV)
Waiting is the hardest part of loving . . .
Waiting is the hardest
part of loving, and Simeon had been waiting -- perhaps for
years -- to see the Lord's Messiah. Not only had he
waited -- something we all must sometimes do -- but the
text tells us he was right-eous and devout in
waiting. And that is something I can't always
claim.
Simeon waited -- righteous and devout. And
then the Gospel continues . . .
Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the
temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus,
to do for him what was customary
under the law (that is, the presentation of
the first-born to God), Simeon took (Jesus) in his arms
and praised God, saying,
"Master, now you are dismissing your
servant in peace, according to you word; for my eyes have
seen your salvation which you have prepared in the
presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the
Gentiles and for the glory to your people Israel."
Luke 2:27-32 (NRSV)
Waiting is the hardest part of loving . . .
If waiting is the hardest part of loving
for all of us, what makes it so hard? Why do we struggle
so?
I think we struggle because we know --
somewhere deep in our heart of hearts -- that things
are not as they should be. We look at the pain and
the suffering all around us -- we look at the pain
and suffering in our own hearts -- and we know
that something is badly amiss.
If there is a God -- and we say we believe
that there is -- then how did things go so badly awry?
And the answer is just this -- we live
in an already/not yet world.
We know that God is in Christ -- the very
Christ whose birth Simeon celebrated -- reconciling the
world (that's you and me and all of us) to God's own
self. This reconciliation is already happening, right
here, right now -- even as we gather here to participate
in the Eucharist.
So God's reconciling love is already
at work in the world, but it is not yet complete.
We long for that completion, we
hunger for that completion, we
wait for that completion.
And waiting is the hardest part of loving .
. .
So what can we learn from Simeon's story as
we wait on God? How can we live out our lives in faithful
waiting so that we, too, may be described as righteous and
devout? There are at least three things that Simeon's
life suggests; let's look at each of them in turn:
1) Remember why we are here.
Luke tells us that, "It had been revealed
to him (to Simeon) by the Holy Spirit that he would not
see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah."
Luke 2:26
Simeon was someone who had been visited
by the Holy Spirit. He remembered that visit, and
lived out of the visitation as he waited.
Likewise, we, too,
have been visited by the Holy Spirit. Each one of us is
here today for a reason. Some time -- and perhaps it was
long ago -- God touched your life in a powerful way, and
it changed the way you live and see the world.
Remember why you are here. In the hectic
life of an already/not yet world, hold fast to the times
that God has touched your life.
Remember why you are here.
2) Live out of what we know.
Again, Luke tells us that Simeon was
"righteous and devout". In this usage, the phrase means
that Simeon was faithful in his observance of the Jewish
Law.
We -- over against Simeon -- have the
advantage of knowing the rest of the story. We
have the adult Jesus summing up the Law and Prophets in
these words, "'Love the Lord you God with all your heart
and with all your soul and with all your mind', and, 'Love
your neighbor as yourself.'"
Matthew 23: 37, 39b
We need to love our neighbor
through service at Kid's Café, the Summer Enrichment
Program, Samaritan Ministries or in whatever way heals
this hurting world and our broken hearts. And we need
to love God through faithful use of the gifts God has
given us, be they intellectual, interpersonal, and
monetary.
Live out of what you know!
3) Remember who God is.
Waiting is the hardest part of loving . .
.
And we are helped immensely in our
waiting if we remember who, exactly, this God is
that we worship. We worship a God who keeps the
promises God has made.
God promised Simeon that he would not see
death before he had seen the Messiah, and God kept the
promise. God promised Sarah and Abraham a son, and God
kept the promise. God promises you and me healing and
wholeness through life in Christ, and God keeps that
promise.
Remember who God is!
Waiting is the hardest part of loving . . .
We live in an already/not-yet world that --
in the main -- does not encourage faith. But there is
nothing new about this -- it was as true in Simeon's time
as it is in ours.
And we -- you and I -- have a great
advantage over Simeon. Simeon saw the baby
Messiah. We have seen the saving work of Christ at
Easter. We have read of the resurrection. And we can
take Christ into our hands and our bodies in the sacrament
of the bread and wine.
God made you, knows you, loves you, and
wills only good for your life. God loves you -- always
and in all ways.
And God is already at work in the world --
in ways far greater than we dare hope or imagine --
reconciling the world to himself. Be a part of that
healing -- both for the world and for yourself.
The God who loves you is here now in the
Eucharist. Take and eat.
AMEN
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