Feast of the Holy Family, December 27, 2020 - Sirach 3:2-6, 12-14; Colossians 3:12-21; Luke 2:22-40

Some longtime friends of mine sent me a Christmas card. On the front of the card was your typical picture of Mary and Joseph and the baby, and the shepherds in the stable. The bottom of the front of the card said “Remember the Miracle.” Remember the Miracle. I opened up the card, and the wife had written on the top, “Yeah, like you would forget it,” which I thought was really a kind of comment on a whole bunch of things. But it got me thinking about what we remember, what we remember.

I already mentioned once or twice during this Advent/Christmas season that St. Luke has constructed the first two chapters of his gospel in a very precise way, and he has several points that he makes over and over again in his gospel. One of them is that Jesus comes for all people. Glory for Israel, revelation for the gentiles, for the pagans. So Luke is all- inclusive in his message about salvation - Jesus comes for everyone; no one is left out.

And then he frequently pairs stories about men with stories about women all throughout his gospel. So if Simeon is in the temple, then there has to be an Anna in the temple, which was revolutionary in his day, to make women important characters in the story, and bearers of the gospel message.

The third thing, which doesn’t appear in today’s gospel, but appears throughout the first two chapters, is that people have different reactions to Jesus. Probably because they were the reactions that Luke saw in his contemporary time as leader of the church. Some people become deeply involved with the message of Jesus, some people accept him sort of in a surface way, and some people are merely nonplused by it all – “This is kind of a strange happening. Oh well, let’s move on.” He places all three reactions throughout his story.

The other thing is that the first two chapters hang on four hymns. There’s seems to be no doubt now that the Magnificat of Mary, the Benedictus of Zechariah upon the birth of his son, John the Baptist, the hymn of the Christmas angels, and the one we heard this morning, which in Latin is referred to as the Nunc Dimittis (Now you can dismiss me). Those four passages were ancient Christian hymns, each one of them focused on a different aspect of God’s gift of Jesus to us - the miracle.

But given that as a basis for creating the gospel, Luke’s other thing that he does so well is tap into genuine human experiences. How many of you here are grandparents. Put up your hands. Yeah, in our parish that would be a lot of people. When your own children were born, there was great joy for you and your spouse and all of your relatives. But it’s not like the joy that people experience the first time they hold a grandchild. It’s very different. Isn’t it? You’re looking into the eyes of the future, and it’s your future. Now you know that everyone that you hold dear will continue into the future through this little tiny baby.

And Luke captures that in the story. You can just see him, this old man. It says he came into the temple. He wasn’t in there waiting. He came into the temple almost shoulder to shoulder with Mary and Joseph. An old man, not walking upright and proud, but stooped over and bent. He comes up to this couple carrying this baby. He motions to them to let him hold the baby. He has no authority to do that. He’s not one of the temple priests. But he holds the baby. He looks at the baby, and mutters this prayer, “Now you can dismiss me. Now I’m ready to go. My life has been fulfilled.” What a wonderful moment. And he expresses his joy and confidence, and proclaims that this baby is born for all. Then along comes Anna, equally elderly and stooped. And she’s also one of those people who has kept faith in an ancient promise. And she sees the baby, the mother and father, and she begins to tell everybody, “Guess what I saw today? Guess who I saw today?” It’s a wonderful human moment far beyond its religious message. It’s a wonderful human moment for both of those people, to see a continuation of a promise. Which brings me back to the question that my friends raised in the Christmas card, “Yeah, like you would forget.”

Do we remember the things that are most important? For many of us in this congregation, now is the time to be preparing to meet the Lord Jesus in a very different way from the way that Simeon and Anna met him. We’re going to meet him someday, sooner rather than later, as the all-powerful God of heaven and earth. Now is the time to take stock, and begin remembering, and say, “Now, now my life is complete. You can dismiss your servant.”

For those of us who are younger, anticipating a much longer life, to hear the message of Anna. She went out and she told everybody about this child. Remember the miracle. Remember the mi