The Presentation of Our Lord and the Purification of the Virgin Mary, 2025
Text: Luke 2:22-32
Title: Now
+ INI +
“Now.”
This is the first word out of Simeon’s mouth that 40th day in the temple, as he takes up baby Jesus in his arms and blesses God.
“Now.”
Not some time in the future. Not in a year, a month, or even a day yet to come.
“Now.” The time is now.
The people of Israel had been waiting for centuries, Simeon had been waiting his whole life for this moment. And now it had finally come.
Simeon had been waiting for Israel to be consoled, to be comforted.
Over 700 years prior, the prophet Isaiah had spoken these words,
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
2 Speak tenderly to Jerusalem,
and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins.
The people of Israel needed to be comforted, to be consoled.
The people of Israel had been through exile in Babylon and back.
They had been ruled, oppressed by the Persians, the Greeks, and now the Romans.
But that was not their biggest problem. And it is not yours.
Your biggest problem is not some external enemy, some political force arrayed against you.
Your biggest problem is your guilt, your iniquity.
And so, Isaiah promises comfort to the people when their iniquity is pardoned.
This is the consolation that Simeon is waiting for.
Do you know what it feels like to have a guilty conscience?
Do you know the agony that comes when you are face to face with your sin and you know there is no way out, no way that you can talk your way out, argue your way out, hide, excuse or otherwise find a way out from under your sin?
Do you know the hopelessness that comes when you realize that you can’t fix your life and make everything right?
When you reach the point of despair, Jesus comes to console you, to comfort you, to give you pardon and peace.
Simeon experienced that consolation, that peace “Now.”
Even though Jesus has yet to suffer and die, even though Jesus has yet to rise from the dead and ascend back to heaven, holding Jesus in his arms is enough for Simeon. Simeon knows and trusts that Jesus will bear His sins.
How much more, then has that pardon and peace come to you, you who have the full gospel message, who know what this Jesus did in the rest of His life beyond those first 40 days.
Week after week you sing Simeon’s song, “Lord now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.”
You sing that song after receiving Jesus, just as Simeon did. You sing, “Now let me depart in peace.”
“Depart” doesn’t just mean leaving this building, and heading home to eat lunch, watch football, take a nap, or whatever else you do on a Sunday afternoon.
“Depart” means to depart this life, to die.
Simeon says that he is ready to die. Now.
How about you? Are you ready to die now? Today? Within the next hour?
Or would you rather have just a little more time? A little more time to cross a few things off your bucket list, take that trip you’ve been wanting to take? A little more time to spend with your friends and family? A little more time to get your affairs in order and say good-bye? Are you ready now?
But Simeon says, “Now.” And you sing, “Now.”
You don’t sing, “Lord, lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace in a few more years, when I have some time to prepare and get ready.” You sing, “now.”
I know that death is scary. And even lifelong, faithful Christians might have some worries or fears when their last hour comes.
But you can die in peace, whenever your “now” moment comes, because Jesus has carried your guilt to the cross and died for it there, because you have been baptized into that death and resurrection, and because you have received His body and blood given and shed for you.
There are two ways to die.
You can die hanging on to this life and trying to get as much out of it as you can because you think that this is all there is. If that is the case, you will die in fear and regret.
Or you can die looking forward to the joy and peace of heaven.
That’s what it truly means to depart in peace.
To depart in peace means more than just being able to say, “I’ve had a good life, I’ve done my best, and I feel a sense of accomplishment.”
To depart in peace means more than just being able to say, “I’ve been suffering for a long time now, and I’m ready to be done with all this pain and sorrow.”
To depart in peace means being able to say, “Jesus has taken away my guilt. Everything is right between me and God. I know that He will welcome me home with open arms, and what awaits me in His presence cannot be compared with anything that I’ve ever experienced.”
And when You can say that, you are ready to depart, you are ready to die now.
On January 15, Dick, Nancy, and I sung Simeon’s song at Dolores’s bedside. She was not able to join in with us that time, but we had sung it together many times before. The Nunc Dimittis is one of the last parts of the Commendation of the Dying, that special prayer service that is prayed with faithful Christians when their life is nearing its end.
That “Now” becomes a bit more powerful when your time left is measured in hours or maybe days, and not in years.
And that’s not only difficult for those who are dying, but for those who love them dearly and don’t want them to go.
Your natural reaction will be to hold onto your loved one as long as possible, or even to live in denial of death. “Oh Grandpa, don’t talk like that.” “You’ll outlive us all,” you say. “Let’s not talk about it.”
But as Christians, we don’t need to fear death. Jesus’ resurrection broke the power of death once and for all. For us, death is just a short slumber until Jesus returns to awake us to the untold joys of everlasting life.
And even if death separates you from your loved ones for a time, it won’t be forever if we die in Christ. Jesus was apart from His disciples and friends for a short time when He rested in the tomb. But He rose from the dead on Easter and appeared to them in the moments of grief to give them true comfort.
What were Jesus’ first words to the disciples in the upper room? “Peace be with you.”
And so we continue to sing Simeon’s song in the face of death itself. Yesterday morning, you sang that song here at Dolores’s funeral. And our family spoke that song at Faith Lutheran Church in Avon, Ohio at the funeral of Amberleigh’s grandmother, Doris.
We sing the Nunc Dimittis at funerals not only as recognition that our loved ones have departed in peace, we sing the Nunc Dimittis at funerals as a way of saying, “I’m ready to go, too.” “You can take me now, Lord.” “Let me depart in peace.” “Now.”
“For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation,
Which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people,
A light to lighten the Gentiles,
And the glory of Thy people Israel.”
Simeon saw that light in the face of Jesus. So did Dolores. So did Doris. So did all the saints who have gone before us.
And so we join them in singing. “Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace.” “Now.”
+ INI +