Presentation of our Lord (Luke 2:22-40)  2/02/2014

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Last Sunday we were called by Jesus to drop our nets and our daily entanglements and follow him – “I will make you fish for people,” promised Jesus. Later that same day, I read an interesting news story about a fisherman who spent his entire life fishing in the Mediterranean Sea.^[i] The man had died and left behind several pieces of pottery he had pulled from the sea. The relative who received these items called the Antiquities Authority to obtain guidance regarding the disposition of pottery retrieved from the sea that she thought might be a hundred years old. The experts arrived and after a careful inspection informed her the pottery ranged in age from 1000 to over 3000 years old, likely fished out of ship wrecks from the ancient past. All this talk of fishing starting me thinking of a memorable fishing story I experienced as a young boy during a summer trip to Maine with my grandfather and brother. After a full morning of pulling lobster pots, we gathered up our fishing gear and headed back to sea to try our luck fishing for dogfish. Now, other than a few trips to the local river fishing for brook trout, I really had no idea what I was doing and I had no idea what a dogfish even looked like. An hour of working our drop-line fishing gear proved to be completely disappointing, so we called it a day and started to bring in our lines. As I retrieved my line I began to feel a strong tug and I quickly become worried that I had hooked my line on some underwater growth. Everyone encouraged me to keep pulling, and with the assistance of my grandfather and his friend, the line slowly pulled a large grey object in to sight. And as I saw the three foot dogfish below the water I did the only reasonable thing anyone would do if you had never seen a dogfish before…I yelled “SHARK! There’s a SHARK in the water!” As I continued to yell “shark” and did everything in my power to not drop my line and lose the fish, everyone else in the boat found great joy in my terrified amazement.

This morning we hear in our Gospel lesson from Luke, “And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about Jesus.” (Luke 2:33) If last Sunday was about fishing for people, this week’s lesson is about being amazed at what that fishing will bring! In our lesson from Luke we hear the continuing story of the young newlyweds, Mary and Joseph. The purification rites we hear of in our lesson this morning would have occurred about one month after the birth of a male child, according to the law of Moses. And we must remember, Jesus was Mary and Joseph’s first baby! Just one month prior to the story we hear this morning, they were sleeping in a manger in Bethlehem. Since that time they have had many sleepless nights, countless diaper changes, and a journey to Jerusalem to reach the Temple; and now Simeon has some news for them, according to the word of God: “…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 glory to your people Israel.” And to Mary he added, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2:30-32, 34b-35)

Mary and Joseph were very good parents and devout Jews. They followed the laws of Moses and faithfully sought to do God’s will. Just a few verses earlier in Luke we hear Mary almost calmly accept the divine invitation of the angel Gabriel to give birth to Jesus, yet now Simeon’s words of prophecy usher in the reality of the powerful and life changing presence of God, as given to us in Jesus Christ. Mary and Joseph were amazed because they were blessed with open hearts and minds, blessed to comprehend Simeon’s prophecy; a prophecy of a challenging yet joyful future with God. Jesus would become “the light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel,” as Simeon proclaimed, and he would also become “a sign that would be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many would be revealed.” Fred Craddock, a biblical scholar and author, describes Simeon’s prophecy of Jesus’ arrival in this way: “Israel’s consolation and the salvation of Gentiles will not be without great cost. Jesus will bring truth to light and in so doing throw all who come in contact with him into a crisis of decision. In that decision, rising and falling, life and death, result. Jesus precipitates the centrally important movement of one’s life, toward or away from God.”^[ii] Craddock captures the essence of the movement of one’s life resulting from our response to God, our response to our experience of fishing for people.

I am not an experienced fisherman. Other than a brief attempt of trying to achieve my fishing merit badge I never really took up the sport after my memorable dogfish experience. However, like you, I have heard many fishing stories…and nearly all of those great fishing stories end with the same question: did you keep the fish or throw it back? If you throw the fish back into the water, the catch was done for the sport of it, the momentary experience of successfully catching something of great value. If you keep the fish, the catch was done for a purpose and that decision, that purpose can be life-changing for everyone, especially the fish! In either case, once the catch has been made a decision must follow, even if we don’t catch what we expected, what we had hoped to catch. Something made the fisherman keep the ancient pieces of pottery, even when he expected to find fish. Something must have been very special about those pieces of pottery. Simeon speaks to us this morning and tells us we have a decision to make as we fish for people. Will you put down your worldly nets and entanglements and follow Jesus? When you cast your nets and catch the unexpected and rich diversity of God’s people, will you embrace them and keep them in your care, or will you throw them back? AMEN.