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S. Epiphany 4.25 Luke 2:22-40

Now you release your servant, Master, according to your word, in peace…

Which is what the Greek actually says. And I know no one will thank me for correcting this for you. Sorry! I know we all have the Common Service version of the Nunc Dimittis in our heads and no one loves the old liturgy and its language more than I do, but, sadly Cranmer’s version from 1549, lovely though it is, isn’t what the Greek actually says. Cranmer was also a Calvinist. Just sayin’— his version ain’t exactly… sacred.

I was a lifeguard through high school and college years at an inner-city YMCA pool. Few of the neighborhood kids could swim—my boss being too cheap to have free neighborhood swim clinics (and saying I was a socialist for suggesting it 😉 and also too cheap to assign more than 1 guard for open swim with 20-40 kids.

So, I spent many Saturday afternoons pulling kids out of the pool, 2-5 rescues on average per session. It kept boredom at bay, so I really didn’t mind. But one afternoon, while I was pulling one kid out of the shallow end, another little kid ended up on the bottom of the deep end. This, BTW, was how I got good at the running dive into the pool which, honestly, does look cool. It won’t surprise you to learn I don’t hate an excuse for violating the “no running on deck” rule 😉 Anyway, I hauled the kid up, sputtering, coughing a bit, shaken not stirred, but… fine.

A couple days later, walking in to work I heard a voice: “That’s the guy, the guy that saved me!” Another voice, “Saved ‘chu from what?”… “From drownin’!”

And that well illustrates the problem with Cranmer’s translation of Simeon’s canticle. When we’re talking about salvation, it’s important to know from WHAT exactly we’re being saved. And Cranmer makes it sound like God is saving us from “sudden and evil death”, or at least from the fear of that.

But… no. Well, not exactly. See, Xnity is actually designed to KILL you! An unwelcome, “inconvenient truth” 😉 when Jesus first sprung it on the 12 apostles who weren’t exactly jiggy about it, either, especially when he added that most of their deaths would be gruesome, slow, brutal—just like his crucifixion. Thanks, Jesus!

So, if baby Jesus isn’t saving Simeon from “sudden, evil death”, we find ourselves in the position of the little boy asking the sensible question: “Saved ‘chu from what?”

And the answer is: from SIN!

The Greek απολυεις is not “depart”. Really, not even close to that. It’s release, literally to “loose from a burden”. It is the word frequently deployed in the NT for forgiveness or remission of sin. Because: the FORGIVENESS OF SIN is what all scriptures promise the chief gift Jesus gives actually is!

Having been at this pastor gig a while, I find that many people are often disappointed with actual Xnity. It’s not what most think they signed up for—certainly not what the big box churches advertise! Most wander into it looking for remedies from sickness, poverty, and (especially!) death. And then, when all those things happen—worser, when being a Xn increases the frequency of experiencing that shtuff, they feel like they’ve been duped or swindled, and drop Xnity like a bad drug habit and become… grumpy!

My swim buddy Michael, after finally becoming convinced that I really am a pastor, asked me one day: “So, why should I be a Xn?” I told him, “Well, I’m not sure you should! I mean, you could end up like me! You’re a nice guy, with a very prosperous, healthy, comfortable life. Xnity doesn’t really help at all with that. I don’t think it’s gonna be your jam. But, if your life ever gets miserable, totally unbearable, then we could talk…” This only made him ask more questions, sadly. He also seems to be joining a church, but it’s just for a tuition discount for Catholic School, so I’m not too concerned that I’ve corrupted Michael… yet 😉

Remember kids, what mom told you about making good friend choices!

Anyway, seeing baby Jesus, getting to hold him, Simeon—just and devout as he is :-)—starts praising God—but, not for a peaceful departure from this vale of tears, nah, not really. He’s confessing that this child is the promised release from the burden of SIN—as promised in God’s Word, a promise that gives peace—though not as the world gives…

Everybody thinks Simeon is an old man because when the ‘Lord’ (it’s not ‘Lord’ but Master, BTW—despot in Greek!) has him “departing in peace”, it sounds like he’s “got a peaceful, easy feeling”, maybe skipping death, going straight to heaven like Elijah. But nothing says that Simeon is old or near the End. I think we think that because Anna’s old, and the world thinks Xnity is best suited for oldsters.

Simeon’s song isn’t the Eagles. It’s Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released” [from SIN!] Now; sin, death, and hell are closely connected. But; if Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of life after they sinned, they would have avoided death, it’s true, but not hell. God barred the way to Eden’s tree of life because it would only have made them live forever as sinners estranged from God and his heaven. And that’s the devil’s lot. That’s… HELL!

And HELL, Jesus tells his disciples, is the only thing we really should fear!—death ain’t nothin’ but a thang. But hell, the eternal burning separation from God, is the bad thing Jesus comes to fix. And sin is the cause of hell.

Now, if we’d never sinned, we would never die, never live anywhere but in heaven with God. Death is the wage sin pays out. But, it’s like the programmer’s back door, a feature disguised as a bug! Death wipes us out, body and soul, so the hard drive can be re-initialized without the software glitch of sin.

Trying to avoid death is a bad move for sinners. Short-term, seems like a good idea, but long-term, it’s no bueno! It’d lock you into hell eternally. And really, no one wants that…

But, when sin is forgiven—as it is by the word an sacraments of Jesus, by becoming one body with him—just by touching him as Simeon, the Virgin Mary, and the woman with the flow of blood both did, our sin is swallowed up by Christ’s redeeming blood, and just as death could not hold our LORD (who did die and spend 3 days in the pit) so death cannot hold us—once sin is forgiven. Then, heaven envelopes us with Jesus and his love.

One clarification… Simeon is not saved from death, but he is saved by sharing Jesus’ death. The devil wants you to see death as the end of you, when, actually: dying with Jesus only ends the sin in you.

That’s why even Mary’s soul gets pierced with a sword(!)—because the old Adam in her must die, too—if she is to live eternally in heaven with Jesus. And, holding Jesus in his arms, Simeon feels the sin fleeing away, figures: “if death just completes that process, well… bring it, Jesus!”

Just so, Peace, surpassing all understanding, guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.