Epicurious Lutheran

Sermon from the the third Sunday after Epiphany – January 26, 2025, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – Buffalo, NY .

Sermon Video | 8:30am and 10:30am Worship Services

Sermon Text | Luke 2:22-40

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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The reading from Luke 2 is kind of jarring.

Hearing about baby Jesus might have surprised you. Christmas was a month ago. Our trees and decorations have been down for weeks. Over the last few Sunday, we have been talking about the 30-year-old adult Jesus … and now we’re back to Jesus as a baby.

This jumping around in time can be disorienting.

The Gospel reading takes us to a moment in the scriptures when Mary and Joseph bring a very young Jesus to the temple to do what is required in the Law of Moses. The Law said that they were to present Jesus in the temple as they offered a burnt offering and a sin offering as part of Mary’s “blood purification.”

While such requirements seem out of the ordinary or even extreme to us (because our modern faith does not ask us to do these things), it was all very normal for them. Mary grew up with these rules and this understanding of life and faith. So, for her, everything was expected and everything was going according to plan.

It had to have been quite jarring for Mary and Joseph when, in the course of doing what was normal and expected, a devout man named Simeon approached them. The Bible tells us that he was guided by the Holy Spirit. But how was it that Simeon knew to go to that family? There might have been several young families also doing what was required in the Law of Moses. How was Simeon that he knew Jesus was the promised messiah? Jesus was just a baby! How un-ordinary was it for Simeon to take Jesus in his arms and praise God … how jarring was it for him to say that this child would be “a light for revelation [or epiphany] to the nations”? The nations are those people beyond just Israel. How jarring was it for Simeon to tell Mary that “this child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel … and [that] a sword will pierce [her]own soul too” (Luke 4:34-35).

How jarring was it for Mary and Joseph to then encounter the prophet Anna (side note – while not much is said about female prophets in the Bible, they existed!). Anna devoted her life to prayer and fasting, and, when she saw Jesus and his family she praised God and spoke to everyone about this child.

These moments must have brought Mary and Joseph back to earlier jarring moments such as when the angel came to Mary telling her that she would have a child from the Holy Spirit. Then the jarring news when the angel appeared to Joseph, and the jarring experience when Mary and Elizabeth met and the child within Elizabeth leapt in her womb.

What do all of these stories have in common? It is that the truth of who Jesus is and what God was doing was revealed through even these jarring moments.

Thinking about our time, how often do our lives go according to plan?

Or perhaps a better question is, how often do we have jarring experiences that change the course of what we expected?

A lot has been jarring in January 2025. Doesn’t it seem that there’s one news story after another after another that is jarring and overwhelming? News of the wildfires in California, the sudden and numerous orders of the new administration, the collision of an army helicopter and a passenger plane in DC, the crash of a medical plane in Philly … these are only a few of the headlines! Then there is so much jarring in many of the Holy Trinity congregants’ personal experiences – some of which you’ve shared with me – that never make the news.

You may know that I watch news from a variety of sources, and it often feels like I’m hearing descriptions of totally different events. It is often confusing, disorienting, and dizzying as I feel my attention drawn to look one way and then the other. I’m left wondering … “what’s real?” … “what’s true?”

Just when I get a chance to look more deeply into one event or one news story, something else jarring happens that demands our time and attention.

How do we deal with this as people of faith?

Have you seen ballet dancers do those amazing spins … pirouettes? How do their bodies move in such a way and the spinning doesn’t make them dizzy and cause them to fall? Ballet dancers use a tool called “spotting.” They use spotting to help them focus on a specific point so that, while everything else is in motion, even their head! … they are able to focus, maintain balance, and orientation.

Pastor Rich frequently talks with us about the need to slow down and experience sabbath. In fact, he posts a Sabbath Pause on Facebook (#HTPauses).

Sabbath reminds us to slow down and renew our focus … our spiritual spotting.

In our sabbath spaces … even in the midst of chaos and all that is jarring … can we, like Simeon, allow our own eyes to focus on the work of the Holy Spirit among us? Can we use spiritual spotting to focus our eyes on Jesus and what is being revealed to us?

This week is bound to be filled with more news and personal matters that clamor for your attention. In the midst of all that is routine and jarring, how can you experience a daily sabbath that allows you to do spiritual spotting such that Jesus is your point of focus? 

I pray that the love of Jesus would continue to be made known to and through you in personal and profound ways as, together, we live as people who do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with our God (Micah 6:8).

In the name of Jesus. Amen!