Letting Go in Spiritual Renewal

Homily for Sunday, February 2, 2025
Feast of the Presentation
Malachi 3:1-4

The Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple…But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?  For… he will purify the descendants of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness.

Those with a good memory may recall that this morning’s lesson from Malachi was the Old Testament reading also for the Second Sunday of Advent back in December.  In Advent, the one to whom Malachi refers as “a refiner’s fire” and as “fuller’s soap,” who “will… purify the descendants of Levi… until they present offerings to the Lord in righteousness,” [in Advent,the one to whom Malachi refers] would seem to have been John the Baptist.  If this passage referred to the fiery prophet John the Baptist, it makes sense that Malachi would ask, “Who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?”  But today, on the Feast of the Presentation –the day on which we celebrate the “presenting” by Mary and Joseph of the infant Jesus in the Temple – [today] this same passage seems to suggest that it is Jesus who is the Lord “who will suddenly come to his temple,” that it is Jesus who “will purify the descendants of Levi.” While it may be easy to imagine how a prophet might purify the Temple, it seems a stretch that an infant, simply by being brought into the Temple, could purify it.

I want to get back to how an infant might be said to purify the Temple, but first some background on the prophet Malachi.  Malachi is thought to have been active in the second half of the fifth century, BCE, some seventy-five or 100 years after the completion of the reconstructed Jerusalem Temple.  The original fervor that the priests and worshippers had after the reconstruction of Temple by this time had begun to fade.  Malachi wrote to call the people back to faithfulness, so that – in the words of this morning’s reading – “the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days ofold and as in former years.”

Often a renewal movement such as Malachi hoped would happen is marked by a doubling down and trying harder.  For example, if we want to get in better shape, we might tell ourselves:  “I’m going to go to the gym six days a week, and I’m not going to eat desserts.”  But as we know, doubling down and trying harder often don’t work.  Perhaps we’ve noticed how the gym fills up in early January, and then by mid-February attendance returns to normal.  In the case of Malachi’s appeals for a renewed purity and righteousness in the Temple,his appeals seemed not to have worked, either, for a few years after Malachi,the priest Ezra also continued to urge the people to renewed purity and righteousness.  If we would find renewal,doubling down and trying harder often do not work.

The Feast of the Presentation that we celebrate today offers a different model for finding renewal, in particular a spiritual renewal.  That model is:  instead of doubling down and trying harder, try letting go.

Today’s Feast suggests at least three ways of letting go.  First,consider Jesus:  In this morning’s lesson, Jesus is a child, an infant who has not yet been exposed to the“shoulds,” “oughts,” and “supposed to’s” that for so many of us make up what we consider to be “religion.”  If we would find renewal in our relationship with God, maybe try letting go of those“shoulds,” “oughts” and “supposed to’s” in regards to God, and try to remember the relationship we had with God when you were a young child.  Who would you say God was for you when you were a child? What was your relationship with God like then?  As the child psychologist Robert Coles has suggested (in his book, The Spiritual Life of Children), children have an extremely rich spiritual life.  If we would find a renewed relationship with God, maybe try letting go of the “shoulds,”“oughts,” and “supposed to’s” and try to remember what your relationship with God was like when you were young.  My first memory as a child is also a spiritual one.  I remember sitting on the floor, in a warm spot in the sun in my parents’ living room in front of a stereo speaker, listening to my mother’s favorite classical music station.  I remember feeling safe, and I was drawn to the beauty of the music.  At this time, God was not at all about “shoulds,” “oughts,” and “supposed to’s’” but was rather a source of safety and beauty.

Second, consider Jesus’ parents, Mary and Joseph.  In today’s passage Jesus’ parents let him go into Simeon’s arms – “When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary under the law,Simeon took him in his arms and praised God.”   And in the verses following today’s lesson Jesus’ parents again let Jesus go, and again in the Temple:  “When he was twelve years old,” Luke writes, “they went up [to Jerusalem]… for the festival. When the festival was ended and they started to return, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents were unaware.”  Jesus’ parents let him go, assuming he was among relatives or friends.  Similarly for us, if we would find renewal in our life with God, maybe let our “child” go to where it wants to go.  What is the“temple” to which they are naturally drawn? Where does our “child” find renewal? I find that I am renewed at “play.” The liturgy for me is “play;” scripture for me is a form of “play;”swimming is “play;” yoga is “play.”  I am renewed when I can allow myself to go to these “temples” and “play.”

Lastly, consider Simeon.  When Simeon took up the infant Jesus in his arms, he praised God and said:  “Master,now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples.”  Having taken Jesus in his arms, Simeon let go, telling God he was now ready to die.  I wonder, if we would find spiritual renewal,as we allow ourselves to get in touch with the spiritual life we had as a child, as we as we like Mary and Joseph allow this child to seek out the“temple” to which it might be drawn; can we like Simeon, embrace this child,praise God, and let go?  I can’t say that I like Simeon am ready to die, for there’s still much I hope to do.  But, something I have let go of…  Unlike when I was younger, I’ve let go of wondering what it might be like to live in another place.  I’ve let go and am happy to “be here now” and to “bloom where planted.”  I am working on letting God use me here, now.

Today’s Feast of the Presentation is about spiritual renewal – Malachi calls for purifying and refining, so that our relationship with God can once again “be pleasing… as in the days of old and as in former years.” Although we might think upon reading Malachi that the renewal of our relationship with God is about doubling down and trying harder, today’s Feast,with Christ as an infant, with Mary and Joseph letting go, and with Simeon embracing Jesus and letting go, reminds us that, especially when it comes to spiritual renewal, doubling down and trying harder tend not to work.  Rather, if we can learn to let go and to let God guide us – if we can allow the Spirit to “carry” us into the “Temple” – God will indeed bring us to a place of renewal, a place where we can experience evermore fully the wonder of his love, the power of his healing, and the peace of his presence.