Another Christmas Eve, another running commentary of a Scripture passage. Today we’re finishing the passage we started to look at on Sunday, from Luke 2 starting in v. 22. I’ll read and you follow:
22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”
33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
In this passage we hear Simeon outline who Jesus was…is. What He is for. For reasons that’ll become clear, we’ll go backwards through the passage.
I’m not sure why Simeon addresses himself to Mary and not to Joseph and Mary. Poor Joseph – always a background figure! We’ll hope he was ok with that. Behold this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel. God had given Jesus a vocation of being a wrecking ball – in the wake of and as a result of his ministry the Temple and the priesthood (including the High Priest) and most of the Sanhedrin authority collapsed. And the Jewish figures from the first century we do remember – who rose through Jesus – are the same featured on “The Chosen” – John, Peter, Matthew, etc.
And what happened in Israel in the first century would be repeated many times since then in other settings: the Spirit of Jesus comes bearing the message of Jesus into a nation… and it’s only a matter of time before the political powers that be are undone and something new takes its place. Which explains why Christianity is often vigorously opposed.
If this happened in Israel and continues to happen on a societal level, of course it happens on an individual level. Jesus will be a watershed – after individuals engage him they won’t, they can’t, remain the same: either they fall or rise. That they’re rising and falling might not immediately be evident, but the trajectory of falling or rising is underway. And often several…many are taken down or raised up with them. Especially family members.
Simeon tells Mary the gloomy news that Jesus will face opposition. I assume that no mother wants her son to enter struggles but would prefer he go from success to success…as long as he stays grounded and humble. But Mary will watch Jesus grow up knowing that one of the main facts about him is that he’ll be controversial.
And sure enough, Jesus was controversial. To say the least.
It’d be easier to say that He was controversial even though He kept His head down and tried to avoid altercations. But honesty forces us to admit that He said provocative things he didn’t have to. He was a speaker of hard things that were bound to be resisted. His words were often frustratingly confusing. Sometimes they crossed the border into weirdness. He even said, I have not come to bring peace but a sword.
If Jesus is the Prince of Peace – and He is – that peace will come only after disturbance, controversy, even violence.
And even unto today, those who come to Jesus to gain peace, but want peace on their own terms and demand a certain peace vibe – will only become part of the opposition to Jesus… Jesus whom Moses proleptically called a “Man of War.”
Another detail here: Simeon says Jesus is a sign that is opposed. Meaning, He is not just a thing in himself but is Someone to look through to something else. Look to Jesus the sign and He directs you to all of Heaven, the Triune Source of all things. Jesus is the True Gate between Heaven and Earth.
Which means…you’re never just dealing with Jesus. When you come to Jesus, whatever you decide to do with Him, you’ve entered the heart of the ancient opposition between darkness and light. The enmity between the seed of the Woman and the seed of the serpent always centers on Him.
All that to say when people oppose the sign of Jesus – even when that opposition takes the form of apathy: a shrug of the shoulders – I just don’t get it… they’ve entered the thick of the revolt against the Creator. You’re never just dealing with Jesus, but with reality and the Personal Source of reality titled God.
While speaking of opposition that Jesus will face, Simeon doesn’t shy from the fact that the suffering will spill onto Mary, a sword will pierce through your own soul. “Your own soul” would be the opposite of a glancing blow and superficial pain. Whatever joy Mary will experience because of giving birth to a great son, this mother also has deep pain coming her way. Could we reduce this to a formula – the closer to Jesus someone is, the more pain they’ll likely experience.? Jesus’ arrival unleashes a whole new category of pain into the world: we can call it the with-Jesus or in-Christ pain.
Thoughts from many hearts will be revealed. As people and peoples react to Jesus, choosing to align with or oppose Him, in this choice about Jesus entering into a peace or staying at war with Heaven – – yes, as people react to Jesus their inner identity, their inward thoughts, their true self is being revealed. Who you are before Jesus is who you are.
In opposing Jesus, people show themselves to be fundamentally a dull sluggard OR a calculating politico that is going after comfort or vainglory OR a coward that will eventually choose self-protection as the highest good. These opposers will end up undistinguished, insubstantial, being blown away as chaff, not recognized by God
Or…alternatively – those who respond favorably to this One-Once-a-Baby-at-the-Temple – – they show themselves at heart to be those who by patience in well-doing are seeking for glory and honor and immortality…recipients of eternal life. They will be given a name that only Jesus and they know.
In Jesus everyone receives his final identity.
Glory to God’s people, Israel. Not to get in the weeds, but there are two ways of understanding “glory.” One is ‘weightiness.’ Taken this way you could say that just like George Washington, Abe Lincoln, Babe Ruth, are a credit to America, they give substance to America, indeed America having produced them are even justification for America’s existence…so Jesus the Christ is the glory of Israel. Whatever you want to say against Israel can be trumped by saying ‘from her came the Christ.’ Jesus is the glory of Israel, and that’s a glory that can’t be topped.
But also, “glory” means ‘shining forth.’ An object’s radiance. The ultimate, eminent expression of something. And this is also the case – Jesus is what Israel was for. The fulfillment of God choosing Israel and giving her a unique vocation among all the peoples of the world, is Jesus. When the Broncos hold up the Lombardi Trophy in February, that’ll be the culmination of an entire season of ups and downs, wind sprints, hitting it in the weight room, ugly press conferences, last second wins, players hashing things out – all the story of struggle and stuff was going to that moment of hoisting the trophy. That’s the glory of the season. So with Israel – everything they’d gone through – the centuries of grace and blessings judgment and calamity – Jesus was the radiant end of all that!
A fictional analogy: next year this country will be 250 years old. Think over scenes and myths and lore and personages of American history: soldiers suffering at winter at Valley Forge; George Washington’s felled cherry tree; Constitutional Convention; “a republic, if you can keep it”; Abe Lincoln speaking at Gettysburg; pioneers settling the west; Cowboys and Indians; Henry Ford building his car; the Vanderbilts and Carnegies; 4th of July summer parades; autumn in New England; soldiers storming Normandy Beach; Malcom X; Jimmy Stewart; Carl Lewis; apple pie – – we could keep going. Now, imagine that these 250 years of persons and events and stereotypes were all for something, that even though they were important in themselves they were mainly pointers to SOMEONE WHO WAS TO COME. And then He arrives, and now you think man I never understood New York City or Louis Armstrong or the Bill of Rights or sunsets over the Rocky Mountains… until He arrived.
But now, stretch that 250 years into 1500 years of personages and events and writings. Add in the highly important, totally unique fact that the Creator God endorsed and attached Himself and His guidance to those 1500 years until the One who was to come would arrive… and wow! We can’t take this Israelite too seriously!
Before that, Simeon said that the arrival of this Baby isn’t only a Jewish highlight but will make a difference for the globe at large. Jesus is a light for revelation to the Gentiles. Before Jesus there was no light or dim light… or at least dimmer than it was after. Jesus brings knowledge that before his arrival the world didn’t possess. Light has come and with light the possibility of life.
That this world has been shaped by Jesus would be a big understatement. I was thinking about this last week as I looked around the living room: some in my family were reading and there was a tree with lights on it and music was coming through the speakers and from the warmth of our furnace heated Colonial house we Germans and French-English looked out into the peaceful neighborhood and thought certain thoughts… And I was thinking – man, Jesus’s coming has shaped every bit of this. His light has lit up our lives, some of that literally lit up, since Christianity was such a huge factor in the scientific revolution. We could go through all those piece by piece to make the point.
But let’s just stick with this scene at the Temple: As Simeon stares down at the face of Baby Jesus, what does just the presence of that Baby reveal to those who had never been in covenant with God? How is Jesus even as a baby before he said a word or healed anyone already a light to the Gentiles? What is Jesus communicating?
- He’s there from God: God is not done with the world
- God sent Him: The world needs God to act
- God sent a creature: Matter isn’t the problem
- God sent a human: Humans are the key to the entire creation and will be key to the creation’s salvation from death.
- God sent a human without a father: God is starting over with Adam 2.0
- God sent a baby: Weakness is ok. Strength sometimes not as it seems.
- That Baby is God’s salvation: Salvation is not a feeling felt. A technique taught. A lesson learned. A quest accomplished. Salvation is an embryo that developed and came out of the birth canal – born a baby boy. Who in eating his meals and getting sunlight and exercise grew in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man. A teenager. A young adult. A man. Salvation is a human. Salvation is God. Salvation is Jesus, the God-human. Living. Dying. Buried. Rising from the dead. Ascended to the Father’s right hand. His Father fulfilling promises to Him.
- I can’t get my mind around this: There’s a great mystery at the heart of salvation evidenced by a (presumably) old man holding up the Creator of arms and branches and spiral nebulae.
Jesus is God’s salvation that He has prepared in the presence of all peoples. “Peoples” is how the Scripture refers to the different families, tribes, ethnic groups, nations. Jesus arrived to the peoples at a fortuitous time to become widely known. The known world had been brought together through the superpower, Rome. There was a common language that united much of the empire, Greek. There were roadways that joined parts of the empire. A common legal system. And there were Jewish people scattered throughout the empire who read from their Torah about a coming restoration that would come through Messiah. Wherever they were they provided the background story to understand Jesus’ appearing.
But there weren’t only human reporters and mundane channels to announce Jesus’ birth. We know from Christmas passages, both kings and commoners, Jews and Gentiles were told that Christ was born via announcements from the Heavens.
So, though the actual arrival of Jesus was humble…obscured – in a bigger picture the coming of Jesus was the opposite of unprepared and unheralded. So, we shouldn’t say – how lucky it was that Jesus was born after Hellenization and in the heart of the Roman Empire with a globalized culture with all those roads etc. Rather we should say – all of human history before and after Jesus has been guided by God for the sake of Jesus and His Spirit going into all the world with salvation!
When Simeon lifts up and holds Jesus, staring into the pudgy, grave face, his first thoughts went toward himself. Now I’m ready to go. Lord now you are letting your servant depart. I’ve seen the One I waited for, my mission is ended, and I can die now.
I wanted to end where Simeon started. Simeon will talk up Jesus so as to make Him – no exaggeration – the central figure in the annals of common human history and salvation history. And it is indeed spectacular and fun that Simeon will not fail to recognize the import of Jesus even as he sees Him a hapless, cooing baby.
But what I like about this is that for Simeon Jesus isn’t just a great political personage who will change the structures and outlook of the world. But the first thing is: in seeing Jesus, Simeon – that man, that sinner, is ready to die. And not ready to die simply because the promise to him from God had been fulfilled, but because through Jesus it is now safe to die.
Jesus is more than a Savior of individuals, but He is indeed a Savior of individuals. The Scriptures had trumpeted in all kinds of ways: our lifetimes are short. For some in here this could be your final Christmas. It is scary that we’re all going to die and give an account to God of our fruitfulness and the tending of our thoughts and loyalties and overall reflecting His image. It is especially worrisome in that no one realizes the darkness and twistedness of our souls better than our own selves, yet also no one other than ourselves feels the physical aches and general weakness that heralds an overall decline. We know we are declining and we know that in ourselves we’re not ready to meet God the consuming fire.
Christ Jesus came to save sinners [Paul said], – – we could add, sinners who are in the process of dying – – of whom I am the foremost. United by faith into Jesus Christ, we are each of us ready to depart, whenever the Lord of life and death summons us.
This Christmas: Believe on the name of Jesus Christ and you will be safe.
We come to the table to the Lord Jesus Christ. This is His table signifying saving union with Him – if you are a baptized Christian accountable to a local church, you are invited to eat the Bread which is the His body and drink the cup which is the new covenant in his blood… even if you’re not a member of this church.
In eating at this table you are taking into yourself Christ Jesus… as a fellow member among others of His church who are eating and drinking beside you. It’s a time of gratitude for our salvation, a time of communion where we appreciate one another’s fellowship in Christ, a time to remember the Lord’s death for us.
Leave a Reply