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Christmas 1 - 2001
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for this morning is from Luke 2, with focus on the words of Simeon, Lord, now let your servant depart in peace.
Saint Paul wrote in Galatians chapter four, when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. It’s all about timing. The timing of the coming of the Son of God is nothing short of a miracle. At just the right time, Christ comes to save the ungodly, you and me.
The timing was just right. So many things in life really come down to timing. In a football game, if a throw is off by a fraction of a second, the game can be lost. You cook a Christmas cookie a little too long or not quite long enough, and the thing can be ruined. Or a fruit that is pulled off the tree too early is hard or too late is gross. It is all about timing. So it is that everything was ripe for the coming of the Son of God. And the picture before us today is one of the most vivid pictures in Jesus’ young life.
There are certain things in each culture which we do when a child is born. It used to be here in America, that the father would give out cigars with either pink or blue ribbons when a child is born. I think now it is more often chocolate than real cigars. In some cultures, there is a formal presentation of the child to the community. In some ways, we can sort of make Holy Baptism into this sort of ritual which we do. Oftentimes sadly enough it may not even mean that much to the parents. It’s just something they do. But these things we do, whether by habit or by faith, also show again how much a child’s birth is about timing.
There was a ritual in Jesus’ day that was prescribed by the Law of God. 40 days after a male child was born, he was to be presented in the Temple in Jerusalem, and two turtledoves were to be sacrificed on the Altar for the child’s purification. It is called the Presentation. So this is our scene. Mary and Joseph bring Jesus, not yet six weeks old, to the Temple in Jerusalem for His presentation before the Lord.
This Temple, though, is not just like a big church. It is a huge building, over 17 acres, with walls a hundred feet think. It was actually the third Temple, and was built by Herod the Great, the one who tried to have Jesus killed in Bethlehem. It was the pride and marvel of all Israel, and people came hundreds of miles to see Herod’s great temple. It wasn’t Solomon’s Temple, and there was much that was unusual about it, but it was truly one of the wonders of the ancient world.
For the Jew, though, it wasn’t just the architecture that was so fantastic. It was the fact that God Himself promised that He would dwell in the Temple. This was God’s house. To the Jew, if you asked Him where to find God, He would point to Jerusalem and the Temple. This was the holiest place in all the earth, for there God’s name dwelt, and His glory filled it.
So imagine if you will the picture before us. Joseph and Mary bring the baby Jesus to the Temple, to God’s house. While they are there, an old man named Simeon comes to meet them. He has waited his whole life for the consolation of Israel, and it was revealed to Him by the Holy Spirit that he would not taste death until He had seen the Lord’s Christ, God’s promised Messiah. And so he waited, and waited, and waited, until the time was just right for the coming of the Son of God in the flesh.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph are on the steps of the Temple, one of the grandest buildings of all time, which was where God promised to dwell. This old man takes the young Jesus into his arms and sings:
"Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel."
In the midst of all that gold and glitter and glory, God’s presence was now contained in this little baby. My eyes have seen your salvation, Simeon cried out. Not in the wonder and majesty of the building, but in a little baby, asleep in his arms. The earthly Temple built with hands had served its purpose. Now God would dwell in His Temple not built with hands. Now God dwelled in the person of Jesus Christ.
This, my friends, is the miracle of what we call the Incarnation. God takes on human form. The majesty and splendor of the creator of the universe is hidden in, well, is hidden in the most ordinary of things. For what could be more ordinary, more normal than a baby? Who could be afraid of a infant nursing at his mother’s side?
This is the fullness of time. This is how the almighty God and creator of the world wants us to see and know Him. He does not want you to fear Him or to wonder in awe at His might and power. No, He wants you to sit Him on your lap and make Him a part of your family, a part of your very life. This is why Saint Paul writes again in Galatians: And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
He wants you to call Him Father, because you are His child, and He has sent His Son, our brother Jesus Christ, to come into the world to save us from our sins. Do not be afraid. For this little child, who looks so ordinary and low and humble, this little child will bring about the salvation of the whole world.
That is the miracle of the Incarnation which Simeon held in his arms. And that is the miracle which you hold in your mouth at the Lord’s Supper. Christ our Lord continues to come to you in the ordinary and humble things of the earth. Word, water, bread and wine are His vessels. But like Simeon so many years ago, God’s salvation, indeed His very glory is contained in these humble gifts.
Christ our Lord wants you to believe in Him and trust that He will give you all that you need, both for this life and for the next. We pray in the Lord’s prayer that He would give us this day our daily bread AND that He would deliver us from evil. He will take care of you. The One who comes down to earth as a little child will bring you up to heaven with Him. He is for you.
God’s glory, His wonderful forgiving presence, is to be found in that little Babe, Jesus Christ the Righteous one. It doesn’t make sense to our eyes. We cannot comprehend how all of God’s mighty and power can reside in the most helpless of infants. But it is true. And that is the miracle which we receive Sunday after Sunday in His Holy Supper. Trust in His Word and Sacrament for your life. For in Him you have nothing to fear. And when your last hour has come, by faith in this little one in Mary’s arms, you may depart in peace. Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.
This page was created on 01/10/2007 and last edited on: 01/10/2007