Christmas
1 – Luke 2 – December 30th, 2012
In the Name of Christ the New Born King +
For this Boy Jesus, for this little Child to be our Savior,
there are some things that must be done.
You see, this infant, while indeed True God, Light of Light, Very God of
Very God – is also true Man – born to a Jewish mother – indeed born under the
law. And as a Man under the law, He is
obligated to fulfill it. You and I, we
fail at fulfilling the Law, so this child Jesus must and will succeed at
fulfilling God’s Law, fulfilling it perfectly in our stead. And moreover, as He was born a Jew, He must
fulfill the Ceremonial Law of the Old Testament. And so, 40 days after His birth, which is the
time given in the Law of Moses, Mary and Joseph take little Jesus to the temple
in Jerusalem to offer up the appropriate sacrifice for a first born son – a
pair of turtledoves – the poor man’s offering.
And already Jesus is on the way to fulfilling His duty and mission to be
our Savior.
But there in the temple, something happens – a beautiful,
wonderful event – so wonderful and beautiful that we will sing it again today
in just a few moments. There was an old
man named Simeon, an old fellow who lived in Jerusalem.
And somehow the Holy Spirit had revealed to this pious old man that he
would not die, he would not see death until he saw the promised Messiah – the
Messiah who would be the consolation of Israel.
Can you think what it would be like?
Oh, there is old, faithful Simeon, just waiting, and waiting, and
waiting for the Messiah. Would that we
believed the Word as he did and show such diligence as he! But at any rate, as Jesus and Mary and Joseph
are at the temple, Simeon comes up, and he sees Jesus, he sees this Child – and
he takes Him up in his old aged arms, takes Him out of Mary’s hands into his
own and starts giving thanks to God, blesses God, extols God and sings His
praises – uses words which are familiar to us all – Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to
Your Word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation that You have prepared in the
presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory
to Your people Israel. We know
these words – they are the Nunc Dimittis – Latin for “Now Let Depart” the first
phrase of this in Latin. We sing them,
even to this day, after communion.
Let’s ponder them this morning, for they teach us much, and
we learn much from them. Lord, now You are letting Your servant
depart in peace, according to Your Word. Such an interesting reaction. I can die now. That’s what he’s saying – when he uses the
phrase “depart in peace” he’s not asking that he not get too rough a pat down
at the airport when he takes trip to Hawaii – Simeon is saying, “Alright Lord,
I can die now – you can take me, I can depart this life in peace.” Is that not a marvelous faith, a wonder to
think on and behold. To be that
confident, to be that sure – I can die now.
That is a wonderful gift – Simeon has no more fear. Now, the world likes to keep us full of
doubt, full of fear – oh no, what will the future hold!? The world thrives on fear – 2012 was the year
of fear. Fear of the end of the world,
fear of guns, fear of one political party over another, fear of this and
that. Every night on the news there was
something new that we needed to be afraid of.
Fear sells. Fear keeps you on the
edge of your seat so you don’t flip away during the commercials. But even more important than that – fear
controls you. Fear keeps in bondage. Fear makes you dance to the world’s tune. Troubled and terrified, that’s how the world
wants you. Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to
Your Word. For Simeon, there is
no fear – and why? According to Your Word.
Simeon has heard the Word, and Simeon believes. Because Simeon believes the Word, trusts that
God will be true and will provide Salvation, indeed, Simeon now holds salvation
in his hands – what is there for Simeon to fear? Eh, I can die now, the grave holds no more
fear for me – I behold the One who will call me forth from the grave. This is the peace that Christ gives, this is
the peace and release from fear that is ours – that we know we have and receive
every time we hear the Word, every time we receive our Lord’s Supper. Think on this – you have communed – Christ
Jesus has given you His own Body and Blood for your forgiveness – what else is
there to fear? What tops that, what is
bigger or more impressive than that?
Like Simeon, we too see and hold and indeed even taste our salvation,
and as such we are bold like him, we are right to sing his words, make them our
own as well – because we have what he had – for we likewise trust in the
Word. This is the peace of the Lord that
is with us always, because we understand that in Him we have an eternal peace,
and peace that nothing in this world can take away.
Simeon’s song continues – For my eyes have seen Your salvation, that You have prepared in the
presence of all peoples. We know
the old adage – seeing is believing. We
can hear things, even from good, reliable sources – and we can even know that
something is true – but until we see it for ourselves it doesn’t quite hit
home. Our eyes are a useful tool – a
wonderful gift given to us by God, even if now a days our eyes can all too
often be wandering eyes, looking where they ought not, casting covetous glances
all around. Old Simeon knew that the
Lord’s Word was true – that when the Lord spoke it was as good as done, you can
take it to the bank. And Simeon believed
– and yet, when this old man sees the Christ Child, he breaks forth into joyous
song. He has seen it – He has held the
Christ Child in his own hands – he knows it to be true.
Simeon’s response doesn’t surprise God – because God knows
how Simeon, how we, how our minds work.
We like having tangible things to hold on to – and God deals with us in
this way. Think on the Old
Testament. God would give the children
of Abraham, the children of Israel
signs of His covenant. There was the
sign of Circumcision– think on how tangible a sign that was – it was proof that
you were part of God’s salvation. You
had Passover – in the wilderness you had
the glory of the Lord in the pillar of Cloud and Pillar of Fire. God gave the people of the Old Testament
things to hold onto, things to grasp.
And now, even today, He prepares salvation in the face of
all people in a way that we humans can grasp.
Consider your baptism. We know
what it is – it is not plain water, but it is the water included in God’s
command and combined with God’s Word – and if you didn’t recognize that as
being from the Small Catechism, you need to make a good new year’s resolution
to review the catechism – and even if you did recognize it, reviewing your
catechism wouldn’t hurt. But that being
said, have you ever though how kind and loving God is just in how Baptism
works. God takes His Word and attaches
it, combines it with something that we can see and touch – water. And when those waters of Holy Baptism are
applied to us, we know that God’s Word is well and truly applied to us. Let doubt be done away with, and as for Satan
with his accusations that God wouldn’t love one as you, he can take a long walk
off of a short pier, for you are baptized, and you have the physical proof that
God loves you.
Same wonder with the Supper. It is the true Body and Blood of our Lord
Jesus Christ under the bread and the wine, instituted by Christ Himself for us
Christians to eat and drink. Just as
Simeon held in his hands the Body of his Savior and the Body of his God made
flesh – so shall you in the gift of Holy Communion. What David prophesied in the 34th
Psalm you will receive today – Taste
and see that the Lord is God! Blessed is
the man who takes refuge in Him. Christ Jesus Himself will give you
salvation, the highest refuge, in His Supper.
Again, something tangible, something that we can wrap not just our minds
but our hands around – something that we can taste, can smell, can see – God
overwhelms us with His love and forgiveness through all our senses – so that we
see and taste and smell and believe.
Simeon’s song concludes A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to Your people
Israel. And with Christ, the Old Testament came
to a close. Israel’s job would be done, they
had produced the Messiah. No longer
would they need to be separated off from the other peoples of the world – God
tells Peter he can eat pig now, Paul shows that the ceremonies of the law
aren’t required. The whole reason for
all these things – the dietary laws, the sacrifices - was so that the people of
Israel would be separate and distinct from the rest of the world – they would
be God’s reminder to all people that He would send a Messiah, a Savior. The people of Nineveh knew this – they repented of their
sin and looked to God. The wise men from
the East knew that God was sending a king – but they didn’t quite know how or
who. God fearing Gentiles from all over
knew that God was going to act in and through the people of Israel – and
now that is fully revealed. Behold
Christ, the Savior of the Nations.
Behold Jesus, the Lord is Salvation for all. And Israel is glorified in Him. Luther in the 1520s writes a book entitled
“That Jesus Christ was Born a Jew” – and in this he points out that God did not
choose to be born of “pigheaded, crude, drunken Germans” – but He deigned to be
born of a Jewish mother – indeed, a glory for that line and heritage and race
that no other can claim. Behold, this
little Jewish Boy is the God and Creator of all things – the God and Creator
who restores His Creation and brings the gifts of heaven to earth, the One who
is God of both Jew and Gentile alike.
This is the Child the
Simeon holds in his arms, this is the child who grows and goes to the Cross and
suffers and dies and rises again to win us salvation. This is the very Body that our Lord gives to
us this day for forgiveness. With this
in mind, seeing this, we can rejoice with Simeon, and with this in mind, in the
Name of our Lord Christ Jesus and His forgiveness, my dear friends, and true
and hearty Merry Christmas once again to you all. In the Name of Christ Jesus, our Newbon
King. Amen.
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