Simeon’s Song - Luke 2:22-35

INTRO

Samuel getting held and smooched by an older acquaintance

(Read the room)

Today we come to Simeon’s song.

Mary and Joseph are taking Jesus to the temple 40 days after his miraculous birth.

This was the custom and as they go in the temple.

Here comes someone ready to scoop up there young baby boy.

We catch up to the scene:

Luke 2:25–32 (ESV)

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. 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. 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, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

“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.”

Jesus was brought to Jerusalem, the capital, and to the temple, the center of Jewish religious life.

Here is Simeon.

He was a devout believer in God.

He was patiently waiting for the promises God had made to be fulfilled.

And not only that, but God’s Holy Spirit had told him that he wouldn’t die until he saw these promises begin to unfold on the pages of history.

Now he holds this baby boy and the Spirit of God reveals that this is the long awaited Messiah.

He is going to be a light to the world, the hope God’s people had longed for.

As Mary is cherishing every word from Simeon he speaks next a much harder word.

Luke 2:33–35 (ESV)

And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 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 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

Simeon is foretelling what Jesus would endure.

The heavy cost.

He is holding this baby and knows that there would be redemption brought by this child but it would come at a cost that would shatter this mom’s heart.

Can you imagine saying that to a new mom?

I imagine Mary remembered these words wondering what they meant until the day of Calvary.

The child once cradled by the faithful Simeon would later be suspended on a Roman cross – a stark contrast that intertwines the stories of Christmas and Easter.

Now maybe you’re thinking Billy this is a Christmas sermon right not Easter.

Yes but in order for us to understand Christmas and the incarnation we have to understand Easter.

To really understand Simeon’s words we have to go from the beginning of Luke to the climax of the story.

I want to to camp out in Luke 23 to help us understand Simeon’s words how we see a divine plan unfold.

From a manger to a cross showing us redemption

Look at Luke 23:32-47

Luke 23:32–47 (ESV)

Two others, who were criminals, were led away to be put to death with him. And when they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left. And Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” And they cast lots to divide his garments. And the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God, his Chosen One!” The soldiers also mocked him, coming up and offering him sour wine and saying, “If you are the King of the Jews, save yourself!” There was also an inscription over him, “This is the King of the Jews.”

One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” But the other rebuked him, saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.”

It was now about the sixth hour, and there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Then Jesus, calling out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!” And having said this he breathed his last. Now when the centurion saw what had taken place, he praised God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent!”

It's kind of surprising that Luke doesn’t go into detail about how much Jesus physically suffered.

He points us to this moment but doesn’t dwell on the physical pain

Instead, Luke wants us to see something deeper, something more about feelings and spiritual stuff, just like Simeon hinted to Jesus’ mom.

Luke isn't just trying to make us feel sorry for Jesus; he wants us to see Jesus as more than someone who just suffered.

Here is what I think Luke is getting at and what our Big Idea is

Big idea: Believe in Jesus as the one who saves us.

I want us to take a step back and see three important things that really stand out.

1. Fighting Over Clothes

As Jesus was dying, the soldiers were busy dividing up his clothes by playing games of chance.

It was common for Jewish men to wear five pieces of clothing, and these soldiers, following the rules at executions, were allowed to keep them.

Imagine them bargaining:

'Hey, I want the sandals this time. You took them last time.'

'Fine, but I don't want the headpiece. Okay, I'll take it.'

'But what about this big undergarment? It's just one piece.'

'Let's roll dice to decide who gets it.'

It's like when you go to the hospital, and they swap your clothes for a gown that's tricky to tie.

It's a way to show you're now under their care, totally dependent.

You hand over your clothes, hoping to wear them again after your procedure.

If someone else ends up with them, it means things didn't go as planned.

Jesus isn't getting his clothes back.

He's left with absolutely nothing, stripped of everything.

Remember, this is the guy whose birth was celebrated by angels.

He controlled storms, turned small meals into feasts for thousands, brought a girl back to life, stood up to power-hungry religious leaders, and showed kindness to those hurt by life or their own mistakes.

Now, Jesus is left with nothing. Even a criminal hanging next to him mocks him:

“I don't know much about what a Messiah should be like, but I'm pretty sure he shouldn't be on a cross.

If you really were who you say, you'd save yourself and us. But you’re not, are you?”

Here's Jesus at his lowest. Naked, vulnerable, ridiculed even by someone dying beside him.

Illustration

In the late 1800s, D.L. Moody stood as the world's most renowned evangelist.

His Bible Conferences in Northfield, Massachusetts, drew international crowds, including a group of European pastors.

Accustomed to European customs, these pastors left their shoes outside their dormitory rooms, expecting them to be cleaned overnight, a service not practiced in American dorms.

Discovering the shoes during his prayerful nightly walk, Moody realized the misunderstanding.

He mentioned this to some of his students, who showed no inclination to help.

Undeterred, Moody collected the shoes and began cleaning and polishing each pair in his room.

When a friend found him polishing and cleaning all the shoes he asked him why and Moody responded, "Jesus Christ, the Son of God and King of Heaven, deserved all honor and worship. Yet, He chose to serve, setting aside His privileges to save us. We talk about living like Jesus, but true following involves surrendering our rights and embracing His humility. We can't be like Him without being humble and lowly."

Next we see…

2. Darkness in the Day

Next, let's think about the second key detail: darkness in the middle of the day.

In the Bible, this kind of darkness is a big sign—it shows God isn't happy and that He's judging sin.

If we think back to the Exodus when Israel was rescued from Egypt we get a picture of redemption

That story also helps us get why this darkness is important.

The last of the plagues in Egypt was God's judgment, and it affected everyone because everyone had sinned.

In homes where no lamb had been sacrificed, the firstborn died.

But just before that, there was a plague of darkness.

'Total darkness for three days' it says in Exodus.

That darkness was like a warning that judgment was coming.

But when darkness fell in Israel, as Jesus was on the cross, only Jesus 'breathed his last.'

God's judgment had arrived, and it was God Himself, in Jesus, who felt it.

On the cross, Jesus experienced something totally new: being completely abandoned by God.

Here's God, feeling abandoned by God.

Jesus, who never did anything wrong, was punished as if he had.

He was going through what we can only describe as hell.

Why? Because he was carrying the weight of all the wrong things in the world.

He wasn't dying because he'd sinned; he was dying like the sacrificial lamb, paying the price so we don't have to.

He went through hell so we wouldn't have to, losing his close relationship with his Father so we could have one.

It's what theologians call 'the great exchange.' Jesus took on what we deserved for our wrongdoings, so God can look at us and say we're forgiven, totally clear of guilt.

illustration

On May 21, 1946, in Los Alamos, a young scientist named Louis Slotin was doing a risky experiment for an upcoming atomic test in the South Pacific.

He had done it many times before.

The experiment was to find out how much uranium, was needed to start a chain reaction, which is when atoms split and release a lot of energy.

He would push two pieces of uranium close together until they were just about to start this reaction, and then quickly separate them with a screwdriver.

But that day, his screwdriver slipped just when the reaction was about to start!

The uranium pieces got too close, and the room filled with a bright blue light.

Slotin, instead of saving himself, pulled the pieces apart with his hands, stopping the reaction.

By doing this, he saved the lives of the seven other people there.

Sadly, while waiting for the ambulance, he told his friend he was so glad they were alright but that he knew he wouldn’t survive.

And he was right - he died nine days later in a lot of pain in a hospital bed.

Centuries ago the Son of the living God walked directly into sin's most concentrated radiation, allowed Himself to be touched by its curse, and let it take His life . . . But by that act He broke the chain reaction.

He broke the power of sin.

I should have been on that cross; Jesus was.

My wrongdoings deserved punishment; Jesus took it for me.

How do we know he did all this? Because of the third thing we need to look at in this scene.

3. Curtain Torn

As Jesus was dying on the cross, not far from where he once lay as a baby in Simeon's arms, something incredible happened.

’The curtain of the temple was torn in two.'

Now, this wasn't just any curtain.

We're talking about two massive, 80-foot-high curtains in the temple.

They were like giant symbols, reminding everyone that there's a big gap between us, who often mess up, and God, who's perfect.

This curtain wasn't some light, easy-to-tear thing.

It was the ultimate curtain. Imagine trying to rip it apart.

Ever struggled with opening a bag of chips?

If we can't handle that, tearing a giant curtain seems impossible, right?

So who did it? God did.

God tore his own curtain in his own temple.

He broke down the barrier between us and him.

He let his own Son suffer for us.

He opened the way to him so we don't have to be trapped by our mistakes and kept away from him.

He flung open the door to heaven.

That's why God sent Jesus, and why Jesus went to the cross.

illustration

Martin Luther once visited a dying student, and asked the young man what he should take to God.

The young man replied, “Everything that is good, dear father—everything that is good!”

Luther, rather surprised, said, “But how can you bring Him everything that is good, seeing you are but a poor sinner?”

The student replied, “Dear father, I will take to my God in heaven a repentant, humble heart, sprinkled with the blood of Christ.”

Luther exclaimed, “Truly, this is everything good. Then go, dear son; you will be a welcome guest to God.”

This is what the torn veil means, we are welcomed.

The cross tells us two huge things:

First, our wrongdoings are a big deal – so big that it took Jesus dying to sort them out.

But second, it shows just how incredible God's love is.

Jesus came and died to take care of our mistakes… our failures

This is why the story of Jesus starts with a baby in a wooden manger and ends with a man on a wooden cross.

You can't fully understand Christmas without Easter.

Christianity isn't tips on how to live; it's the amazing news of what Christ has done for us.

It's not about how good we are or if we can save ourselves.

It's about how powerful and loving God is, and how He's the one who saves us.

Conclusion

Do you ever get a kick out of paying bills? My wife does.

She finds it satisfying to check them off the list.

Me? I'm not a fan of the bills themselves, but there's something nice about getting them paid.

And there's something extra satisfying about paying a bill in person.

You walk up, hand over the payment, and then watch as they stamp your bill with 'PAID' in big, bold red letters.

That's the best part.

Once a bill is stamped 'PAID,' nobody can ask you to pay it again. It's done. Finished. That debt is history.

Now, think about this in relation to what happened three days after Jesus' death, a time that must have deeply hurt Mary.

God put a giant 'PAID' stamp on all our mistakes, on everything we owed Him.

Without that stamp, Jesus' death might have seemed like just another sad story.

The darkness that afternoon, the temple curtain tearing in two – they could've been brushed off as coincidences.

Even Jesus' body was just lying there in a tomb.

But then, three days later, God made it super clear.

He showed everyone that He accepted what Jesus did for us, that Jesus paid off our debt for all the wrong things we've done.

God was saying the price for our freedom was paid in full.

Luke 24:1–7 (ESV)

But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they went to the tomb, taking the spices they had prepared. And they found the stone rolled away from the tomb, but when they went in they did not find the body of the Lord Jesus. While they were perplexed about this, behold, two men stood by them in dazzling apparel. And as they were frightened and bowed their faces to the ground, the men said to them, “Why do you seek the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen. Remember how he told you, while he was still in Galilee, that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men and be crucified and on the third day rise.”

Luke's story wraps up almost exactly where it started.

It began with angels showing up, and it ends the same way.

It started with an angel announcing life in the most unlikely places – an infertile woman and a virgin.

It ends with angels revealing life in a tomb, announcing the resurrection of Jesus.

From that first Christmas to Easter Sunday, everything Simeon said came true.

Jesus reached out to those who were left out.

He faced opposition.

He showed what people truly believed.

His hands were nailed to a cross while his mother's heart was broken watching him.

And on that cross, he did something incredible – he opened the way for us to be with God, just like Simeon talked about years before.

Jesus died there because Simeon, Mary, Zechariah, the shepherds, Isaiah, you, me – we all mess up, but he loves us anyway.

This is what sets Christianity apart from regular religion.

Religion often says, 'Get your life together, then maybe God will accept you.' Christianity says, 'God accepts you because of Jesus and what he's done.'

Religion tells you, 'Live right, then you'll be accepted.' Christianity says, 'You're accepted because you believe in Jesus; now live in a way that shows it.'

So being a Christian means seeing Jesus as the Lord of your life and the one who rescues you, even from death.

It's about realizing the baby we celebrate at Christmas is the greatest gift ever.

My hope is this sermon series has shown you that the gift on offer to you is redemption through faith in Jesus, the Son of God... that it is for you... and that you desperately need it.

And I hope that, as we have just left Christmas and look to a new year you will not leave under the tree that unopened gift with your name on it—especially as it comes from God.

How does the humility of Christ stir me to humble myself?

In light of Jesus' ultimate sacrifice, how do I approach my own wrongdoings and sins? Do I truly believe and accept that Jesus paid the price for them?

Am I living in the fullness of God’s presence since the vile has been torn?

As I look into the new year how can I rejoice in the redemption I have in Jesus?