The Cross and Consolation
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If you’ve ever been around a child, or if you’ve ever been a child,
then you know that children have big emotions.
In fact, crying is a primary way that children and in particular babies interact with the world around them.
For one it’s the method of communication when you don’t know the language yet,
but it’s also a relatively base emotional response that isn’t complex.
There’s nothing complex about crying, it’s just, happening.
I’m convinced that one of the main reasons why you don’t make memories until you’re 3-4 is because before that you live in an almost constant state of trauma.
Tears require consolation.
It’s difficult for a child to calm themselves by themselves.
Babies aren’t made to figure it out on their own, they need another person to hold them, and to love them.
The scene:
21 When the eight days were completed for His circumcision, He was named Jesus —the name given by the angel before He was conceived. 22 And when the days of their purification according to the law of Moses were finished, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord 23 (just as it is written in the law of the Lord: Every firstborn male will be dedicated to the Lord ) 24 and to offer a sacrifice (according to what is stated in the law of the Lord: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons ).
So there’s several things going on here.
Jesus and His momma are Jewish.
And the law of God has several requirements for covenant moms who give birth to covenant babies. Especially firstborn babies!
So first of all, circumcision was the SIGN of the covenant God had with His people. It marked inclusion in the people of God and showed that you were truly a part of God’s covenant people.
Next we have Jesus receiving the Name that the angel Gabriel had told His mother that he would be named. Jesus. Which is the Greek equivalent of the Hebrew name Joshua.
Names mean a lot in the Bible and Joshua is significant as the leader to who routed the promised land of the wicked kings who possessed it.
I’m just gonna jump right ahead and point out that this is exactly what Jesus does, but not just in Israel, in the whole world.
Satan was a wicked king who possessed and ruled the world and Jesus knocks him off the throne, ties him up, and is now pillaging his palace.
Ok the next thing that we see going on here is it makes reference to the days of their purification.
This is in reference to Leviticus 12 where we see that when a woman gives birth to a baby in Israel, she is ritually unclean for a certain number of days. For a baby boy, it’s 33 days.
No we’ve talked about this recently, but ritual uncleanness didn’t necessarily mean someone had done something wrong, but because Israel was a nation of priests, tasked with meeting with, interceding with, and worshipping Yahweh, their were processes in place for preparing people to walk before God.
Something that happens when we study God’s law is we see the kindness of God all over it.
Part of the goodness of this law, is that it literally created space for the mother to rest and recover after giving birth to her baby, before having to travel to the temple.
This is just common sense and common kindness.
So here we are, 33 days after the birth of Christ,
and we have reference to the final thing going on.
“they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord 23 (just as it is written in the law of the Lord: Every firstborn male will be dedicated to the Lord i) 24 and to offer a sacrifice (according to what is stated in the law of the Lord: a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons”
The law referenced here is calling back to Ex 12, where God tells the people that as a perpetual way to remember their God who brought them out of Egypt, they are to dedicate the firstborn of every womb.
Connected to Passover.
The Lexham English Bible Chapter 13
And you shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘This is because of what Yahweh did for me when I came out from Egypt.’ 9 And it will be as a sign on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes so that the law of Yahweh will be in your mouth, that with a strong hand Yahweh brought you out from Egypt. 10 And you will keep this statute at its appointed time ⌊from year to year⌋.
All of this is very important information for our story.
In fact, it’s very important information for our lives.
Why?
Because the covenant family that God chose to USE to save the world, is Israel.
Because the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world is an Israelite,
Jesus fulfilling the law isn’t just about him atoning for our sins.
It’s also about Him living on our behalf.
His obedience towards God becomes our obedience when we receive the gift of faith.
And that saves us from the wrath of God.
And that leads us to our first character.
Simeon.
Problem:
Jerusalem was not a place of blessing, but a hub of wickedness.
1 “I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me; I was found by those who did not seek me. To a nation that did not call on my name, I said, ‘Here am I, here am I.’ 2 All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations— 3 a people who continually provoke me to my very face, offering sacrifices in gardens and burning incense on altars of brick; 4 who sit among the graves and spend their nights keeping secret vigil; who eat the flesh of pigs, and whose pots hold broth of impure meat; 5 who say, ‘Keep away; don’t come near me, for I am too sacred for you!’ Such people are smoke in my nostrils, a fire that keeps burning all day. 6 “See, it stands written before me: I will not keep silent but will pay back in full; I will pay it back into their laps— 7 both your sins and the sins of your ancestors,” says the Lord. “Because they burned sacrifices on the mountains and defied me on the hills, I will measure into their laps the full payment for their former deeds.” 8 This is what the Lord says: “As when juice is still found in a cluster of grapes and people say, ‘Don’t destroy it, there is still a blessing in it,’ so will I do in behalf of my servants; I will not destroy them all. 9 I will bring forth descendants from Jacob, and from Judah those who will possess my mountains; my chosen people will inherit them, and there will my servants live. 10 Sharon will become a pasture for flocks, and the Valley of Achor a resting place for herds, for my people who seek me. 11 “But as for you who forsake the Lord and forget my holy mountain, who spread a table for Fortune and fill bowls of mixed wine for Destiny, 12 I will destine you for the sword, and all of you will fall in the slaughter; for I called but you did not answer, I spoke but you did not listen. You did evil in my sight and chose what displeases me.” 13 Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: “My servants will eat, but you will go hungry; my servants will drink, but you will go thirsty; my servants will rejoice, but you will be put to shame. 14 My servants will sing out of the joy of their hearts, but you will cry out from anguish of heart and wail in brokenness of spirit. 15 You will leave your name for my chosen ones to use in their curses; the Sovereign Lord will put you to death, but to his servants he will give another name.
Response:
12 For this is what the Lord says: I will make peace flow to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flood; you will nurse and be carried on her hip and bounced on her lap. 13 As a mother comforts her son, so I will comfort you, and you will be comforted in Jerusalem. 14 You will see, you will rejoice, and you will flourish like grass; then the Lord’s power will be revealed to His servants, but He will show His wrath against His enemies. 15 Look, the Lord will come with fire — His chariots are like the whirlwind — to execute His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire. 16 For the Lord will execute judgment on all flesh with His fiery sword, and many will be slain by the Lord.
Three Christmastide reflections:
Christ our Cornerstone
Our first reflection from this passage is that Christ is our cornerstone.
“This child is destined to cause the fall and rise of many in Israel.”
Jesus grows up and announces I am THE way, THE truth, and THE life.
Being presented with this fact demands a response.
Paul says in 2 Corinthians that the gospel smells like life to some people and death to others.
A cornerstone is big hunk of rock that the whole building is connected to and supported by.
Listen to what God has to say about His cornerstone:
33 As it is written: Look! I am putting a stone in Zion to stumble over and a rock to trip over, yet the one who believes on Him will not be put to shame.
7 So honor will come to you who believe, but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected— this One has become the cornerstone, 8 and A stone to stumble over, and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the message; they were destined for this.
The language of destiny is used in the Bible to describe people’s encounter with Jesus.
Destiny is binary.
Build your life on the cornerstone,
or
Stumble and fall on the cornerstone.
Christus mansionem benedicat
May Christ bless this home
20 + C + M+ B + 24
We cannot pick our lives up by the bootstraps and make them better in the midst of suffering,
but we can make a conscious effort to continually lay hold to the promises of God to His people in 2024.
Christ our Consolation
This next year will bring incredible pain.
Some of us will experience it more than others.
Some of our eyes might be dimmed in death before this date 365 days from now.
You will not escape suffering in 2024.
The question is not whether you will suffer, the question is what will you do about it?
I propose that the best thing to do about it is to bring your sufferings to God.
By the end of this next year our faces will be creased more than they are this year.
Pain will give us gray hairs and worry lines by our eyes.
But we can stand with old Simeon and say,
I have peace, because my eyes have seen your salvation.
I have seen the light of revelation.
I have seen my God.
If I die, I can die in peace, because my eyes have seen your salvation.
Don’t suffer alone.
God places the lonely in families.
I invite you to see the church as your mother this year.
God is our father, and the church is the bride of Christ.
Christians throughout history have correctly identified God as their father and the church as their mother.
What this doesn’t mean is that we worship the church or get into any sort of silliness like that,
But it is simply listening to what God says about His church.
Listen to these words of Isaiah 66,
This is what Simeon was looking forward to...
10 “Rejoice with Jerusalem and shout in exultation with her, all those who love her! Rejoice with her in joy, all those who mourn over her, 11 so that you may suck and be satisfied from her consoling breast, so that you may drink deeply and refresh yourselves from her heavy breast.” 12 For thus says Yahweh: “Look! I am about to spread prosperity out to her like a river, and the wealth of the nations like an overflowing stream, and you shall suck and be carried on the hip; and you shall be played with on the knees. 13 As a man whose mother comforts him, so I myself will comfort you, and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
God uses the very intimate language of a baby being nursed by his mother to describe how He will console a deeply hurting people.
And where will He do it?
In Jerusalem. Which is where God dwelt.
Where does God dwell today?
In the church.
What is the church?
The gathered saints.
Those who have covenanted with God and each other.
This is why generation after generation has referred to the Mother church.
I cannot guarantee you that in 2024 you will avoid suffering.
But I can guarantee you that if you choose solo Christianity than you suffer alone.
There is no solo Christianity.
You need the family that God has placed you in.
Share your burdens this year.
Christ our Consummation
We are not Hindus.
We do not live in a life of constantly recycled suffering.
There is an END to this age.
We are consoled by Christ in this age,
but there will be no need for consolation in the next.
Isaiah 65:17–20 (LEB)
17 For look! I am about to create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered, and they shall not come to mind. 18 But rejoice and shout in exultation forever and ever over what I am about to create! For look! I am about to create Jerusalem as a source of rejoicing, and her people as a source of joy. 19 And I will shout in exultation over Jerusalem, and I will rejoice over my people, and the sound of weeping shall no longer be heard in it, or the sound of a cry for help. 20 There will no longer be a nursing infant who lives only a few days, or an old man who does not fill his days
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea no longer existed. 2 I also saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. 3 Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look! God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will no longer exist; grief, crying, and pain will exist no longer, because the previous things have passed away. 5 Then the One seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”
This is your future Christian.
A day of no more tears,
Death will no longer exist.
Grief will no longer exist.
Crying will no longer exist.
Pain will no longer exist.
2024 will be stormy.
We need an anchor.
We need something faithful and true to hold onto.
What will we hold on to?
What does Jesus say is faithful and true??
Look! I am making all things new!
Not all new things...
All things new.
The things that were broken are restored.
Including us.
Look! I am making all things new.
