God Meets Us

Scripture:

Luke 2:22–40 NLT

Then it was time for their purification offering, as required by the law of Moses after the birth of a child; so his parents took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. The law of the Lord says, “If a woman’s first child is a boy, he must be dedicated to the Lord.” So they offered the sacrifice required in the law of the Lord—“either a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” At that time there was a man in Jerusalem named Simeon. He was righteous and devout and was eagerly waiting for the Messiah to come and rescue Israel. The Holy Spirit was upon him and had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. That day the Spirit led him to the Temple. So when Mary and Joseph came to present the baby Jesus to the Lord as the law required, Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!” Jesus’ parents were amazed at what was being said about him. Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.” Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem. When Jesus’ parents had fulfilled all the requirements of the law of the Lord, they returned home to Nazareth in Galilee. There the child grew up healthy and strong. He was filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him.

Christmas as Sacrifice

Every year, our world challenges us to make each Christmas better than the last. This year, everyone got a pass. It has given me plenty of time to consider what is really important to me though, and I expect you too have been able to reflect on what is most important in your life. Really important, based on what you do, not just what you say. This year slowed me down enough to be able to preach what I know, not just what I could find to fill a spot during the week. In that, it has been a year of growth.

We have sacrificed in new ways this year. Sometimes gratefully. Sometimes begrudgingly.

This story today is about Sacrifice and the beginning of Jesus’s life on earth with us.

It begins with Mary and Joseph taking 8 day old Jesus from Bethlehem to the Temple of Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice for Him. Why did they do that? Well, it was God’s law from the Old Testament that all first-born males belonged to Him, and that you could “buy them back” from God with a sacrifice at the Temple.

That’s hard for us to understand because babies are viewed differently today. Sometimes we think we should be awarded for having babies. Back in those days, they considered themselves blessed if they were allowed to have children and survive childbirth. They truly believed children were from God and most were happy to give back to God in return for that blessing.

So that’s what Mary and Joseph were doing in Jerusalem. Saying “Thank You!” to God for a healthy baby boy and recovering Mother Mary.

What I’m not so sure about is whether or not King Herod (who lived in Jerusalem) had heard about baby Jesus yet. Maybe it was during this story that he started really paying attention to the birth of this baby who would be King of kings and Lord of lords. It was a bit of a risk for Mary and Joseph to be here, but they thought saying Thank You to God, and being obedient to God’s law was worth the risk.

They were willing to sacrifice, and I think being in God’s presence, having Jesus with them, may have helped them follow through with what they knew they needed to do.

Thesis: When God meets us, sometimes we find strength and sometimes our weakness is exposed.

Not everyone finds the same strength to sacrifice. Here are two other people in this story who discovered strength and weakness when they met God in Jesus Christ.

The Sacrifice of Simeon

Simeon was an old man, and probably someone who worked in or around the Temple. Some of the Temple leaders just wanting to keep the show going so the people would not fall away. The priests relied on the offerings of the people to live, after all, and if the people stopped coming to worship, they would lose their way of life. They wanted the Messiah to come and kick the Romans out so they could be in charge again.

Others were truly looking for God to come and root out the corruption in their own leadership. Some even knew the scripture well enough to know that they were supposed to be pointing the whole world to God. They saw that God’s people had a hard enough time pointing themselves to God, let alone others. If the Messiah came, many of the Jewish people were not going to accept Him.

I think Simeon may have been someone who saw a little bit of the whole picture. He wanted to see the Messiah, but he was nervous about what the Messiah would do when He came.

God led him one day, probably not a Sabbath day, to stop by the Temple. There he saw Mary and Joseph and the Holy Spirit revealed to him that Jesus was the Messiah. Listen again to Simeon’s response:

Luke 2:29–32 NLT

“Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!”

Simeon saw more than even Mary and Joseph. He saw that Jesus was not just for them or for the Jewish people, but that He was for the whole world. How awesome would it be if you and I could see God’s big plan like Simeon did?

Too awesome!

I think that is why Simeon’s prayer begins by asking God “Now let your servant die in peace,”

I imagine, seeing the world from God’s point of view might be like getting in one of those stunt cars and trying to jump the Grand Canyon. There would be a momet where you felt weightless and you had such a glorious and clear picture of the world beneath you, but you might miss it for praying “Jesus take the wheel” so hard and telling him to just take you home. There is incredible beauty in that one moment, but it’s the moment after, when we hit the ground, that we are really thinking about fearfully. Take us home before we come back to earth.

I think that because of what he said next to Mary:

Luke 2:34–35 NLT

Then Simeon blessed them, and he said to Mary, the baby’s mother, “This child is destined to cause many in Israel to fall, and many others to rise. He has been sent as a sign from God, but many will oppose him. As a result, the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your very soul.”

That crash was coming for Mary as well, and she had no clue. She was not as old and as wise as Simeon. Best the meet the Savior right before you die and avoid the fallout, was his thought. He found a joy in the presence of Jesus, but it filled him with fear too, which made him walk away dreading the rest of his life, and what might happen to him.

When God draws near to you, do you experience fear, guilt, shame, or dread?

Simeon sacrificed a life serving God, but he was ready for it to be over as soon as He had his moment meeting Jesus.

The Sacrifice of Anna

Anna, had a different kind of sacrifice.

She had been widowed at a young age and, perhaps having no one to take her in, and being unwilling or unable to remarry, she chose to live in the Temple. The Temple was a home for the priests and their families, but she was from the wrong family to be with the priests. She was an adopted widow with no place to go and no role to play. So she spent her life praying for others and fasting.

How long can you pray without stopping? Could you pray all morning and skip lunch, and keep praying through he afternoon. Anna could probably teach us all a thing or two about prayer and sacrifice.

She was there in the temple when Mary and Joseph arrived. She was there when Simeon came in with the knowledge the Holy Spirit gave him about Jesus. She had been praying all those years and God didn’t give her supernatural insight or let her be the one to talk to Mary first.

She also didn’t pray the “Jesus take the wheel prayer”. She gave God that wheel some 60 years before that and God have been driving her every day of her adult life. She didn’t have to tell anyone anything about God, because she knew what it was like having a hard life and relying on God every single day. She didn’t have to say a word.

But she chose to.

Simeon just wanted to talk to Mary and Joseph, be the first to let them know what they were in for, and then he wanted out as quickly and gently as possible.

Anna stuck around. While I don’t know that she ever left the Temple, she told everyone who walked in who the real Messiah was. If King Herod heard about Jesus, it wasn’t from Simeon, it was from Anna. She found strength in the presence of Jesus because God showed her that she mattered too, even if she didn’t have a family, a home, a real job, or the ability to do anything but pray. She came to Jesus in her weakness and found the strength to be the evangelist in the Temple that would not be seen until Peter and John preached there until they got arrested.

Twelve years later, a young boy Jesus would come to the Temple again, and begin teaching the Bible Scholars there about God. I wonder if it was Anna who gathered them together and pointed him out, if she was still alive then, shining on for Jesus in her prayers, or even if it was just the way she led the entire Temple as “that older woman who was always hanging around the back of the Temple, praying to God, with unstoppable strength, for the whole world. Anna wouldn’t stop worshipping God until He called her home.

CTA

How about you?

Do you find strength that leads you to face the world when God has met you? Or do you back off quickly and miss the spiritual high you felt in God’s presence?

Is the change in you real? Does it last?

I have seen people yell and swear and curse at the idea of changing places because that is the only place that they can go to meet with God, and I fear they may run from Him when He tries to meet them at home, at work, or anywhere in-between. Some people felt robbed this year because they could not go to church in-person for Christmas, and that is the only time of year they go.

Simeon thought that once Jesus came, his job was done.

Anna knew that once she met the young Messiah, the work had truly begun, no matter how old she was. She had already given every day of her life to God, so giving Jesus her all was just another day walking with the Lord for her.

Are you like Simeon, just waiting for God to come bail you out, or are you like Anna, willing to give your all for Jesus?