Christmas 2 Sermon: Luke 2:22-40

Introduction

As we look at this text in Luke 2, I want to make three points. First, Jesus is raised in a house headed by parents who stand on the side of God’s purposes. Second, God’s redemptive purposes centers on Jesus. And finally, the birth of Jesus demands a response.

So if you’ll turn with me to Luke 2:22, we’ll take a look at the family that cared for the infant Jesus.

Jesus is raised in a house headed by parents who stand on the side of God’s purposes.

Luke 2:22–24 (ESV)

22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”

So, this is going to require some explanation. In the Law of Moses which directed the lives of the Jewish people, there were instructions regarding both the mother and the child. The mother was considered unclean for seven days after giving birth, meaning she had some restrictions regarding her participation in public life. Which, I’m not sure any woman would be all that interested in during the week immediately following going through childbirth without modern medicine. Usually, that’s going to be recovery time.

But then, after those seven days, there were other laws restricting her participation in worship at the temple for thirty-three more days. So essentially, the new mother was separated from temple worship for the first month after giving birth, after which she was expected to go through a ceremonial ritual of purification, by which she re-entered public life again. In that ceremony, she was to bring a lamb and a pigeon or turtledove to the priest to be sacrificed. Though, if she couldn’t afford a lamb, she could bring two birds instead - as was the case with Mary. So Luke is telling us that forty days after giving birth to Jesus, Mary obediently follows the Law and makes the appropriate sacrifice for her purification.

Now, the other thing going on in this text is this whole deal about presenting the infant Jesus to the Lord. What is that about? Well again, this comes from the Law of Moses. Every firstborn son born to a Jewish family was considered to belong to the Lord. But God is of course not interested in keeping children from their families, so he commanded that each family should redeem their child, or to put it another way, to buy back their child by paying a price, which was five shekels.

Now, if this seems strange, remember that almost all of the customs in Israel are intentionally designed to remind them of important moments in their history. In this case, we are to remember the time when God rescued his people out of slavery in Egypt. When Pharoah continued to refuse to release the Hebrew people, God killed every firstborn male in Egypt - animal and human. But, he supplied for his people a way to redeem the life of their sons. The way they did that was by sacrificing a lamb. They paid a price, namely the life of a lamb, in order to save the life of their sons. And so to remember the way that God provided for them in Egypt, they continue the practice of paying a price for their firstborn sons as a way of remembering the way that God redeemed them through the blood of the lamb.

So, that’s a lot of history and a lot of Old Testament Law, but apparently Luke really wants us to know that Mary and Joseph followed the Law to a T. They circumcised Jesus on the eight day. They performed the purification rite on the 40th day, and they consecrated their firstborn son to the Lord. As we see in verse 39, they did everything according to the Law of the Lord. Luke wants us to know that they did it all right.

Ask yourself this: Why, does Luke emphasize the fact that Mary and Joseph did everything according to the Law of the Lord? Why is that important for us, the reader, to know? Well, two reasons:

First, as Christians, we believe that Jesus came to rescue those of us who perpetually fail to live the way that God intends for us to live. From the very beginning, humanity has opted to live according to its own ways rather God’s ways. No one is righteous. No one is just. No one keeps the law of God perfectly.

But, Jesus did. Jesus perfectly kept the law of God. He perfectly lived according to God’s ways. He is the image of humanity as it was intended. This is what we believe. The reason he can give his life on the cross as a sacrifice for our sake is strictly because he perfectly kept God’s law. Every Sunday, we enter the service following behind the cross, because the only way that we can stand in the presence of a holy God is on the perfect merits of Jesus.

And what Luke is highlighting for us is that from the beginning of his life, Jesus was following the Law. From the first month of his life, he was perfectly in step with God’s will.

But notice, did the infant Jesus circumcise himself? Did the infant Jesus walk to Jerusalem on his own two feet in order to present himself to the Lord in the temple? No. Who was instrumental in making certain that the infant Jesus was perfectly keeping God’s will? His human parents: Mary and Joseph.

By keeping the Law for Jesus, Mary and Joseph were open and willing partners with God in his redemptive plans. At no point are we told that God took control of Mary and Joseph to ensure that they followed the Law. They were simply faithful to God, and God used their faithfulness in a way they could never have imagined. All throughout the story of our faith is this theme of God partnering with people in his grand plan of restoring all things, and Luke is keying us into one such partnership here. Mary and Joseph, through faith, support God’s plan of redemption as they raise Jesus. It’s a remarkable example of what can happen when we support God’s redemptive purposes in our own lives. Often, the results are far beyond we can imagine or think.

But let’s move on, because while we are called to partner with God in his mission to bring heaven to earth, we are not at the center of that plan. Jesus is at the center of that plan, and this is what Luke turns our attention to when we encounter this mysterious fellow named Simeon. Look with me at verse 25.

Jesus is at the center of God’s redemptive purposes.

Luke 2:25–32 (ESV)

25 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. 26 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. 27 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, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,

according to your word;

30 for my eyes have seen your salvation

31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory to your people Israel.”

So here’s the scene. The holy family has come to the temple in Jerusalem for purification and consecration, and while in the temple, a man comes up to them, bursting with joy, and he takes the infant Jesus in his arms and erupts in a song of praise.

We don’t know hardly anything about this man, except that he was righteous and devout, and importantly we are told three things: First, the Holy Spirit was upon him, meaning he had special insight into the plans of God, like a prophet.

Second, he was waiting for the consolation of Israel. Centuries before this, God’s prophets had announced that God would one day personally intervene in the world’s affairs to deliver his people from their enemies and usher in an age of peace and goodness. For centuries, whenever things got bad for God’s people, they would direct their attention to this hope that God was coming. When Babylon invaded. When the Persians invaded. When Rome invaded. When disaster struck, the faithful would look all the more intensely to God and place their hope in the promise that the deliverer was coming, and he would put everything right. Simeon was waiting for the deliverer.

And finally, we are told that the Spirit had assured Simeon that he would see the coming of the deliverer before he died. So he was probably the most vigilant person in Jerusalem that day, because at any moment, he might meet the Messiah who would bring the kingdom of heaven to earth.

So this man, who is eagerly awaiting the arrival of God’s chosen deliverer, sees this poor family walking in the temple courts, a young girl holding her baby boy; and he takes that baby boy into his arms and bursts into a song that I can’t help but think was accompanied with the biggest smile you’ve ever seen.

And the first word out of his mouth is the word, “now.” Now, Lord, you are letting your servant depart in peace; because now, in this moment, with this one month old child in my arms, I have seen your salvation. Right now, I have seen the light of your salvation that will shine into every nation on earth. It is this child. It is this baby. He is everything I have been waiting for. Everything I have ever longed for, I am at this moment holding in my arms.” I can’t imagine the joy he must have felt in that moment as he held Jesus.

And as I picture the joy of Simeon, I can’t help but wonder if I’d agree with him, that everything I wanted or needed was in his arms. Do I believe that? Do you believe that? Is Jesus our consolation? Is Jesus everything we long for? When things are going poorly for us, when life looks bleak, is Jesus the one that we turn to? Do we believe that he is the deliverance we seek? Or are we looking for consolation and deliverance somewhere else?

Because if we are, I know what Simeon would tell us. Whatever else we are depending on to console us, comfort us, and deliver us from whatever hardship we’re facing, Simeon would tell us that we’ll be sorely disappointed. Because there’s only one thing that can truly console, truly comfort, and ultimately deliver us - and Simeon held him in his arms. Jesus may not be physically available to us, we cannot hold him or touch him like Simeon, he is available to us through the Spirit, through prayer, through his Word, through the Eucharist, and through the community of believers. God has personally intervened in the world, which means he has personally intervened in your life. Whatever trouble you are facing today, Jesus is ready, willing, and able to bring you through it, because he is the who delivers.

Now, the last point I want to make is this: the birth of Jesus demands a response. Look with me at verse 33.

The birth of Jesus demands a response.

Luke 2:33–35 (ESV)

33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 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 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

Joy turns to warning. Simeon warns them that Jesus is going to cause a great division. Not everyone will see Jesus as Simeon does. Not everyone will rejoice at the news that God has personally intervene in the world’s affairs. There will be some who resist God’s redemptive purposes, because there will be some who oppose Jesus. Luke’s readers will already know that the opposition against Jesus grew to such lengths that he was ultimately crucified. They know that the story Luke intends to tell is a story of conflict.

But don’t miss the essence of what Simeon is saying. He is letting us know that their is no neutral stance when it comes to our attitude towards Jesus. His birth demands a response, because if God has come to restore what is broken in the world, than we either support that mission or we work against it. We either join Jesus in his work and support his agenda of peace or we oppose him and try to undermine what he seeks to accomplish. The birth of Jesus demands a response.

Conclusion

The beginning of the year is always a perfect time to take stock of our hearts and lives - to examine where we are in relation to the important things in life, which for those of us who are Christians, will always be Jesus. At the beginning of this year, where are you in relation to Jesus? Can you say with Simeon that he is everything you desire? Or is he a nice accessory to your life - something you roll out every now and then, but doesn’t hold much sway over your decisions? Where are you in relation to Jesus?

The truth is, none of us can say we’re perfectly in step with Jesus. None of us can say that we always align ourselves with his redeeming work and we never work against him, because all of us continue to struggle with the temptation to live life on our own terms rather than Christ’s terms. And that is why in his great love for us, God sent Jesus. He is the lamb that was killed for us, to redeem us, to purchase our salvation - just like the lamb that was killed to purchase the lives of the Hebrew people when they were slaves in Egypt. God redeemed them through the sacrifice of a lamb as a pointer to an even greater work of redemption, when he himself would be the sacrificial lamb, giving up his life on the cross to save our’s. This is why Paul can say in 1 Corinthians that we have been bought with a price. We have been redeemed by Jesus.

And as part of that redemption, we have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit who works in us to align our hearts more and more with the heart of God. So at the start of this year, you may feel that you are far from Christ and you have not done much to partner with him in his redemptive mission; but do not despair. Jesus has covered your failure with his blood, and if you are willing, the Spirit is ready to transform your desires so that you yearn for more of Christ in your life. The first step is to simply ask for the Spirit to move you towards Jesus.

At the start of the year, that is a worthy prayer for all of us. Spirit, move us closer to Jesus. Let’s prayer that now.