Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

William Chatterton Dix is most famous for a Christmas hymn that he wrote and put to the tune of Greensleeves.

It opens with the question, “What Child is this, who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping?”

In the chorus he answers the question.

“This!

This is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing!”

When Jesus was a man, he gathered his disciples around him and asked a similar question, “Who do people say that I am?”

And they gave their various responses.

But then he asked, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered as Dix did, “You are the Christ!

The Son of the living God.”

I am loving going through Luke.

Luke is not only a master-historian, he is a master story-teller.

We are not even finished with chapter two and Luke has weaved in and out of his story hints of who Jesus was and what Jesus will do.

Remember, this gospel account was written to a man named Theophilus so that he could have certainty of the things he’d been taught.

He’d heard much of this before, but Luke went back to research and make sure what was heard was the truth.

He wanted to help answer the question, “What child is this?”

What man is Jesus?”

And he presents Theophilus and us with a marvelous account of his life.

So the marvelous account started at his conception were we see Jesus first being mentioned to Mary in verse 31.

Notice in the account that Jesus is called by name, but then describe as great and Son of the Most High, heir of King David, Ruler over the house of Jacob, holy—the Son of God.

Then Elizabeth cries out that he is her Lord while still in the womb.

Zechariah would later give his Benedictus and call him the horn of salvation and proclaim what he would do for the people of Israel.

Of course there was the angel declaring to the shepherds that born this day in the city of David was the Savior, Christ the Lord.

Time and again, in subtle and not so subtle ways, Luke points out who this Jesus is and what he would do.

It’s as if, first he’s going to tell us, then he’s going to show us.

In this passage there are nine revelations about who Jesus is.

Nine!

It is these nine revelations that we are looking at this morning.

There’s no way I could deal with all of these in an exhaustive manner, but by the end of the sermon, I hope you will notice Luke’s emphasis that this Jesus was no ordinary baby.

The Consolation of Israel, The Redemption of Jerusalem

What Child is this?

He is the Consolation of Israel and the Redemption of Jerusalem.

As I said last week, we have a parallelism.

That just means that these are two different ways of saying the same thing.

When I got married to Katie, I learned a new idiom, “A horse a piece.”

When I asked what it meant, I realized it means the same thing as “Six of one, half-dozen of the other.”

These are two ways of saying the same thing: i.e. “it doesn’t really matter.”

So we see in verse 25 that Simeon waited for the Consolation of Israel and in verse 38 that Anna (and others) waited for the Redemption of Jerusalem, we are referring to the same concept: they both were waiting for God’s promise of the Messiah.

Note that Luke opens and closes this section with these images.

He opens with Simeon waiting for the Consolation of Israel and closes with Anna waiting for the Redemption of Jerusalem.

It’s what scholars call an inclusio, which just means opening and closing a section with the same or very similar concept.

If we think about it for a moment, we can see why the Messiah would be called the Consolation (or Comforter) of Israel.

We only need to think of Israel’s past.

They were in bondage for 400 years.

They wandered through the wilderness for another 40 years because of stubborn and rebellious hearts.

They finally got into the Promised Land, having to wage war to take possession of it.

They were continuously under attack from Philistines, Midianites, and others.

They finally became a kingdom but were disjointed under Saul, united under David, largest under Solomon and split under Rehoboam.

Both the northern and southern kingdoms strayed from God and both fell to foreign invaders.

When they finally returned, they came back with a fraction of the people they had and the temple built under Zerubabbel was nothing compared to the temple Solomon built.

Malachi was their last prophet and no one had heard from God in 400 years.

God’s silence while in Egypt 400 years.

God’s silence after exile 400 years.

The people were distressed and in darkness.

Suddenly the Consolation of Israel comes.

It is easy to see the Redemption of Jerusalem needed—the place of worship.

The capital of the nation.

The place which led in the corruption of all Israel—of all God’s people.

Even at that moment that had a corrupt Edomite for a king.

Annas and the previous chief priests had sold their souls for power, turning the temple into a den of thieves rather than a house of prayer.

The people longed for comfort and redemption.

And God had promised to give it.

Incidentally, the “double” in verse 2, does not indicate an injustice with God that he doubly punishes our offences, but that in his punishment there is double meaning.

There is both the physical aspect and the spiritual aspect.

Both had been taken care of and it was time to send comfort (consolation) and redemption.

Salvation: Light and Glory

What Child is this?

The Consolation of Israel and the Redemption of Jerusalem, but also Salvation, Light, and Glory.

When Simeon saw the Consolation that he had long-awaited, he broke out into praise:

Notice in verse 30, Simeon proclaims that he has seen God’s salvation with his own eyes—in other words, this baby Jesus is the personification of salvation.

Back in Zechariah’s Benedictus, he called Jesus the horn of salvation.

Here Simeon calls him the personification of salvation.

According to Dr. Stein, Luke speaks of Jesus and Savior and of salvation more than any other Gospel writer.

Between Luke and Acts, those words are used fourteen times.

Matthew and Mark never use them at all.

John used Savior once and salvation once.

Luke so desires for Theophilus and we as his readers to understand who Jesus is.

He is our Savior, our Deliverer.

Like Moses who delivered Israel from enslavement after 400 years, Jesus was here to deliver his people from spiritual darkness.

And I say, “his people,” rather than just Israel because of how Simeon qualified the idea of salvation.

This salvation personified was a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to Israel.

Paul would bring up this same concept to the Athenians when preaching at Mar’s Hill.

That word for overlooked doesn’t mean that God just winked his eyes at their ignorance and sins.

It means that he simply paid no attention to it.

Why?

He was dealing with Israel.

But now that salvation has come, it’s time to bring a light of revelation to the Gentiles and so God is calling everyone everywhere to repent, with the implication that they would believe.

Paul wrote to the Colossians,

The Gentiles finally know the riches of the glory of this mystery.

What mystery?

That Christ is in you, that Christ can indwell you by his Holy Spirit.

He is the hope of glory.

This glory to his people Israel is now revealed and shared with the people of the world, the Gentiles.

Salvation is of the house of Israel and shared with the nations of the world.

And so,

One Destined

So we’ve seen five depictions of Jesus so far: Consolation of Israel, Redemption of Jerusalem, Salvation, Light, and Glory.

But really, What Child is this anyway?

Simeon goes on to tell us.

Mary and Joseph are stunned by Simeon’s depictions of Jesus so far.