In the Name of Jesus
Luke 2,22-40
The 1. Sunday after Christmas
Stephen, Deacon and Archmartyr. Martyr in Jerusalem 34
26. December 2010
1. O Holy Lord, whose light shows us the path and whose word guides our way, we all too often remain in the dark and dumb to Your holy counsel, for we are fallen creatures who more often run away from You rather than to You. Yes, Lord, we are feeble and fickle people who surely challenge Your patience. Nevertheless, You have promised to saved us, and have sealed this promise with Your very Name, and we know that You do not and cannot lie; You do what You promise. You have assigned to Your promises of mercy and forgiveness Your very words and means of grace, and we never need doubt You or Your good intentions toward us. Help us to meditate upon Your covenant, be encouraged by Your Word, and satisfied with Your Sacraments wherein we see You as a God who is loving and gracious to us who are so pitiful and ignorant. Truly You are our heavenly Father, our Redeemer, and sustaining Spirit who deigns to save all men and women, bringing them into pure and perfect communion with You in Your heavenly reign. Amen.
2. Our sermon text this morning dear brothers and sisters, is from the Gospel according to St. Luke where the holy evangelist writes: And behold there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the comfort 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 arrived in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the law, then Simeon took Jesus into his arms, blessed God, and said, ,,Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Your word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel“ (KJV). And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, ,,Behold, this Child is destined /appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and as a sign/miracle that is opposed and your soul will be filled with great sorrow, in order that motives from many hearts may be revealed.“ This is our text.
3. The Apostle Paul tell us that Jesus was born under the law to redeem those who were under the law. The Mosaic law commanded that boys get circumcised and receive their names eight days after they are born, then forty days after the birth offerings were to be given at the temple in Jerusalem. Luke proclaims that Mary and Joseph fulfilled these legal requirements for their newborn son, Jesus.
4. From this fulfilling of the law, a hymn of praise has been preserved and sung for over 1700 years in the Church’s liturgy. This hymn is Simeon’s song of praise about Jesus that the Church has entitled the Nunc Dimittis; it has been sung in the liturgy since the 4th century (with the service of Compline and as an alternate to the Magnificat in Vespers), and it has been commonly sung in the Lutheran Church after the distribution of the Lord’s body and blood since the 16th century.
5. Simeon’s joyous song begins with the phrase: Lord, now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Your word. The Lord whom Simeon sings to is Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of Israel who delivered His people from Egyptian slavery and lead them into the promised land of Canaan which its great resources, including a land that flowed with milk and honey. Devout Simeon is Yahweh’s servant; he lives to serve Yahweh. Whatever Simeon’s service to Yahweh was, he performed his vocation to the glory of God and for the good of his neighbors. Luke describes Simeon as a righteous and devout man. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit was upon Him, that is, Simeon was a prophet. His greatest prophecy was the hymn of praise he sung upon seeing the baby Jesus.
6. The Holy Spirit had told Simeon that he would not die until he saw Yahweh’s Christ. Every culture views longevity as a sign of blessing and good fortune from God. In American culture we have turn longevity into an idol where everything in one’s power and finances must be focused on staving off the curse and sting of death. While Simeon would, like any other man, love to live a long and healthy life, as one of Yahweh’s prophets he would have been overjoyed to have a life that was short and brief, for that would mean that Yahweh’s Christ would arrive sooner rather than later. The birth of the Christ was an event long-looked for. Simeon can now depart this earthly life in peace because he has seen and held the promised Christ and he knows that now Yahweh will bring peace on earth to all men and women.
7. Simeon continues: for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation. ,,Lord/Lord“ and ,,salvation“ conjoin together fifty-eight times in the Old Testament. » O heavens, shower from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, so that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I Yahweh have created it« (Isaiah 45,8). »I greatly rejoice in Yahweh; my soul exults in my God, for He clothed me with the garments of salvation.« (Isaiah 61,10). The Holy Scriptures are replete with historical accounts in which Yahweh saved and delivered His people Israel. As is the case with us all, Israel whether the bondage was their sins or the tyranny of someone else, Yahweh nevertheless delivered them time and again. Yahweh forgave Israel of her sins. Yahweh redeemed them from foreign nations trying to conquer them. Yahweh delivered them from drought, famine, and plague. All this was a foretaste of Yahweh’s great deliverance promised since Adam and Eve expulsion from the Garden of Eden, namely, that Yahweh would send his Christ to bring eternal life and everlasting salvation. Jesus was this promised Christ, and Simeon beheld Him.
8. Simeon praises God for this salvation which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people. Here Simeon reminds us that Yahweh’s salvation is not hidden from us, but that it is public and glorious. Everyone in the house where Mary and Joseph were staying in Bethlehem beheld the infant Jesus, the Christ of Yahweh. The shepherds came in from their fields and their flocks to find this newborn Savior of mankind. Later the magi would arrive at the Holy Family’s doorstep and worship and adore Jesus as the Son of God. Yahweh’s Christ was revealed and meant to be received and lauded.
9. Finally, Simeon concludes by proclaiming: a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people Israel. Yahweh’s Christ is for all people. First, He is the fulfillment of the prophecies given to His chosen people Israel. The Apostle Paul summarizes this succinctly when he writes, »My kinsmen are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ who is God over all, blessed forever« (Romans 9,4-5). This glory is not only for Israel only, for Yahweh desires all people to believe in Him and be saved. First Israel, then the Gentiles. The Prophet Isaiah foresaw this, prophesying: »Yahweh says, ,,I am Yahweh; I called you in righteousness; I take you by the hand and keep you; I give you as a covenant for the people, a light for the nations. I make you as a light for the nations, so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth. And nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising“« (Isaiah 42,6; 49,6; 60,3).
10. Yahweh promised to redeem men and women from the curse of sin, death, and the devil. In His unfolding plan of salvation history (Heilsgeschichte), Yahweh chose to give Abraham the promise of the messianic line. He made Israel His chosen people, and through Israel came the Christ, and thus through Israel on account of Christ who is Israel reduced to one, Yahweh saved all the nations, including you and me. Even at two months old, Jesus was fulfilling the law, and He fulfilled the law for us in our stead so that by fulfilling the law He has redeemed us from the curse of the law and has shined upon us the light of salvation and the glorious eternal life in His heavenly reign. God the Father has redeemed us from the law and has adopted us as His children (Galatians 4,5). We you are no longer slaves to sin and the law, but we are children and heirs through God (Galatians 4,7) on account of Christ, the Son of God, our newborn Savior, who at the temple was named Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins (Matthew 1,21). Amen.
11. Let us pray. O Heavenly Father, the light of the Gentiles and the glory of Israel, You have remember Your steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel, so that on Christmas You sent us Your only begotten Son so that all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Amen.
One Message: Christ crucified and risen for you!
All Scriptural quotations are translations done by The Rev. Peter A. Bauernfeind using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, 4th Edition © 1990 by the Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, Stuttgart and the New Testament Greek Manuscripts, Luke © 1995 by Reuben Joseph Swanson.
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