Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father, and
from our Lord Jesus Christ.
Text: (Luke
2:33-40)
And the
child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favour of God was
upon him.
Prayer: Heavenly
Father, send us the Holy Spirit so that I may preach well and that we all may
hear well, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Our Gospel reading today is set 40 days after Christmas,
when Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to the temple. In the bible, not
much is said about Jesus’ childhood. And this is a very significant fact. The
gospels of John and the Gospel of Mark say absolutely nothing about Jesus’ childhood,
but begin with his baptism, and the preaching and healing that Jesus performed
after that time. Jesus’ ministry of preaching, teaching and healing began with
his baptism.
In the Gospel of Matthew, we are told about how an angel
went to Joseph in a dream to encourage him to take Mary to be his wife. We are
told about wise men visiting from the East. We are told about King Herod’s plot
to kill the baby Jesus, and the family’s flight as refugees to Egypt. And we
are told how the angel of God guards the family and warns them at various
stages along the way, and how they eventually return to Nazareth after Herod’s
death.
At the beginning of Luke’s gospel, Luke tells us about his
efforts to write an orderly account, “having followed all things closely for some
time past.” We are told about the Angel Gabriel visiting John the Baptist’s
father Zechariah in the temple to tell him that his wife Elizabeth will
conceive in her old age. We are told about the same angel visiting the Virgin
Mary and announcing to her the conception of the baby Jesus. We are told about
how Mary visits Elizabeth, and how the baby John leaped for joy in his mother’s
womb when the sound of Mary’s greeting reached his mother’s ears, and how Mary
sang her great song: My soul magnifies the Lord. We are told about the birth of
John the Baptist and how eight days later when the baby was to be circumcised,
Zechariah’s voice was given back when he named his son John.
In chapter 2 of St Luke, we are told about the birth of
Jesus, following the travelling of his parents to Bethlehem for the census
decreed by Caesar Augustus. We are told about the great appearance of angels to
some shepherds in nearby fields watching the flocks. We are told about the
circumcision and naming of Jesus eight days after his birth. Later in the
chapter we are told about the boy Jesus who goes missing, and is found by his
parents in the temple.
In our Gospel reading today, Jesus, Mary and Joseph go to
the temple 40 days after his birth. This is the occasion which is known as
Jesus’ Presentation, or Mary’s Purification. In the church, this event is
traditionally celebrated on February 2nd, 40 days after Christmas,
as is sometimes known as Candlemas. In the mediaeval times, people often
brought candles to church, and had a procession with candles, because of
Simeon’s words: “A light to reveal you to the Gentiles.”
There were two things that needed to be done on this
occasion. In Exodus 13 it says that “Every male who first opens the womb shall
be called holy to the Lord”. So Jesus needed to be brought to the temple to be
presented to the Lord. Also, after childbirth, a woman would have to wait 40
days, if she gave birth to a boy, and longer if she gave birth to a girl,
before she could enter the temple, and would have to make a sacrifice of a Lamb
and a pigeon or a turtledove. But if she couldn’t afford the lamb, then she
could bring two pigeons or two turtledoves.
On this occasion, Mary and Joseph brought two turtledoves
to the temple, by which we learn that Mary and Joseph were not wealthy people,
but were in fact poor.
When they go to the temple, they are met by a Simeon, who
had it revealed to him “by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before
he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” So he sees the baby Jesus, picks him out from
the crowd, and says the words which many of know so well, since we sing these
words every Sunday after we have received the body and blood of Christ in the
Lord’s Supper: “Now, Lord, let your servant depart in peace.”
So this is the occasion on which the events of our Gospel
reading today happen. But our reading today starts just after Simeon has sung
his little song.
And we read: And his
father and his mother marvelled at what was said about him.
Now, it often happens that parents marvel at their
children. They marvel when they say their first word, when they take their
first steps, and all that sort of thing. All these occasions cause parents to
marvel, because it reminds them that they were just like this helpless baby
once upon a time. And what a miracle it is when each of us a preserved through
life and brought to adulthood!
But very rarely does it happen that someone should come up
to a child’s parents in a public place, or in a church, as in the temple, and
speak a prophesy about the child. This is something that hadn’t happened to
Mary or Joseph. This event separates the child Jesus from them. Jesus is
different from his parents: he will learn to walk and talk just like them, and
just like any other child. But no other child will offer to an old man the
certainty of a blessed death, in such a way that he can say: “Now, you are
letting your servant depart in peace.”
And so we read that his
father and his mother marvelled at what was said about him.
And the Holy Spirit also calls us to join in with them and
marvel at the baby Jesus, and stand in wonder at him. In verse 18, we hear that
all who heard the report about the
shepherds wondered at what the shepherds
told them. But that Mary treasured up all these things,
pondering them in her heart. Here, with the shepherds, as they go about
telling everyone this exciting news, the wondering
is much more of a mixed bag: some people would be excited and some people
would be quite scared at what was being said.
And the same thing happens at Christmas: some people take
the Christmas message to heart in such a way that it amazes them every year,
and offers them great spiritual food to hear the good news of the angels again
and to join in singing with them. Some people may become fearful at the
prospect that this could be true, and stay away. Some people may be cynical and
sceptic, and think that Christmas is a whole lot of mumbo jumbo.
But when it says that Jesus’ mother and father marvelled,
we’re not talking about that sort of wondering and amazement, a mixed bag of
doubts. The text is saying that Mary and Joseph were truly amazed at the child
Jesus in such a way that it caused them great joy and awe and reverence.
The Holy Spirit also causes us to be amazed and marvel
with them, and to meditate upon just what a wonderful thing it is to be in the
living presence of Jesus, to have access to his name in prayer, and to be
covered in his blood in baptism. What a wonderful occasion his birth really
was! How wonderful and marvellous it really was!
So many of the Christmas carols teach us this attitude and
this reverence: O come, all ye faithful, joyful and triumphant, Come and behold
him, Born the king of angels. Joyful, all ye nations rise, Join the triumph of
the skies. O the joy, beyond expressing, When by faith we grasp this blessing.
Wondrous birth! O wondrous child Of the virgin undefiled! Joy to the world! The
Lord is come: Let earth receive her king.
And then we read: And
Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is
appointed for the fall and rising of many is Israel, and for a sign that is
opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts
from many hearts may be revealed.”
We read that Simeon first of all blessed the parents. And
here should be a particular encouragement to all Christian parents. God blesses
parents, and blesses the duties of parents, and wants to encourage parents in
their parenting. Parents will learn very quickly that their children are
sinners, but also they should marvel together with Mary and Joseph just what
blessings are being poured out on their children through baptism, and just how
much they can learn through the Scripture. So many times, many children will
quickly become wiser than their parents in the faith. As Jesus says from the
words of Psalm 8: Out of the mouths of
babes and infants you have established praise to still the enemy and the
avenger. Or when Jesus says: Let the
little children come to me and do not stop them, for the kingdom of God belongs
to such as these.
So many Christians who are parents carry a great burden
and weight on their shoulders, in that they know and feel what they perceive to
be their failures in parenting. Parents know that they haven’t perfectly
fulfilled the task that St Paul commands: “Do not provoke your children to
anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
But this is why it is so important to confess our sins to
God regularly, and especially those of us who are parents, and to confess our
sins of parenting, and to receive God’s living words of forgiveness for us, and
to come to church and badger our pastors to speak the absolution, the words of
forgiveness from Jesus, for our comfort again and again. Let God bless you in
all your weakness and helplessness, just as he blessed Mary and Joseph through
Simeon in all their poverty.
But what are these words that Simeon speaks to Mary: Behold, this child is appointed for the fall
and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed. Jesus is the
rock of stumbling and offense. Many people will be offended by him, and will
fall when they join the voices of Pilate and Caiaphas and want to sentence
Jesus to die on the cross. But Jesus says: Blessed
is the one who is not offended at me! These people will rise. As Simeon
says: This child is appointed for the
fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed. See, how
especially when Jesus is on the cross how he is opposed, and rejected! And
Simeon says to Mary: And a sword will
pierce through your own soul also. This happened when Mary had to watch her
firstborn Son die so cruelly. It’s one thing for a mother to endure the death
of any son, but for Mary to endure the death of her Son is a great weight—a
sword which pierces through her soul. Mary didn’t participate in suffering for
the sins of the world, but she experiences what it means to take up the cross
and follow Jesus daily. So we too as Christians should be ashamed to take up
our cross and join Mary at the foot of the cross.
And Simeon says: so
that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. Here at the bottom of the
cross, the thoughts of many hearts are revealed. Do we stand at the bottom of
the cross and let the blood of Jesus drop down upon us, or do we mock Jesus,
and say: “If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross!” The cross, and
how we view the crucifixion and the death of Jesus: this is the place where the
thoughts of many hearts and laid bare and naked before the eyes of Christ our
judge. But as we read in the gospel of John: He did not come into the world to condemn the world, but that the world
may be saved through him. His blood is not shed in vain, but is shed so
that together with the repentant thief, he may also say to us: Today, you shall be with me in paradise.
In the last two verses we read: And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the
Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child
grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favour of God was upon him.
Isn’t this amazing, too, and deserving of our amazement
and astonishment? Jesus was the word became flesh, the true Son of God, as we
say: God of God, Light of Light, and nevertheless, he grew! Just like any other
child, he grew up, and became strong. And we read that he was filled with wisdom.
This is something that is so lacking in our education
system today. It is rare to find a child who is filled with wisdom, but what a
great gift it is when we meet one! What a tragedy it is when children are left
unloved, and uncared for, and wander about the streets like they own the place,
foolish and without wisdom.
We need to urgently expose and teach the wisdom of God to
children today. They too need to grow with Jesus and be filled with wisdom. And
not the wisdom of the world—the wisdom of how to get rich, how to become
famous, and not get caught doing bad stuff—but the wisdom of the cross, the
wisdom of the forgiveness of sins. This is the wisdom that all people of all
ages need to return to daily, and never to think we’re too old for it. There
should never be a person who says, “I’m too old for learning with Jesus now.
Instead, I’ll just pretend like I know everything and be rude to everyone.”
No—let Jesus be your wisdom. Let his cross sink into you
and be your heavenly wisdom! And let him not just be your wisdom, but also your righteousness and your sanctification. Let him clothe you
with his holiness and make yourself small with him to share in his holiness
with him. When we really see ourselves as little children, and desire to go
back to school with Jesus, only then can we learn wisdom with Jesus. Because
just as the favour of God was upon Jesus, so that divine favour will also be
upon us. May the Holy Spirit kindle in us and grow in us such a childlike
humility!
And the child grew and
became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favour of God was upon him.
Amen.
Lord God, heavenly Father, let us not be ashamed to be a
child together with Jesus. So much of our childhood was wasted on sinful
things, but we place the perfect obedience and the perfect humility and the
perfect childhood of your Son in our place. Fill us with the wisdom of the
cross, and let your favour rest upon us, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
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