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Sermon for the First Sunday after Christmas
Galatians 4:1-7 + Luke 2:33-40
Is the Christmas story for children? Yes. Absolutely. It pains me to know that many children don’t know the Christmas story that we heard repeated this past week. Everyone should know it, and we should all approach it with child-like wonder and awe, as we gaze at the baby in the manger who was born to us, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. But the story is not for children only. Far from it. For example, if we had gathered on the 26th, we would have heard about the stoning of Stephen. If we had gathered on the 27th, we would have heard Jesus prophesy the execution of Peter. Today, on the 28th, we could be observing the feast of Holy Innocents, when all the baby boys of Bethlehem were slaughtered (and we will consider that next week). As it is, our Gospel takes us to Simeon and Anna, two mature believers in Christ, who point us onward from the children’s story of the manger to the future of the Christ Child, to the parts of the story that are intended for mature audiences.
Our Gospel picks up the story of Christmas 40 days after Jesus was born. Mary and Joseph have brought Him to the temple in Jerusalem for the presentation of the firstborn son, and for Mary’s ceremonial purification after childbirth, both of which were required by the Law of Moses. An old, respected man in Jerusalem named Simeon has been directed by God the Holy Spirit to the temple on this same day and has been enabled by the Holy Spirit to recognize baby Jesus as the promised Christ. He has just taken the baby in his arms and has spoken the words we know as the Nunc Dimittis (Lord, now You let Your servant depart in peace), which we sing every Sunday after Communion, where Simeon praises God for allowing him to see the long-awaited Savior with his own eyes, the Savior whose purpose is to be a Light—a Light to enlighten the Gentiles and to bring glory to the people of Israel. (We’ll talk more about all that in February when we celebrate the Festival of our Lord’s Presentation.) Having heard Simeon’s words about their newborn Son, we’re told that Joseph and his mother were amazed at the things which were spoken about him.
But Simeon isn’t done talking to them yet. He has some very mature themes to present to them. Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel. Simeon knew the Old Testament Scriptures well. He knew that, if this little baby was the promised Christ, then much of His future had already revealed, had already been “appointed” by God. He had a divinely programmed purpose. What was it?
This child is appointed for the fall…of many in Israel. Here Simeon shows how well he understands the Scriptures. Most Israelites thought that the coming of the Christ would be the salvation of Israel, and it would, but not in a political sense, and not for all Israel. As the prophet Malachi had foretold, for example, Behold, He is coming, Says the Lord of hosts. But who can endure the day of His coming? And who can stand when He appears? For He is like a refiner’s fire and like launderers’ soap. The Child in Simeon’s arms would cause many in Israel not to stand but to fall. Think of the high and mighty Pharisees and priests in Israel who fell from favor in the eyes of the people as Jesus revealed them for the hypocrites and frauds they were. Think of Judas, who fell from grace all the way down to betrayal and suicide. Think of all the people in Israel who fell away from the faith of Abraham, and from the inheritance promised to Abraham, by rejecting Jesus, the true Son of Abraham. Think of that whole people group known as the Jews, who were once God’s chosen people, but who have fallen from grace and have made themselves enemies of the Gospel of Christ, because they didn’t want the kind of Christ God gave them.
But think, too, of all people who still live in sin and impenitence, and in willful ignorance of the doctrine of Christ, refusing to repent of their sins and believe in the Lord Jesus, refusing to listen to His Word. They’ve all fallen, and they will fall even harder when Christ comes again in judgment.
But, Simeon also says, This child is appointed for the rising of many in Israel. Think of the lowlife tax collectors and sinners who encountered Jesus and were brought to repentance and faith, and who were lifted up through the forgiveness of their sins, and who went on to live a new life of obedience to God. Think of the apostles, many of whom began as lowly fishermen but rose to become God’s holy apostles. Think of Mary Magdalene, and of all who had already fallen, because of their sin, or who fell when they heard Jesus, but then, like the Apostle Paul, eventually found God’s forgiveness and salvation in Christ. Think of all those among the Jews and Gentiles who have been rescued from idol worship and from eternal condemnation and brought into God’s family by hearing and believing the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All of that lay hidden in the future of the child that Simeon held.
He also says, This child is appointed…for a sign that will be spoken against, that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. Already as an infant, Jesus’ future was clear. If He was the Christ, then the Old Testament foretold His future clearly, as the Psalm says: The stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone. This was the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. Or in the words of the prophet Isaiah, He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him; He was despised, and we did not esteem Him. The Christ was appointed for rejection, for being spoken against. And many in Israel did speak against Him, calling Him Beelzebub, even crying out for Him to be crucified.
Still today, Jesus is spoken against, by both Jews and Gentiles. Every expression of belief in a different god, or in no god at all, is speaking against Jesus. Every suggestion that you don’t have to believe in Jesus in order to go to heaven, or that you don’t have to listen to Jesus, or believe His Word in order to be a child of God—that’s speaking against Jesus, too.
Finally, Simeon points Mary to her own future in relation to her newborn Son: (yes, a sword will pierce your own soul, too). Simeon knew those prophecies that speak of the Christ’s suffering and death, even the prophecy that pointed to His crucifixion. And so, since Mary’s Son was the Christ, he began to prepare her for the difficult path ahead, for the pain of sitting at the foot of her Son’s cross, watching Him suffer and die.
In all these things, God used Simeon to point not only Mary and Joseph but you and me to the whole life of Christ, including the difficult parts and the parts that require wisdom and understanding, so that we can celebrate Christmas intelligently, maturely, so that we’re pondering who the baby was who once lay in a manger, and why He came, and how it will affect our lives.
As Simeon finishes describing Jesus’ future, Anna comes along, another mature saint who gets to meet her God in person. Luke tells us a little bit about her.
And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well-advanced in years and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity, and was a widow of about eighty-four years, who never left the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
The fact that Luke is able to give us so many details about Anna speaks to how highly regarded she was in Jerusalem at the time of Jesus’ birth. She practically lived at the temple for at least five decades of her life, and she didn’t spend that time gossiping with the people who came to the temple. No, she spent her time fasting, praying, and speaking about God to those who came. She had devoted her whole life to God’s service, and God chose to reward her faithfulness by revealing His Son to her in the flesh.
She came at that very moment and gave thanks to the Lord and spoke about him to all those in Jerusalem who were looking for redemption. Now we have two elderly saints, Simeon and Anna, gushing over the infant Jesus, not because of how cute He was, but because of who He was and the salvation He would bring. Anna immediately gave thanks to God for this little baby, and she also made sure to tell others in Jerusalem about Him.
And what did she tell them, exactly? She spoke about Him to “all those in Jerusalem who were looking for redemption.” Redemption is one of those big words in the Bible. It means being rescued, at a price. Redemption is what God did when He brought Israel out of slavery in Egypt, where the blood of the Passover lamb was the price that “bought” Israel’s rescue. That’s what the Christ was coming to do, to pay the price in blood for mankind’s rescue from the slavery to sin and death. The prophet Isaiah wrote, The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” says the LORD. This is what St. Paul was talking about in today’s Epistle: When we were children, were enslaved under the principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those who were under law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. This is the word that Anna so faithfully spread to all in Jerusalem who would listen, to the mature in Israel who looked to God, not for Zion’s redemption from the Roman Empire or from earthly oppressors, but for redemption from sin. To all who trusted in God to send the Redeemer, to rescue them from their sins and to make them acceptable to God, Anna proclaimed, “Good news! Christ, the Redeemer, has come!”
Yes, good news! Christ, the Redeemer, has come! Keep celebrating His birth in Bethlehem with child-like wonder and awe. But, as you celebrate, keep growing in your knowledge of Him and in a mature appreciation of who He is and of why He came, and consider how it affects your life to believe in Him. That Child is your Redeemer. That Child is your Lord, and your King. He didn’t come to make your life easy or to give you earthly security or riches or power. Those are childish things, and those who seek them remain children, in a bad sense. Those who are mature recognize that Christ came to give us life, and life to the fullest, because without Him we have no hope in the world. But with Him as our Redeemer, we have the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation, and a future of our own as beloved children of God, who, in all things, grow up into Him who is the Head, that is Christ. Amen.
