Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

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We beheld Him in the manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes on Christmas day. Now we behold Him in the temple, wrapped in the arms of a complete stranger named Simeon. There’s more here than we can tackle in one sermon, so here’s the plan. We’ll try to cover three of the five parts in our gospel text. First, Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple; second, we’re introduced to Simeon; and third, Simeon takes the baby Jesus and sings his ‘nunc dimittus.’ In each part, we’ll look closely at the text and then make an application.

I. Mary and Joseph Bring Baby Jesus to the Temple. “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, as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, a pair of turtle; doves or two young pigeons.” (vss.22-24).

Luke says that they came for “their purification.” There are two different things going on at the same time here. Luke points us to the Old Testament to save us the trouble of looking it up, but, lets go right to the source and look at this “Law of Moses” firsthand.

Let’s first of all go to Leviticus 12:2-8 – page 90 in the pew bibles. God gave Moses a law that women needed to be purified after giving birth to a baby. Now, you may say, ‘what up with that?’ Well, this is just one way that God builds catechetical instruction into normal stuff of everyday life. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned, babies have been born in sin. When a woman gives birth to a baby, she bares a sinful child born to die – and so she is just like Eve. By giving this law of purification, God teaches and reminds His people of the doctrine of original sin and shows them that there is purification to be had. Let’s read. (Read 12:2-8).

Why is the ritual different if you have a boy baby than it is for a girl baby. Again, God is doing catechetical instruction with His people, reminding them that it was the woman who led the way into sin. So, when Mary comes to the Temple, she is coming to be purified according to the law.

That’s one reason Mary and Joseph come to the temple, now lets look at the other reason. Let’s go back to our Old Testament reading, Exodus 13:1-3a – page 55. (Read) Here, Moses gives the command that all 1st born babies are to be “consecrated,” ‘set apart,’ (same word as the word, ‘holy’) for the Lord. And he connects that to the Exodus from Egypt. There, God spared all the firstborn Israelite baby boys while killing all the firstborn Egyptian baby boys in homes not marked by the blood of a lamb. So here, once again, God is building catechetical instruction into the everyday life of His people. All first born baby boys must be redeemed, ‘bought back’ as a reminder of how God had spared their life in Egypt and of how He continues to spare the lives of His children still. What would happen is, parents would bring their son to the temple where a priest would take the baby from their arms, pronounce two benedictions – one for the parents and one for the child, hand the child back to the parents. The redemption price, which was the same as the purification price, a lamb, but if you were poor, a pair of doves or pigeons would then be paid. And as the parents left the temple with their redeemed firstborn son, it was, to them, as if they had just experienced the Passover in person.

So, when Luke says that when the time had come for “their purification,” he means Mary’s purification and Jesus’ redemption.

There are so many applications here it hard to know where to begin. First, there is the glaring incongruity as Mary comes to the temple to be purified. Incongruity because she has not given birth to a sinful child, but to the only sinless child every born of a woman. She gives birth to the one child who Himself will reverse the curse of original sin. Mary comes to the temple to be purified, but Her child will purify the temple and He is the temple – who will be destroyed yet in three days be raised again. We wonder, why then does she do this.

Second, the baby Jesus is presented for redemption. Again, the irony is unbearable. He who is the firstborn son of Mary is also the eternally begotten Son of God who will also be the firstborn from the dead. He, who is brought to be redeemed is the redeemer of the world. Why is this happening?

The answer is, this is what the Scriptures mean when they say, “When the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law that He may redeem those under the law.” (Gal.4:4). All of those ceremonial laws in the Old Testament were meant to point us to Jesus who would actually do what all the rites and rituals pointed to. All the ceremonial laws of the Old Testament are God’s catechetical instruction to point us to Jesus – who would purify and redeem God’s people – and right there in the temple –the temple of His body. And so now that Jesus has come and fulfilled these laws, they are no longer necessary.

II. Simeon Next, we are introduced to a man named Simeon. “Now there was in Jerusalem a man named Simeon, and this man was righteous, devout and waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” (vs.25-26)

We’re not told anything about Simeon except three things. First, Simeon was “righteous.” Whenever the Scriptures speak of someone as being “righteous” they never mean “perfect.” To be “righteous” doesn’t mean that they’ve got this problem with sin licked. Noah and Abraham stand out as the two men that the Old Testament declares to be “righteous” and how well we know that neither of these men were perfect. In fact, the Scriptures only ever speak about anyone being righteous by faith. “Abraham believed and it was credited to him as righteousness.” Simeon believed in God’s Word and the promise it pointed to in a Messiah to come, and he trusted in that promise, and by faith he was declared righteous.

Second, Simeon was “devout.” To be “devout” is to be “devoted,” committed to the truth of God’s Word. The word literally means “to grip tightly.” To be “devout” means to grip tightly to God’s Word and the promises He makes in His Word and not let go of it. The opposite of devout is to “grip loosely,” to let go of God’s Word either because of indifference or temptation or because your real devotion lies elsewhere.

Third, Simeon was “waiting” for the consolation of Israel. To “wait” is to eagerly anticipate. To “wait” for the “consolation of Israel” is to anxiously expect God to “console” His people by fulfilling His promise. St. Paul expresses it very well when, to the Romans, He writes, “For all creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.” (Romans 8:19). And to Titus, he writes that we are to “renounce ungodliness and worldly passions, and live self-controlled, upright and godly lives in the present age waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.” (Titus 2:13).

And to Simeon was added this special revelation. He would live to see it with his own two eyes. He would see with his own two eyes the One whom all the Old Testament pointed to and promised would be the “consolation of Israel” – the Lord’s Christ.

The application here is pretty simple. Maybe, it’s too simple for us to accept. This is the kind of people we should be. Simeon is nobody special. We don’t know anything else about the circumstances or details of his life – which only means that any of us could be like Simeon. We should be righteous, that is, live by faith, trusting in God’s Word; we should be devout, that is, “gripping tightly” to God’s Word, not gripping loosely or letting go of it when it becomes inconvenient or hard; and we should be waiting for the ‘consolation of Israel, as if He were coming tomorrow. III. The Nunc Dimittus. I suspect, that if we were righteous, devout and waiting, like Simeon, we would see a lot more of Jesus’ presence among us than we actually see.

I suspect that this is why, when a young couple entered into the temple with their 40 day old baby, righteous, devout, waiting Simeon knew that this was the Lord’s Christ. “And he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, ‘Lord, now let your servant depart in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of your peoples, a light for revelation to the gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.” (vss.28-32).

Simeon held the baby Jesus in his arms. And the first thought that came to his mind was death. His death. His first thought was, “I’m ready to die in peace.” So, Simeon plays the priest and declares the benediction at the presentation of this child at the temple. But notice, he doesn’t declare it to the child but to himself.

Simeon tells us why. “For my eyes have seen your salvation.” The word in Hebrew for salvation is ‘yeshua.’ Literally, “one who saves.” In Hebrew, Simeon would have said, “for my eyes have seen your ‘yeshua.’ “Yeshua” in English is “Jesus.”

The application is this. See how willingly this baby allows Himself to be given over to others. He allows Simeon to take Him in his arms. Later, He would willingly allow Himself to be handed over into the arms of Pilate and Caiaphus. He will even allow Himself to be given over into the arms of an old rugged cross.

And now see how willingly the same Jesus gives Himself into your hands and your mouth in this sacrament, and how in this sacrament you hold in your hands the same Jesus as Simeon held in his. Here, your eyes see your salvation, your Jesus, the One who purifies you of all of your sin and redeems you with His own precious body and blood. And see how the benediction that Simeon pronounced upon himself is pronounced upon you, “depart in peace.” And so, “we come to this sacrament as though we were coming to our death, so that we may come to our death as though we were coming to this sacrament.”

Amen.

Related Entries:

» Sermon – Christmas 1 – "My Eyes Have Seen Your Salvation" – Luke 2:22-40 – 12/28-08
» Sermon – 4th Advent – "Divine Revelation" – Matthew 1:18-25 – 12/23/07
» Sermon – Christmas Eve – "Twas The Night Before Christmas" – Luke 2:8-12 – 12/24/07
» Sermon – Funeral – "Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled" – John 14:1-7
» Sermon Index – Lutheran – LCMS
» Sermon – Christmas 2 – Luke 2:40-52 – "Lost and Found" – 1/4/09

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