New Year’s Eve, Dember 31, 2024
Grace, mercy, and peace
to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
Luke 2:22-40 22When the time came for their
purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to
present him to the Lord. 23(As
it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male will be called holy
to the Lord.”) 24And they
came to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the law of the Lord, “A
pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
25Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, waiting for
the comfort of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26It had been revealed to him by
the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s
Christ. 27Moved by the Spirit
he went into the temple courts. When the
parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what was customary according
to the law, 28Simeon took him into his arms and praised God. He said, 29Lord, you now dismiss
your servant in peace, according to your word, 30because my
eyes have seen your salvation, 31which you have prepared before the
face of all people, 32a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and
the glory of your people Israel.”
33Joseph and the child’s mother were amazed at the things
that were spoken about him. 34Then
Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Listen carefully, this child
is appointed for the falling and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that
is spoken against, 35so that the thoughts of many hearts may be
revealed. And a sword will pierce your
own soul too.” 36Anna, a
prophetess, was there. She was a
daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old. She had lived with her husband for seven years
after her marriage, 37and then she was a widow of eighty-four years.
She did not leave the temple complex,
since she was worshipping with fasting and prayers night and day. 38Standing nearby at that very
hour, she gave thanks to the Lord. She
kept speaking about the child to all who were waiting for the redemption
of Jerusalem. 39When they had
accomplished everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned to
Galilee, to their own town, Nazareth. 40The
child grew and became strong. He was
filled with wisdom, and God’s favor was on him. (EHV)
See
the comfort, peace, glory, and redemption.
Dear faithful waiting ones,
Waiting. It seems like a lot of life is just waiting
for things to happen. We wait in lines
to check out at the store. We wait for
children to be born. We may have to wait
behind other vehicles while looking for a place to pass. Many sports fans are waiting to see which
team wins a certain football game this coming Sunday. Others may wait to see the outcomes of bowl
games. Some even have money on the line.
In our area, we spend a lot of time waiting to
see what the weather will bring. We may
wait anxiously, at times, to see whether it will rain enough, or too much? We wait to see what the markets will do,
whether grain prices will go up or down, or whether the stock market will hold
up so that retirement plans don’t fall apart.
With all the waiting we do, worry and anxiety may also become a
problem. Or maybe we worry as we wait to
see what a new president might do.
Perhaps personal or family issues cause us to wait and worry. So, friends, what are you waiting for?
This evening, we meet two people who were
waiting faithfully, and I believe, patiently for God’s promises to be
fulfilled. Of all the things we wait for
in this troubled world, we see in those two people what should really be our focus—waiting
to See the comfort, peace, glory, and redemption.
As Mary and Joseph were carrying out the
requirements of the law after Jesus’ birth, a man named Simeon was waiting for
just that event. “It had been
revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had
seen the Lord’s Christ.” Simeon was
a believer in all that God had promised in the Old Testament. He was holding God to those promises of a
Savior. There, at the temple, as Jesus’
parents made the purification sacrifice required by Mosaic law, Simeon’s waiting
was rewarded. As he picked up that
little Child, only forty days old, Simeon met his Savior face to face, looked
into the face of God, his Redeemer and Savior, and Simeon was at peace.
Now, whether Simeon lived long enough to see
Jesus carry out His salvation mission, we are not told. Yet, every promise God makes is as good as
done as soon as the promise is given.
Therefore, as excited and glad as Simeon was to see Jesus, he also was
given the privilege of prophesying some things that from an earthly viewpoint,
might be worrisome, but for those trusting in the Lord a sure hope.
Many in Israel were expecting a Messiah to come
with great glory. Jesus’ glory, on the
other hand, is that He came in gentleness, poverty, humility, and
submission. That humble situation and
status are His glory as Jesus came to live for you and me and all people. His great glory is not in pomp and
circumstance nor in earthly riches and power, but in the fact that Jesus would
live without any of those advantages while maintaining perfect holiness and
obedience to God, all so that you and I can be counted righteous.
Then Simeon blessed them and said to
Mary his mother, “Listen carefully, this child is appointed for the falling and
rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is spoken against, so that the
thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” The angels had sung
at Jesus’ birth about peace on earth, but we need to understand that peace
rightly. Jesus said, “I did not come
to bring peace, but a sword.” (Matthew 10:34) Most people want peace on earth, but Jesus
came to establish peace between earth and heaven, or better said, between God
and mankind. There will always be
division between those who believe and those who do not. Consequently, many are the rebellious who
reject Jesus and thus will never know peace.
Sadly, Jesus’ cross will always be a stumbling
block to many souls for whom He lived and died, because our sinful, broken
human nature, inherited from sinful broken parents, is always inclined to seek
glory on earth. We want winners. We want riches. We want victory over others. We want the spectacle. What we need is victory over ourselves and
over our sinful hearts. That’s what
Jesus entered our world to accomplish.
By His holy life and substitutionary sacrifice, Jesus brought us true
peace and comfort by reconciling us with our God and Creator. Jesus’ holiness is counted to us by
faith. His death on the cross paid the
penalty for our crimes against God and each other. Thus, Mary would live to experience the
exquisite pain of watching her Son give His life for her sins and for ours.
Simeon was waiting to See the comfort,
peace, and glory. I suspect he was
also waiting to see what the second waiting individual in our text was looking
for, redemption. Anna had been
waiting a long time. It’s a little heard
to tell from the Greek whether she was eighty-four years old, or had been a
widow for eighty-four years. Either way,
she had waited a long time, fervently praying and worshipping God as she looked
forward to redemption.
Now, many in Israel at that time, expected
redemption to come in the form of military victory over the Jews’ Roman enemies. As a faithful believer, however, Anna
recognized that the Baby Jesus had entered this world to accomplish a far
greater redemption. Redemption is buying
back from a kidnapper. In this case, it
is paying the ransom price that sets us free from sin, death, and the
devil. In her day, many people might
have looked down at Anna as some kind of sinner for being deprived of her
husband so young in life. She may have
felt some guilt with her sorrow. It
happens a lot among those who grieve.
From that day forward, though, Anna’s worship
became complete joy, joy for a Savior who had come to set her free. Joy at the opportunity to tell others what
she saw in that infant sent by God to rescue a world of hurting people. Joy as she was gathered into her Savior’s
arms to be carried from this life into the everlasting peace of heaven.
Dear friends, neither Simeon nor Anna lived to
see on earth the ultimate comfort, peace, glory, and redemption. Yet, they experienced it when the Lord called
them out of this world into the glory of heaven. For you and me, the story isn’t yet
complete. We don’t know when Judgment
Day will come. Yet, at the same time, we
know that Jesus will come to take us home, because God always keeps His
promises, and Jesus promised His disciples, “I am going to prepare a place
for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that you may also be
where I am.” (John 14:2-3)
For now, we wait, and sometimes in our waiting,
we grow frustrated. Yet, we do not wait
as those who have no hope. We wait, not
with earthly comfort, necessarily, but with the comfort of having sure
salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.
All of our sins have been taken away and we have peace with God. Jesus assured us, “In this world you are
going to have trouble. But be
courageous! I have overcome the world.” (John
16:33) Thus, we wait in comfort and
peace for the glory of God to be revealed when Jesus returns in all His glory
on the Last Day. At that time, all the
earthly waiting, and all the frustrations and sins that go along with it, will
be a thing of the past. Our sins and
frustrations have been paid for and forgiven to us as the Holy Spirit worked
faith in us through baptism and hearing the Good News of what Jesus has done to
reconcile us with God.
Now, I can’t tell you what we will see in the
coming new year. I don’t know what the
weather or the markets will do. I
honestly can’t say who will be healthy and whose health might fail. I pray, just as I know you all do, with great
faith that the Lord our God will take care of us in any trouble and will be
with us through everything we have to experience. St. Paul explains it beautifully when he
writes:
We know that all of
creation is groaning with birth pains right up to the present time. And not only creation, but also we ourselves,
who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we eagerly await
our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body. Indeed, it was for this hope we were
saved. But hope that is seen is not
hope, because who hopes for what he already sees? But if we hope for something we do not see,
we eagerly wait for it with patient endurance. (Romans 8:22-25)
The redemption Paul mentions happens when our
Lord takes us home to heaven, and on the last day reunites us body and soul
with all those who have believed in Jesus as Savior, and with our God and Creator
who has rescued us from the darkness and pain the devil brought on this
world. At that time, when “this
perishable body has put on imperishability, and this mortal body has put on
immortality,” (1 Corinthians 15:54) we will forever See the comfort,
peace, glory, and redemption, while we dwell with our God and Savior in
heaven forevermore. Amen.
Blessed
be the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does marvelous deeds. Blessed be his glorious name forever. May the whole earth be filled with his glory.
No comments:
Post a Comment