We kicked off this Christmas session recognizing that there are a lot of Christmas songs out there. Some are like Born is the King (It’s Christmas Time), which is a joyful exclamation of what Christmas is about: God coming down to save. Then there’s others like Shepherd’s Lament, that deal with how too many people feel lost at Christmas time.
This week I want to give you another song, it’s called Here With Us by Joy Williams, take a listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OXauOgNV2M.
The writer of this song contemplates the closeness of God. In the song, there are thoughts of things like the baby’s hands. Hands of an infant that are compared to the hands that created the universe. It’s a personal song that speaks to how personal Christmas is. And that’s what we’ll be talking about today, the personal aspect of Christmas.
So if you have your Bibles, we’ll be in the Gospel of Luke, chapter 2 verse 29. And as we open to Luke 2:29, let’s look back on the last two weeks to bring us back into our Christmas series on the Exclamation of Christmas.
In our first week we talked about the joy that is Christmas. Christmas is a moment in time that sees the fulfillment of many prophecies and promises of God. One of the things that sets the Christian faith apart from the vast majority of others, is that it is rooted in recorded historical events. The historic birth of Jesus’ fits within a time frame of prophecy that is unparalleled. Because Jesus’ birth fulfills so many prophecies and promises of God, it tells us that those promises yet to be fulfilled, will be.
Then in our second week we looked at the doubt that too often surrounds Christmas. A thought that God once worked, but now is silent is prevalent throughout our society. Where Christmas speaks of hope, many see no hope because the world is so dark. This is why we talked about how Christmas is the assurance that God is still working, because he is working in the believer’s life. We are a testimony to the work of God in Christmas, and we need to share the hope we have with the world around us.
Promises fulfilled and the assurance of God’s work brings us back to the Gospel of Luke. Let’s read together from chapter 2, verse 29.
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”
This exclamation is the shortest one we have seen so far, and it comes from a person that isn’t usually connected to the Christmas story.
Usually when we think of the Christmas story, we think of angels, wisemen, shepherds, donkeys, stars and things like that. Yet this man Simeon is the last exclamation we get in the Christmas story. Within a few verses after Simeon’s exclamation, the story ends where it began, in the temple of God.
But like what we saw with Mary and with Zechariah, Simeon’s exclamation at the sight of Jesus doesn’t come out of the blue. Now we don’t know much Simeon’s background, but what we do know, points us to something a lot of us have trouble with.
Let’s go back a few verses and get some insight into who Simeon is. Verse 21 reads, “21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived. 22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord’), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts.”
So the scene is set with Jospeh and Mary fulfilling their religious duty. They’re taking their son into Jerusalem to be circumcised and presented to the Lord as all first born males were to be. It’s while they're at the temple that they meet Simeon, our exclaimer. And here’s what we know about him:
Like Zechariah and Elizabeth last week, Simeon is called righteous and devout. That means that he is faithful to God’s commands and God accredited righteousness to him because of that faithfulness.
But unlike Zechariah who wasn’t expecting any movement of God, Simeon was. It says he was waiting for the consolation of Israel. That word consolation is the greek word paraklésis (par-ak’-lay-sis), and it means a call to aid, encourage, or comfort someone. So Simeon is waiting for the call of comfort for Israel. But why? Why are we told that he’s waiting for this? Zechariah wasn’t waiting, Mary wasn’t expecting, but why was Simeon?
The reality is that there were several groups of Jews waiting for God to move in this time period. The reason for this was because of the book of Daniel. In the 9th chapter of Daniel’s book, he had been given a prophetic timetable of when God’s Messiah would appear. Simeon is living in that time period and so is prepared. In addition to this, we’re told that God specifically told Simeon that he would not die before seeing this Messiah.
In fact, it’s because of all this, that Simeon was in the temple courts that day, God was working, fulfilling his promises, and Simeon was ready to see it.
So this is Simeon: a man of righteousness devoted to God, a man trusting in what God had revealed, and a man who got to see God’s work in action and the promise fulfilled.
But that’s the not end of it. After Simeon’s initial exclamation, there’s more, let’s move back to the end of Simeon’s exclamation, picking it back up in verse 33.
“33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: ‘This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.’”
It’s a blessing and a further insight into who this baby will be. Jesus will be a point of diversion. Some will rise with him, which is an allusion to his resurrection, but some will fall away. Jesus will be one that many will disregard, which we see throughout time and even more so today. And this baby will be the litmus test as to where humanity lies. In other words, Jesus is the fork in the road. He points to a very specific way to God, and all other ways diverge away from him. He is the fulcrum of history, the point of which all things pivot. Either a person comes into the presence of the God through Jesus, or they fall to utter darkness away from him.
But this comes at a price, which Simeon alludes to in his statement to Mary, “And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Not a literal sword, but a pain. We talked about this in our communion time a few weeks ago. The baby that Mary held in her hands, who was bloody from the birthing process, would again be bloody in his mother’s arms at the crucifixion. But, from the Bible’s perceptive, all that pain is a blessing. Salvation’s path has been been opened now that the Messiah has arrived, what a glorious moment.
And what a personal one. There’s one thing about Simeon’s exclamation that I find fantastic, the scope. Simeon praises God for his fulfilled promise to this man. It’s the pinnacle to his life and now he asks God to take him. Simeon asks God to take him, because that consolation is here. God’s aid, his comfort has arrived in this baby, and the world, not just the Israelites, but the whole world now has its Savior. And that Savior will go to the cross, of which his mother Mary will see, and through that cross will provided the payment for sin.
To me, Simeon’s exclamation is the aspect of Christmas that we cannot over look, it’s personal and communal. Christmas is for me, because I needed God’s grace to bring me out of the realm of death. I need it. It’s personal. But not just me, there’s a whole host of other’s that it was for and who I will stand with someday, fully in the presence of God. And it’s for even more than that, which we’ll talk about next week.
But let’s stop at this point, Christmas isn’t about trees, though I love the tree sitting in my living room. It’s not about presents, though I love a good gift. It’s not even about family get together, though there are some memorable things that happen. It’s about God who descended, took on human flesh, lived the human experience without falling to sin, paying a price that he didn’t have to, yet wanted to on behalf of his creation, and is now seeking a personal relationship with those that would accept.
Christmas is a personal call of God for comfort. Comfort for what ails the world, sin which has its grip, but breaks at the name of Jesus.
My challenge for you this week is to answer a question and make a list. We hear about Santa making his list, let’s make one of our own. Personally, how has God comforted you? What things have you gone through that you can say, God got me through it. I want to challenge you to make that list this week. Remember how the comfort of God has worked through your life. Once you make the list, check it twice, and then hang it at the entrance to your home so that you can see it everyday, and maybe even add to it.
And if you’re at a point where you’re thinking, I’m not comforted right now, I’m hurting and it seems hopeless, re-read Simeon’s life, God promised comfort to him, and through Jesus, he promises comfort for you. So call out to God for his comfort, seek him as he intends to be sought this Christmas, and trust him. Simeon was at the end of his life before he saw his comfort, but faithfully followed God even before that.
Let us also faithful follow God in good and hard times, so that we might be a people who are known for their trust in him, for the glory of Jesus our Savior. Amen.
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