Sword-pierced Souls

(Transcript)

 

Sunday, December 28^th, 2008

Christmas 1B

Jerusalem Baptist Church, Emmerton VA

Luke 2:22-40

Theme: Reflections

 

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 shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), ²⁴and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated 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, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested 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 Messiah. ²⁷Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, ²⁸Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, ²⁹“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; ³⁰for my eyes have seen your salvation,³¹which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, ³²a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” ³³And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. ³⁴Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed ³⁵so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” ³⁶There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, ³⁷then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.³⁸At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.³⁹When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

 

(Thanks guys – (to Craig & Leslie – for their rendition of “Mary Did You Know?”)

 

Did she really know? 

 

I have this image – having been through three newborns of our own… it’s eight days after Jesus has been born, and although it’s not that far to travel from Bethlehem to Jerusalem, I imagine Mary would have had bags under her eyes from nursing every 2-3 hours for the last 8 days, uninterruptedly.  And Joseph, being a good husband and a good father, was tending to her as well, and was getting about as much sleep – if not a little more. 

 

And they walk into the temple, and this old man takes their baby and starts to say these things about their baby – the same baby who’s been keeping them up for the last eight days –about him being the Messiah.  And I wonder … I know scripture says that Mary took these things and pondered them in her heart.  We have this image of a beatific Madonna, never ruffled, never stressed, but I wonder …

 

It strikes me how many times the Spirit is mentioned in this text leading up from the introduction to where Simeon starts to sing the song to God – thanking him for letting him see the Messiah.  Michael Card has a beautiful song about him – “Simeon’s Song” – it is way out of my range, but most of his songs are.  “Let your servant now depart in peace, for I’ve seen your salvation, he’s the light of the gentiles and the glory of his people, Israel…” … but the mention of the Spirit – time and time again speaks to a sensitivity to the leadership of the Spirit, a lifetime of molding, of tuning one’s life.  And then there’s Anna – if I’m not mistaken, Anna only appears in Luke … and I think Simeon also – this whole passage … but it’s neat that there is both a male and female presence that recognizes that even as a baby, Jesus was the Messiah.  And they are both described as having led lifetimes of preparation, of righteousness, leading up to this particular moment in history. 

 

How many of you have been over to the house over the last two and a half or three years?  Have you caught a glimpse of my study?  Cringe if you want, feel free.  It’s my black hole.  It kind of sucks everything in.  In preparation for family coming, guess what?  Not just the study, but the entire house – the kids did a phenomenal job on the basement.  Earlier this week, Leslie and I started on it at one or two o’clock in the morning, around midnight one night I got the urge to start cleaning, so we did a little bit, but … long story short, beginning about 9:30 Friday night, 3-4 hours’ worth that night, and then continuing through the day yesterday, you can now see the floor in the study.  You can walk anywhere in the room and not bump into a pile of something. 

 

I wonder what it was like for them to prepare themselves for the coming of the Messiah.  If we expended so much energy and effort relatively speaking, in preparing for family to visit, can you imagine the anticipation that was felt by Simeon and Anna as they prepared for the coming of the Messiah, the savior of the world – not just Israel but of the whole world??

 

I wonder if Simeon had to do some housecleaning of his own, every few months, or few years.  If he pegged an attitude or a thought, and had to ask himself, just like I did as I was going through the stacks of empty envelopes, and papers, and … you wouldn’t believe the amount of junk mail that comes in … or more… that I actually KEEP it, rather than throw it away right away!  (That’s my New Years’ Resolution, by the way, to not get past the trash can without getting rid of the mail we don’t need – there.  You heard it here first!)  But as I was going through the stuff, I was triaging it as I was going along … I would ask myself:  Can I keep this?  Then: Do I NEED to keep this?  Then: do I have ROOM to keep this?  Finally I had to ask myself if this was something I could still do something with, or do something about… depending on what it was.  And I imagined the same process going on in Simeon’s mind as he was preparing himself for the coming of Jesus. 

 

This thought, this idea, this attitude:  do I need to keep this?  Do I have room to keep this?  Will that cut into the room that I will have to give the Messiah in my heart when he comes? 

 

It’s a challenge.  Going through the stuff as I was going through it, I kept coming across cards and letters, notes of encouragement from you all that I’d received over the past couple of years … cards congratulating me on a birthday, or a sympathy card earlier this year in the passing of my Aunt Donna, or in the last couple of weeks, in the passing of Nana.  And it struck me how loving and how kind you all have been to us in our time here.  So if you can picture that at the same time that I was going through things asking myself “Can I keep this, do I need to keep this, do I have room for this, is this something I can still do something with or about?”  I was also thinking “what an incredibly blessing, what a wonderful way to feel Christ’s comforting presence, encouraging presence, in our lives!” 

 

It’s been an odd season this advent and Christmas.  Any time we go through losses as we have experienced, it sets a different tone.  It doesn’t take away from it necessarily; I think it actually deepens the meaning of the celebration. 

 

My hope and prayer is that as we enter into this New Year that we will continue to deepen the celebration of Christ in our lives.    

 

Let’s pray.