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 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” 25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law,28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”
33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.
During the Advent and Christmas seasons we often hear things like: We have to get back to the real meaning of Christmas. But then we put forth a supposed “real” meaning that barely resembles, if it does at all, the biblical account in any way. As I mentioned Sunday morning, there is no such thing as a vacuum holiday, celebrations have a point, they have a reason. The question then is, “What are you celebrating and why are you celebrating?
You can’t neutralize your Christmas…it is about something…it might be about having family around, or for some folks maybe, sending family away…it might be about time off work, or getting and giving gifts or the end of the year bonus…but it is about something.
The Savior’s coming is to fix everything, to make it new but to make us new, we have to see the distinction and we have to see our own hearts clearly that we might…and this is where Christmas gets uncomfortable.
There is an aspect of Christ’s coming that we forget or neglect, namely that a true Christmas celebration will, as verse 35 says, reveal the thoughts of our hearts…It will reveal what happened in the garden, not simply to Adam and Eve but to you and me.
…The coming of Christ is for the world, absolutely, it is cosmic, it is political, it changes the course of history…but let’s discuss the coming of Christ and what it is, or what it intends to do to you…to me…and it is quite simply stated: Jesus Christ is going to reveal you.
No one else knows the truth of our motives…or for that matter, our bitterness, hatred, our fear, our envying all of the things we cling to, so as to exalt ourselves…we have fooled ourselves so we don’t have to deal with the God who knows everything going on in and with us!
But Jesus, Jesus came down. He lived among us and His presence reveals us, as Simeon said so long ago. Jesus is our King and as our King He brings to light the thoughts and intentions of the heart ; we either come to Him and bow low, hiding nothing, no hypocrisy, no deceit, no pretending, no lukewarm-ness, confessing that He and he alone is the Savior and we are the ones needing to be saved…or we hide, lie and reject His demands: a wholesale giving up of our lives for Him and His kingdom.
Christianity and therefore Xmas, is not supposed to be all comfort. It is about conflict and according to Simeon it BRINGS conflict, in the world and inside of us. It is about sin being dealt with, but it is also about our Christ making all things new.
To truly look Christmas in the eye, to take it for what the Scriptures reveal it is at its heart, takes courage, especially in our day which is unique, not to the history of the world, but more than likely to our experience in the world.
The mission of the Lord Jesus Christ is to ultimately restore his whole creation to what it was intended to be. This means to restore humanity…to restore you and me as a now redeemed people to govern, to live, to rule giving praise, glory and honor to the Redeemer.
Our mission and therefore, our purpose, is, that as we anticipate the final stage of Christ’s accomplishment, the establishment of a new heavens and a new earth, where sin, death, sorrow, tears, conflict, hatred, do not exist and where the distinction between the Redeemer and those redeemed, is glorious lived, in perfection…forever…
…We, you and me, and all the churches of the Redeemed are to work, submitting ourselves to the Spirit of God to expose everything and everyone who seeks to blur the distinction. We are commissioned to liberate men and women from the destructive delusions they foster. (Wright)
Where our culture is erasing distinctions, we must be drawing them with a huge, black unerasable marker. Living in the distinctions with rejoicing and celebration. We must not even tip our hat or wink at the blurring of distinctions…we do not acquiesce to the calling of evil good and good, evil. We do not, we will not bow the knee to Nebuchadnezzar and the idols that he demands we pay homage to.
Brothers and sisters, everywhere around us we see the demonstrations of the garden’s choice. We are being told to bow to man’s wisdom, power, goals and his version of good and evil. And that if we must be religious, then keep it private, inside your house and your church.
In other words, we are being told, commanded actually: Don’t live the truth of why we celebrate Christmas…don’t live consistent with the truth that Jesus came and now rules through His church to renew everything…to turn back sin, death, guilt and shame…just keep Jesus and your commitment to Him…in your heart.
This will cause us conflict…shame on us if it doesn’t cause us conflict…for this is why Jesus came…to set right, what we had broken and He calls you and me, not to sit and watch, but to take up the weapons of our warfare and bring down the strongholds.
The Lord lived His life in the midst of conflict, personal and cosmic, internal with the Savior himself and external in the politics of nations. This is the front line of the distinction, for this is the means by which Christ has established his rule and will renew all things: Through His body…and through His blood. This is where our hearts are revealed…It is either true or it isn’t that the Body and blood of Jesus Christ is your food and drink and your participation in the work He is doing in the world.
This is why there is a season called Advent and why we celebrate Christmas…Christ came that through his body and blood He might set all things right…and the first order of business is that He is God and we are His subjects. But as His subjects, He also calls us family, brothers, sisters and bids us to do His work, to live life FOR Him and to celebrate His victory.
Prayer: Father, in all the punishing mysteries of this life, give me faith to embrace You, to trust You especially when I do not understand. May I find peace, not in having all knowledge but in living unto the One who holds all things in His hands, through Jesus Christ my Lord, Amen.
Song: Light of the World