Isaiah 11:1-5/Galatians 4:1-7/St Luke 2:22-40
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Dear people loved by God, a blessed and merry Christmas to you. Today is the third day of the Twelve Days of Christmas and it is the Feast of St John the Apostle and Evangelist from whom we heard on Christmas Day. In five days, when in the world we celebrate the New Year, the Church rejoices for the Feast of the Circumcision and Name of Jesus, occurring on the 8th day since His birth, and marking the first shedding of His precious blood for our salvation. As St Paul wrote to the Galatians: God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law.
The Law stipulated that every male Israelite must be circumcised in his foreskin on the eighth day as a reminder of God’s covenant with Abraham. Though the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Lord of the Law who instituted the sign of circumcision, the Word made flesh does not forgo this sacramental mark, but places Himself beneath it for you. He fulfills the Law for you. How marvelously appropriate, we begin the New Year under the banner of the Name Jesus and the spilling of the first drops of His precious blood.
But the lectionary for this First Sunday after Christmas has us leaping ahead to the Purification of St Mary and the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple; chronologically, forty days after His birth; falling on the calendar on February 2nd. Though out of order, it is truly good, right and salutary to observe this event within the Octave of Christmas for it holds before us the blessedness of His coming and the joy of His birth in the flesh. And while St Mary, the Mother of our Lord, had no need for purification, since she was a virgin before, during, and even after the birth of her Son, our Lord Christ, she and Joseph came to the Temple and in the willing obedience of faith, submitted themselves to the commands of the Lord.
The Levitical code stipulated that every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and after forty days, when the mother came to the Temple for her purification, a sacrifice was made - a lamb - whose blood was offered in substitute for the son. In addition to being the manner in which the Lord readmitted his daughters in mercy to the covenant family of Israel, the sacrifice served to remind Israel of the Passover and the Lord’s act of redemption for His people as He spared the lives of their first born sons.
Now the Holy Family proceeds to the Temple, Mary carrying the Baby Jesus, and Joseph the sacrifice - a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons - that sacrifice allotted for a family of meager means. St Luke doesn’t even mention the lamb! Or does he? It is indeed St Mary who carries the Sacrifice: her own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the very Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And He shall be offered up not only in purification for His mother, but for the reconciliation of the entire world to God. As Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the Temple for His presentation, they are bringing the very Lord of the Temple, the Ark of God in the flesh, to His resting place, if you will. It is as you sang during Advent: O come, O come, Thou Lord of might, who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height in ancient times didst give the Law in cloud and majesty and awe. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel has come to Thee, O Israel! (LSB 357:3).
But no one sees it. No one notices. No one cares. This poor family makes the trek up to the Temple mount and into the Court of the Women and no one bothers to take notice. Except one. There was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, (which means “he who hears God”), and this was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, 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. And then through the door came the One who is the Consolation of Israel! The Lord’s Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed, carried in the arms of His virgin mother. Unassuming and ordinary.
And Simeon likewise would not have known that the Infant Child is the Christ had it not been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. Isaiah prophesied of the Shoot of Jesse’s Stump, the Branch rom his Root that shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. We may also render this as Wisdom’s Spirit. That is, the Spirit which Wisdom possesses and bestows. Who is Wisdom? Once more that Advent hymn: “O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, who ord’rest all things mightily” (LSB 357:2). The ancient Wisdom is the very Word of God which proceeds from His mouth, pervading and permeating all creation. Christ Jesus is Wisdom Incarnate!
It is the Spirit of the Lord, Wisdom’s Spirit, that is the Spirit of Christ Jesus, who rests upon Simeon and directs him to the Temple to receive the Christ Child. For this is precisely what the Holy Spirit does: He points and directs you to Christ. He who rests upon you by the proclamation of the Word, drives you back to that selfsame Word; to the Lord’s Christ. Like Simeon and Anna, you, this Advent tide prayed for Emmanuel to come, for God to dwell with you.
Well here’s the thing: you are not entirely sure what you are asking. For if God where to dwell with you, you would be annihilated. For the Lord of Might who gave the Law to Moses on Sinai dwells in unapproachable Light. No one could come near the mountain or touch is lest they die! A fence had to be set up to even keep back the animals from the foot-hills. The unmediated Glory of the Lord would be too much for us to bear, as Isaiah cried out, Woe is me! I am undone! Even the face of Moses was too much for Israel. The Lord of Might, the Adonai of the Law, is as raw electricity. To touch Him, to behold Him without adaptation or protection is sure and certain death.
But as St Matthew records concerning how Mary and Joseph were to name the child, He is not called Immanuel, God with us, but He is given the Name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. He is the mediated energy and power of the Most High. He is the Glory of the Lord dwelling bodily and tangibly within the flesh of man. As St John says, we touched Him, we handled Him. St Mary held Him in her arms and nursed Him! And Simeon, enlightened by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel - for the Gospel is nothing other than the Word of Christ - takes his God, the Ruler of the House of Israel, up into his arms and blessed God, that is, Simeon looked at the Baby in his arms, God in the Flesh, YHWH Incarnate, and said, Lord - little Jesus - You are now letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your Word; for my eyes have seen your salvation. For already here and now in the forty day old Baby is the salvation of Israel manifest in the very person of Jesus, Mary’s Son!
And though the Temple is bustling and busy, no one notices. No one pays any attention to this old man and his rambling. But Simeon is preaching a beautiful sermon! Yet the world passes by. The gifts of Christ are bestowed through meager and mundane things - the preached Word, the blessed Sacraments, given in the holy liturgy - but few take notice. No one cares.
Even you would not notice or care about any of this had the Holy Spirit not revealed these things to you by the preaching of the Word! Gabriel must tell these things to Mary and Joseph. Angels announce the glorious birth to the shepherds. The Magi learn of Him by a star, and more importantly, by the Word of the prophets. John points to Him and proclaims, Behold the Lamb of God. These three testify, the water, the blood, and the Spirit. We would know nothing of these things were it not by the gracious working of the Holy Spirit of Christ in and through the Word, revealing them to us and for us.
And His father and His mother marveled at what was said about Him. That is, what was said concerning Him by the prophets of old. For Simeon represents the summation of the prophets who longed to behold the Christ. His Word pointed ahead to Him who is now here in the flesh, Immanuel, come to save His people from their sins. For the Child is appointed for a sign that is opposed. The life and ministry, the person and work of Jesus the Christ shall be mitigated against from without and from within. The scandal of His Cross and Passion shall be a stone of stumbling and rock of offense for all who would seek a god through signs or wisdom. For He who comes in the humble and lowly means of a Child in a manger; His parents with the sacrifice available to the poor; shall inaugurate the Kingdom of His God not by a show of power and force, but by the weakness and shame of His Cross.
You sang, O Adonai and ruler of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the Law on Sinai: Come with an outstretched arm and redeem us. Indeed the Angel of the Lord who burned the bush but it was not consumed, assumed the humanity of the Virgin Mary into His divinity and it was not consumed. YHWH, the Word, became flesh. His arm once stretched out in redemption for Israel in Egypt would be stretched in redemption for all mankind upon the Cross. And the flesh of the Christ Child shall be pierced through for the salvation of all: a Light to the Gentiles and the Glory of Israel. There the Lamb of God is offered up in Sacrifice upon the Altar of the Cross. There the Temple is destroyed in His own Body, that room may be made for all you who were unclean according to the Law. There the Branch and the Tree bear fruit.
And here the Lamb is offered. Here, at His Table, you are given full fellowship in His Temple, participation in His own Body. Here the fruit of the Tree is given to you. For here, within the Sacrament of the Altar, you are like Simeon, you hold the Lord’s Christ within your arms and within your very bodies! Here Emmanuel comes to you, not for wrath or destruction, but for the forgiveness of your sins and your salvation. For here, in the Church, your eyes of faith are given to behold Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world; and you know Him and recognize Him seeing His Light and Glory, for He has revealed Himself to you in and through and by the humble and meager means of His Word.
By this Word joined to water you are adopted as sons, receiving the Spirit of Christ into your hearts. His Father in heaven is your Father in heaven. You are an heir with Him and a recipient of the life that never ends. Thus does He feed you upon the children’s food; the true family meal, of His Sacrament. And having received Him into you bodies for life and salvation, you say with Simeon, Lord now let your servant depart - that is, die in peace - Your Word has been fulfilled. In the name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Dear people loved by God, a blessed and merry Christmas to you. Today is the third day of the Twelve Days of Christmas and it is the Feast of St John the Apostle and Evangelist from whom we heard on Christmas Day. In five days, when in the world we celebrate the New Year, the Church rejoices for the Feast of the Circumcision and Name of Jesus, occurring on the 8th day since His birth, and marking the first shedding of His precious blood for our salvation. As St Paul wrote to the Galatians: God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law.
The Law stipulated that every male Israelite must be circumcised in his foreskin on the eighth day as a reminder of God’s covenant with Abraham. Though the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and Lord of the Law who instituted the sign of circumcision, the Word made flesh does not forgo this sacramental mark, but places Himself beneath it for you. He fulfills the Law for you. How marvelously appropriate, we begin the New Year under the banner of the Name Jesus and the spilling of the first drops of His precious blood.
But the lectionary for this First Sunday after Christmas has us leaping ahead to the Purification of St Mary and the Presentation of our Lord in the Temple; chronologically, forty days after His birth; falling on the calendar on February 2nd. Though out of order, it is truly good, right and salutary to observe this event within the Octave of Christmas for it holds before us the blessedness of His coming and the joy of His birth in the flesh. And while St Mary, the Mother of our Lord, had no need for purification, since she was a virgin before, during, and even after the birth of her Son, our Lord Christ, she and Joseph came to the Temple and in the willing obedience of faith, submitted themselves to the commands of the Lord.
The Levitical code stipulated that every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and after forty days, when the mother came to the Temple for her purification, a sacrifice was made - a lamb - whose blood was offered in substitute for the son. In addition to being the manner in which the Lord readmitted his daughters in mercy to the covenant family of Israel, the sacrifice served to remind Israel of the Passover and the Lord’s act of redemption for His people as He spared the lives of their first born sons.
Now the Holy Family proceeds to the Temple, Mary carrying the Baby Jesus, and Joseph the sacrifice - a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons - that sacrifice allotted for a family of meager means. St Luke doesn’t even mention the lamb! Or does he? It is indeed St Mary who carries the Sacrifice: her own Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, the very Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. And He shall be offered up not only in purification for His mother, but for the reconciliation of the entire world to God. As Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the Temple for His presentation, they are bringing the very Lord of the Temple, the Ark of God in the flesh, to His resting place, if you will. It is as you sang during Advent: O come, O come, Thou Lord of might, who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height in ancient times didst give the Law in cloud and majesty and awe. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel has come to Thee, O Israel! (LSB 357:3).
But no one sees it. No one notices. No one cares. This poor family makes the trek up to the Temple mount and into the Court of the Women and no one bothers to take notice. Except one. There was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, (which means “he who hears God”), and this was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, 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. And then through the door came the One who is the Consolation of Israel! The Lord’s Christ, the Messiah, the Anointed, carried in the arms of His virgin mother. Unassuming and ordinary.
And Simeon likewise would not have known that the Infant Child is the Christ had it not been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit. Isaiah prophesied of the Shoot of Jesse’s Stump, the Branch rom his Root that shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding. We may also render this as Wisdom’s Spirit. That is, the Spirit which Wisdom possesses and bestows. Who is Wisdom? Once more that Advent hymn: “O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, who ord’rest all things mightily” (LSB 357:2). The ancient Wisdom is the very Word of God which proceeds from His mouth, pervading and permeating all creation. Christ Jesus is Wisdom Incarnate!
It is the Spirit of the Lord, Wisdom’s Spirit, that is the Spirit of Christ Jesus, who rests upon Simeon and directs him to the Temple to receive the Christ Child. For this is precisely what the Holy Spirit does: He points and directs you to Christ. He who rests upon you by the proclamation of the Word, drives you back to that selfsame Word; to the Lord’s Christ. Like Simeon and Anna, you, this Advent tide prayed for Emmanuel to come, for God to dwell with you.
Well here’s the thing: you are not entirely sure what you are asking. For if God where to dwell with you, you would be annihilated. For the Lord of Might who gave the Law to Moses on Sinai dwells in unapproachable Light. No one could come near the mountain or touch is lest they die! A fence had to be set up to even keep back the animals from the foot-hills. The unmediated Glory of the Lord would be too much for us to bear, as Isaiah cried out, Woe is me! I am undone! Even the face of Moses was too much for Israel. The Lord of Might, the Adonai of the Law, is as raw electricity. To touch Him, to behold Him without adaptation or protection is sure and certain death.
But as St Matthew records concerning how Mary and Joseph were to name the child, He is not called Immanuel, God with us, but He is given the Name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins. He is the mediated energy and power of the Most High. He is the Glory of the Lord dwelling bodily and tangibly within the flesh of man. As St John says, we touched Him, we handled Him. St Mary held Him in her arms and nursed Him! And Simeon, enlightened by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel - for the Gospel is nothing other than the Word of Christ - takes his God, the Ruler of the House of Israel, up into his arms and blessed God, that is, Simeon looked at the Baby in his arms, God in the Flesh, YHWH Incarnate, and said, Lord - little Jesus - You are now letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your Word; for my eyes have seen your salvation. For already here and now in the forty day old Baby is the salvation of Israel manifest in the very person of Jesus, Mary’s Son!
And though the Temple is bustling and busy, no one notices. No one pays any attention to this old man and his rambling. But Simeon is preaching a beautiful sermon! Yet the world passes by. The gifts of Christ are bestowed through meager and mundane things - the preached Word, the blessed Sacraments, given in the holy liturgy - but few take notice. No one cares.
Even you would not notice or care about any of this had the Holy Spirit not revealed these things to you by the preaching of the Word! Gabriel must tell these things to Mary and Joseph. Angels announce the glorious birth to the shepherds. The Magi learn of Him by a star, and more importantly, by the Word of the prophets. John points to Him and proclaims, Behold the Lamb of God. These three testify, the water, the blood, and the Spirit. We would know nothing of these things were it not by the gracious working of the Holy Spirit of Christ in and through the Word, revealing them to us and for us.
And His father and His mother marveled at what was said about Him. That is, what was said concerning Him by the prophets of old. For Simeon represents the summation of the prophets who longed to behold the Christ. His Word pointed ahead to Him who is now here in the flesh, Immanuel, come to save His people from their sins. For the Child is appointed for a sign that is opposed. The life and ministry, the person and work of Jesus the Christ shall be mitigated against from without and from within. The scandal of His Cross and Passion shall be a stone of stumbling and rock of offense for all who would seek a god through signs or wisdom. For He who comes in the humble and lowly means of a Child in a manger; His parents with the sacrifice available to the poor; shall inaugurate the Kingdom of His God not by a show of power and force, but by the weakness and shame of His Cross.
You sang, O Adonai and ruler of the house of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the burning bush and gave him the Law on Sinai: Come with an outstretched arm and redeem us. Indeed the Angel of the Lord who burned the bush but it was not consumed, assumed the humanity of the Virgin Mary into His divinity and it was not consumed. YHWH, the Word, became flesh. His arm once stretched out in redemption for Israel in Egypt would be stretched in redemption for all mankind upon the Cross. And the flesh of the Christ Child shall be pierced through for the salvation of all: a Light to the Gentiles and the Glory of Israel. There the Lamb of God is offered up in Sacrifice upon the Altar of the Cross. There the Temple is destroyed in His own Body, that room may be made for all you who were unclean according to the Law. There the Branch and the Tree bear fruit.
And here the Lamb is offered. Here, at His Table, you are given full fellowship in His Temple, participation in His own Body. Here the fruit of the Tree is given to you. For here, within the Sacrament of the Altar, you are like Simeon, you hold the Lord’s Christ within your arms and within your very bodies! Here Emmanuel comes to you, not for wrath or destruction, but for the forgiveness of your sins and your salvation. For here, in the Church, your eyes of faith are given to behold Christ, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world; and you know Him and recognize Him seeing His Light and Glory, for He has revealed Himself to you in and through and by the humble and meager means of His Word.
By this Word joined to water you are adopted as sons, receiving the Spirit of Christ into your hearts. His Father in heaven is your Father in heaven. You are an heir with Him and a recipient of the life that never ends. Thus does He feed you upon the children’s food; the true family meal, of His Sacrament. And having received Him into you bodies for life and salvation, you say with Simeon, Lord now let your servant depart - that is, die in peace - Your Word has been fulfilled. In the name of the Father and + of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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