Reflection on Luke 2:22-40

Luke 2:22-40

22 When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, [Mary and Joseph] brought [Jesus] 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”), 24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated 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; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Guided 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, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

 

29 “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,

according to your word,

30 for my eyes have seen your salvation,

31 which 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 the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34 Then 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 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul, too.”

 36 There 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, 37 then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 At 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. 

 39 When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. 

Reflection

Just the other day, I was listening to a conversation about how chance encounters and decisions have the power to completely shape our lives.  A man talked about how missing the bus forced him to take the train instead, and it was on that train where he sat next to a girl who clumsily bumped and spilled his coffee.  The apologetic girl who was wiping off his coat with tissues would later become his wife.  Chance encounters can completely shape our lives.  In a similar way, if I had chosen to go to Humboldt State University in California, rather than Concordia College in Moorhead Minnesota, into their forestry program, I would not have met Randele, and we would not have had our children.  I also would not be standing here, preaching to you.  I would be in the forests of California, digging ditches to head off forest fires.  Life decisions and the personal encounters they create can completely shape our lives.  And, one girl can trace her faith in Christ back to a routine business flight, where she talked with a woman of faith seated next to her, who just happened to live near her own neighborhood, and who would thereafter become her best friend, leading her to a strong faith in Jesus.

When we sit and think back through our lives, most of us marvel at how our lives have been shaped by these chance encounters and decisions.  

We see this same thing happening in the Bible too.  Forty days after Jesus’ birth, Joseph and Mary take the baby Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem, as is required in the law, both for Mary’s purification after childbirth, and to present the baby Jesus to the Lord.  Firstborn children, as you probably know, were set apart for the Lord’s service.  So, the holy family set out on this journey in order to fulfill a normal religious obligation.  The priests offered such sacrifices for many, many families every single day.  It was special, but it was special in a “We’re having the baby baptized!” sort of way.  It was a normal special.  But, God would make this particular occurrence into one of those all important life-shaping types of special. 

While Joseph, Mary, and Jesus were in the temple, the Bible says that “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. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple” (Luke 2:25-27).

Simeon is an old man who, throughout his life, has deeply desired to see God come and walk beside Israel, to comfort him and the other Israelites in their troubled world.  And, I think that many of us desire the same thing.  Would it not be nice for God to enter into our troubled world, walk with us, console us, and make things right? 

By a chance encounter, Simeon enters into temple and stumbled upon the baby Jesus.  That is not quite right.  It happens to be the case that this is not a chance encounter.  Simeon was guided by the Spirit so that he could see the Lord’s Messiah. 

And, seeing the Messiah with his own eyes; feeling the weight of the Messiah in his own arms; knowing that the day when God would walk and talk with us had finally come; Simeon breaks out into a poetic hymn that is still sung to this day:

 

“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,

according to your word,

for my eyes have seen your salvation,

which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the gentiles           

and for glory to your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).

 

What God has done for Simeon, who is at the end of his days and who worries about the future of the world, what God has done can only be described as grace.  Holding the future of the world in your arms is pure joy and grace.  Singing to the savior of the world as you rock him in your arms, being filled with a sense of hope for this world that you had not had before, is pure grace.  It is a gift.  It is a grace so powerful, that Simeon is convinced that he can take his final rest in peace.  “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace” (Luke 2:29).

And Jesus, in turn, is graced by Simeon with one of the most beautiful and powerful starts to life that I can imagine.  After-all, some children start their lives with the poetry of “unwanted” and “burden” and “ugly.”  To have whispered words such as “salvation” and “light” and “revelation” at the very start of your life is also pure grace.

And, all of it was the work of the Spirit.  They had all come together at the right time, in the right place, and it shaped the lives of them all.

Not everything that happens in life is the work of the Spirit, of course.  I used to think that every time that I was hungry and a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup just happened to be right there in front of me, that the Spirit was gracing me with a gift.  “Thank you, Lord!  Grace has no boundary,” and neither did my waistline.  Now, I am pretty sure it was not the Spirit at work; it was just a marketing department at work with product placement.  You can understand how the two might look the same.

What I mean to say is that not everything in life is the work of the Spirit.  Not everything that happens was intended by God.  I am fairly certain that the crash between the passenger jet and Blackhawk helicopter in DC was not intended by God.  That tragedy does not have the fingerprint of grace on it.  Grace can arise from it, of course.  God can certainly use it to bring grace, but tragedy is not intended by God. 

God the Father already sacrificed his son, once and for all, on a cross, to bring us life.  The Son shines light on the world.  The Son brings revelation to the gentiles.  The Son’s life is a sacrifice given to free us from the darkness of the world.  The Father has no need to sacrifice anyone else.  God does not need another tragedy to happen in order to bring us grace.  Not everything that happens in life is the work of the Spirit.

So, how do we know when it is the work of the Spirit?  Well, the question we ask to figure that out is: “Does it have the fingerprint of grace?”  That is how you tell if one of these encounters or decisions is the work of the Spirit.  You ask, “Does it have the fingerprint of grace?” 

I will tell you an encounter that had the fingerprint of grace: the holy family’s encounter with the prophet Anna.  After Simeon hands the child back to Mary and Joseph, the prophet Anna comes and starts “to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem” (Luke 2:38). 

Now, the importance of the holy family and Anna’s encounter might be lost on us modern people since she is given no poetry to drip from her lips or words to soothe our souls.  What Anna is given is numbers. 

Numbers do not mean much to us modern people, but they meant a lot to those in the ancient world. 

Seven. 

Anna lived with a husband for seven years of marriage.  Seven is, of course, a number of wholeness and completeness in the Bible.  Anna and her husband had seven years of a wholesome marriage.  But, then she was separated from her husband and became a widow, seeking her solace in God’s temple to the age of eighty-four. 

Eighty-four.

When she is eighty-four years old she finally hears the good news that the Messiah has come.  At age eighty-four she finds out that the good life, the age of the Messiah, is finally here, and she runs to tell the people this good news.  Now, eighty-four can be divided by seven, twelve times.  Twelve is, of course, the amount of tribes in Israel. 

So, in the numerical telling of this story, Anna’s life is Israel’s life.  God gave Israel a good and whole life, just as Anna had with her husband.  And, God separated from the twelve tribes and they were exiled, just as Anna was separated and widowed from her husband.  And, both Israel and Anna waited and waited for God to make a move in their lives for the good.  They waited for one of those chance, but not so chance, encounters with God.

And as Anna places her eyes on the baby Jesus, she knows that God is about to make that move for the good.  She can see it.  She is a prophet in the temple after-all.  And, it has the fingerprint of grace.

And, that is where I think I want to leave you this morning.  I want to leave you in that spot where you see that God is about to make a move, right here and right now, for the good through Jesus Christ in your life and in our lives.  You are standing in one of those spots in life where God is going to shape your life in an important way.  You are standing in a spot where the grace of Jesus is about to flourish.  We, as a people of God, are standing in a spot where Jesus is going to shape our lives in an important way. 

And, when that is about to happen, how do we react?  The Bible says that Anna, “began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for…redemption” (Luke 2:38).  We praise God, and we talk about the grace and power of Jesus to all who want their lives to be shaped in a new and incredible way.