+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
Today is the Third Day of Christmas! There are no “three French hens” here, though the Gospel Reading for the First Sunday after Christmas does mention “two turtledoves”. The Christmas season truly does continue for Twelve Days, this year including two Sundays. Christmas Day itself, however, has been over for a while, in a sense ending perhaps as soon as the last present was unwrapped or as soon as the last dish was dried and put away. Were all your expectations met? Were the decorations, including the tree, just perfect? Did you get all the gifts that you wanted? Were all your favorite foods prepared and served? Did you have an enjoyable time with all the family and friends whom you wanted to visit? If you went, were the Christmas services meaningful? Was the atmosphere just right, with enough people and all your favorite songs? We sure can have a lot of Christmas expectations, can’t we? Perhaps even impossibly-high expectations that, when unmet, get in the way of the season’s true peace and joy. More than mentioning “a pair of turtledoves”, today’s Gospel Reading tells of two faithful believers, whose Christmas expectations, we might say, were met and so who had peace and joy. This morning we reflect on that Gospel Reading under the theme “Christmas Expectations”.
The Gospel Reading recounts not the events of the Third Day of Christmas, the First Sunday after Christmas, or even the Eighth Day after Christmas (on which day Jesus was circumcised [Luke 2:21]), but the Gospel Reading recounts the events 40 days after Christmas. Forty days after Jesus’s birth was the time for Mary’s Purification, required, for example in Leviticus 12, and forty days after Jesus’s birth was the occasion for Jesus’s Presentation, required, for example, in Exodus 13, parts of which we heard today as the Old Testament Reading (13:1-3a, 11-15). In Jerusalem, in the Temple Courts, either before or after Mary, Joseph, and Jesus had performed everything according to those laws of the Lord given through Moses, the Holy Family miraculously encounters two faithful believers. The first, Simeon, was “waiting for the consolation of Israel”, and the second, Anna, spoke of Jesus “to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem”. In short, the two faithful believers were expecting the fulfillment of all of God’s promises regarding the Messiah, the Christ, and that day, as their prophetic words and deeds give witness, their expectations were in fact met (ESL #4327; Gundmann, TDNT2:58).
We can and do have impossibly-high and so often unmet expectations of Christmas decorations, gifts, foods, visits, and even church services. Those unmet expectations then get in the way of the season’s true peace and joy. When we observe Christmas not as a high holy‑day but as “the biggest and best family day of the year”, Christmas can become “one of the most frustrating and unfulfilling days of the year”. As the Rev. Dr. Scott Murray noted this past week, “Some detail of the perfect Christmas tableaux will fall out of place, hitting a discordant note in the symphony of Christmas perfection.” (Murray, 2015-12-23) In all likelihood, our celebrations of Christmas in some way failed to meet our expectations, just as we fail in many ways to meet God’s expectations, such as those expressed in His holy and righteous law. In the Gospel Reading, Simeon said rightly that the Christ Child is appointed so that the thoughts from many hearts might be revealed, and when our thoughts are so revealed we see just how sinful we are.
When our thoughts, words, and deeds are revealed as sinful, the result is our either falling in impenitence, which leads to judgment now and for eternity, or rising in repentance, which leads to salvation now and for eternity. God calls and enables us to repent of our sin and to trust Him to forgive our sin for the sake of His Son Jesus Christ. When we fail so to repent and believe, then we are lost, but when we so repent and believe, then God forgives our sinful nature and all our sin. God forgives our impossibly‑high expectations of Christmas and whatever else our sin might be.
The days after Christmas can be filled with exchanging gifts that failed to meet our expectations, but what is called “the great exchange” took place when the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity took on human flesh in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Our Hymn of the Day expressed that idea with these words (Lutheran Service Book 389:4):
He undertakes a great exchange, / Puts on our human frame,
And in return gives us His realm, / His glory and His name …
Simeon and Anna had the highest of expectations for the Christ’s, the Messiah’s, birth, and they were not disappointed, as their right expectations were met as promised. As unlikely as it might seem, in the Christ Child Simeon received consolation, that is comfort, and Anna received redemption, and so they also received peace and joy. The Christ Child they saw that day grew and became strong, was filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon Him. Simeon’s prophesied opposition against the Christ, Jesus, culminated in His crucifixion (Meyer, in RR 144), and so on the cross, as unlikely as it might seem, Jesus comforted and redeemed not only Simeon and Anna but also you and me and all who believe. The Christ sacrificed Himself for our cleansing from the sins the law of the Lord given through Moses reveals to us. Jesus is the salvation prepared before the face of all people. As we repent and believe, we, too, by God’s grace and favor, have comfort and redemption, and so we also have peace and joy. Comfort, redemption, and salvation and so also peace and joy are given to us through God’s Word and Sacraments.
Apparently at the time of Jesus’s birth, the custom in Jerusalem was to bring a small child to a rabbi that he might bless the child and pray for it (SB, II, 138, in RR, 144). The Gospel Reading does not say one way or the other whether for that purpose Mary and Joseph came to Simeon, or whether Simeon was seeking them out, or whether Simeon even blessed Jesus at all. The Gospel Reading does say that Simeon “blessed”, or “praised”, God and then blessed Mary and Joseph. Later, others would bring little children to Jesus, and Jesus took them in His arms and blessed them, laying His hands on them (for example, Mark 10:13-16). Whether first‑born, second‑born, third‑born, or whatever, in Holy Baptism, we are blessed by water and the Word and faith that work forgiveness of sins, rescue from death and the devil, and give eternal salvation. We who are baptized and individually absolved come to this Rail to receive Christ in the Sacrament of the Altar. Not in our bent arms but in our hands and mouths we receive both His Body in, with, and under bread, and His Blood in, with, and under wine, and so we also receive forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation. From here, we depart in peace and even joyfully sing Simeon’s song, known by its first words in Latin, Nunc Dimittis.
People usually depict Simeon as if he were elderly like Anna, though the Gospel Reading says nothing about his age. Of course, elderly believers valuably serve in a variety of ways, but one does not have to be elderly in order to desire to depart in peace from this life and be with the Lord. From the moment of our conversions, young and old faithful believers await the Day when our Savior will either summon our souls from this valley of sorrow in death or return to be with us in eternal glory (confer Pieper, III:84-85). Although our Christmas expectations of comfort and redemption have been met, we rightly still expect such things as Christ’s glorious final coming, the resurrection of the dead, and mercy and grace for His sake in His judgment (confer Gundmann, TDNT 2:58). Like Simeon, our Lord (Luke 23:46), St. Stephen (Acts 7:59), and other faithful believers before us, we commend ourselves to God confident that His righteous wrath towards us has been replaced by grace for Christ’s sake (confer Pieper, III:510).
Despite our at times impossibly‑high Christmas expectations and our other sin, we realize that what matters most is the Savior’s bringing us comfort and redemption and so also peace and joy—peace and joy not only for the nine more days of this Christmas season but also for all the days and for all the situations of our lives until He returns. With daily repentance and faith, we live together in His forgiveness of sins, as described in today’s Epistle Reading (Colossians 3:12-17), for example, letting the Word of Christ dwell in us richly, singing psalms and hymns, with thankfulness in our hearts to God. As God at the time of our Lord Jesus’s birth had preserved a remnant of faithful believers who included Simeon and Anna, and as God had preserved a remnant of faithful believers through to the time of the Reformation and ever since, so God preserves now and will always preserve a remnant of faithful believers. We who believe depart from this Rail in peace, and ultimately our bodies rest in peace, for we know that, thanks to His meeting the proper Christmas expectations of comfort and redemption, we will be resurrected to His eternal peace.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +