Listen to the sermon with the player below, or, download the audio.
+ + + 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. (Amen.)
Merry Christmas! While some may think that “Christmas” ended at midnight this past Wednesday, the celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord is a twelve‑day season, which this year includes two Sundays, both today and also next Sunday. Already last Sunday in Adult Bible Class we discussed the “Gloria in Excelsis”, the multitude of the heavenly host’s song as recorded in St. Luke’s Divinely‑inspired Gospel account: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased!” (Luke 2:14). Notably, “peace” was first mentioned in St. Luke’s account of the “Benedictus”, Zachariah’s song to the eight‑day‑old John the Baptizer, referring to Jesus’s guiding our feet into the way of peace (Luke 1:79), and peace is next mentioned in St. Luke’s account of the “Nunc Dimittis”, Simeon’s—and our—song that we heard in today’s Gospel Reading, emphatically describing the Lord’s letting Simeon—and us—depart in peace (compare Luke 1:46-55). Considering primarily today’s Gospel Reading, this morning we direct our thoughts to the theme, “Departing in peace”.
“Peace” is mentioned another ten times in St. Luke’s account, for apparently more mentions than in any other New Testament book. For example, somewhat like the multitude of the heavenly host at Jesus’s birth, St. Luke records the whole multitude of Jesus’s disciples on Palm Sunday’s singing, “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” (Luke 19:38), and, as Jesus that day saw Jerusalem, St. Luke records Jesus’s weeping over the city, saying, “Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace!” (Luke 10:42). “Peace” can refer to a number of related things, such as bodily health, material goods, and our relationships with other people, but in the Bible “peace” is especially peace with God, which is finally and fully experienced on the Last Day for all eternity. That kind of peace is to what Simeon referred in today’s Gospel Reading, what he needed—and we need—what Jesus said the people of Jerusalem did not know—and we do not know—much less have, by nature.
What was humankind’s perfect peace with God in the beginning was broken by humankind’s fall into sin. The first man and woman knew it: they tried to cover their shame with fig leaves and to hide themselves from the presence of the Lord God (Genesis 3:7-8). They passed their corruption down to us. So, we not only are born without fear, love, and trust in God, but we also fear, love, and trust the things of this world. We are angry toward God, hate God and His judgment, flee from Him, and despair of His mercy and grace. (Augsburg Confession and Apology II.) Because we are not at peace with God, we sin against ourselves and against our neighbors in countless, sometimes unspeakable ways. On account of our sinful nature and of all of our actual sin, we deserve nothing but present and eternal punishment. But, out of God’s great love, mercy, and grace, He calls and so enables us to repent: to be sorry for our sin and to trust Him to forgive our sin. In today’s Gospel Reading, Simeon’s waiting for the consolation of Israel and Anna’s waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem are both said to include their sorrow of soul (Luther, ad loc Psalm 119:94, AE 11:474), as over their own sin, not to mention their trust in God, to forgive them for the sake of the coming Savior. When we so repent, then God forgives us, our sinful nature and all of our actual sin—God forgives us for the sake of the Savior Who has come, Jesus Christ, as today’s Gradual reminded us, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6).
The Christmas angel brought good news of great joy for all the people—good news of a Savior born for them—a Savior Who is Christ the Lord. Truly, the Savior born that night lived the life that we all fail to live and died on the cross for all of our failures to live that life—He died in our place, as our substitute. But, the multitude of the heavenly host’s song of peace on earth among those with whom God is pleased is also true, as only some people repent and so are pleasing to God in Christ. What the Bible teaches—and so what we believe, teach, and confess—is contrary to the Calvinist and other Reformed teaching, like that of the Presbyterians, that Jesus did not die for all people. But, even Simeon in today’s Gospel Reading sang of Jesus as a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to God’s people Israel—no one seems excluded there! The historical events of Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection effect our peace with God—not that people who died before Jesus came could not or did not depart from this life in peace, as Simeon would depart in peace, having seen the Lord’s salvation, but those before Jesus had faith in the Savior Who would come for them, and we have faith in the Savior Who has come for us.
Simeon saw the Lord’s salvation physically and spiritually (for example, Luther, AE 53:132), but we see the Lord’s salvation spiritually, even though arguably we with our ears hear and with our hands touch that which was from the beginning (1 John 1:1-2). Even if not as specifically as to Simeon, through His Word read and preached, God speaks to us. Differently than the rites in today’s Gospel Reading, in Holy Baptism, even eight-day-old children are received and blessed and so rescued from death and the devil. In Holy Absolution, those who confess the sins that particularly trouble them are forgiven by their pastor as by God Himself and sent away in peace (Lutheran Service Book 293; confer Luke 7:50). And, similarly, In Holy Communion, we who have received both the bread that is the Body of Christ given for us and the wine that is the Blood of Christ shed for us—and so have received the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation—we depart from this altar in peace.
So transformed by God through His Word and Sacraments, we at least want to live as God would have us live. For example, as St. Paul exhorted in today’s Epistle Reading (Colossians 3:12-17), we try to let the peace of Christ rule in our hearts. And, when we fail to live as God would have us live, as we will fail, then, with daily contrition and faith, we live in the forgiveness of sins that we receive from God and that we, in turn, extend to one another. Morning and evening, as the Small Catechism teaches us to pray (Small Catechism VII:2, 5; confer Pieper, III:84‑85), and perhaps more as we know that our individual deaths are drawing near, like Simeon—and later both our Lord Himself (Luke 23:46; confer Psalm 31:5) and St. Stephen (Acts 7:59)—we can confidently commend ourselves—bodies and souls—into our Lord’s hands. At our deaths, our bodies (as intact as possible), God’s being willing, will rest in peace, not eternally but for a time, while our souls will be with the Lord (confer Luke 16:19-31). Then, on the Last Day, with resurrected and glorified bodies reunited with our souls, we will live at peace with the Lord for eternity.
In its broader context of St. Luke’s account, today’s Gospel Reading can be taken as making clear that Simeon, who is “Departing in peace”, is the first explicit person both whose feet Jesus guides into the way of peace and who receives the peace on earth among those with whom God is pleased. But, Simeon certainly is not the last person so to experience God’s peace. You and I who are sorry for our sin and trust God to forgive our sin are also “Departing in peace”, from this altar and, unless the Lord returns first, ultimately from this life. Like Simeon, therefore, let us bless God, as the Christmas season continues, throughout this life, and forever.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +