Simeon's Surprises - Sermon for the 1st Sunday after Christmas

1^st Sunday after Christmas
December 29^th, Year of Our Lord + 2024
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Simeon’s Surprises, Luke 2:22 - 40

Sermon Audio can be accessed HERE.   

     Luke is the singing evangelist.  He records several songs in his account of the life of Christ,
songs which the Church has been singing ever since.  The song of the angels, announcing the birth of Jesus to the shepherds on Christmas night, is the chorus or is referenced in the stanzas of dozens of carols, like Silent Night, which we just sang.  And of course, it is the opening line of the Gloria in Excelsis, the second song of the historic liturgy: Glory be to God on high, and on earth, peace, good will toward men.

 

   There is also the song of Zechariah, the Benedictus: Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel…  Zechariah thanks God for the birth of his son, John the Baptist, and for the Christ whose way John would prepare. 

   As we considered last Sunday, Luke also gives us the Song of Mary, the Magnificat, which Mary sang to her cousin Elizabeth, and to John the Baptist, eavesdropping in her womb.  The Church sings with Mary:  My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior. 

   Today we have Simeon’s Song, known in Latin as the Nunc Dimittis, which means “Now you are dismissing,” as in Lord, now you let your servant go in peace.  Simeon first sang these words as he held the Christ Child in his arms, a song of joy, and confidence, a song about the victory of God, for us.  Simeon’s Song has been set to music hundreds of different ways through the centuries.  The version we just sang is one of the best recent contributions to the collection.   

            Lord bid Your servant go in peace, 
            Your word is now fulfilled.
            These eyes have seen salvation’s dawn, 
            This Child so long foretold.

   The Christ is born!  The Babe of Bethlehem is in the world, come to complete His great salvation mission.  This is a wonderful surprise, and there are many more surprises to come. 

   Simeon was a faithful Israelite, one of the Remnant who believed and lived from the promise that, at just the right time, the Lord God of Israel would send His Savior.  Simeon received another surprise, a special promise, just for him, the promise that he would not die before seeing the Lord’s Christ.  When Mary and Joseph, obeying the Law of Moses, brought Jesus to Jerusalem to be dedicated to the Lord, Simeon knew from the Holy Spirit that the Lord’s promise had been fulfilled. 

    Now, the Christ has come to His Temple, which means that Simeon could die anytime, and very happily.  Simeon is glad to be a servant of the Lord, happy to be the servant of the little Child he held.  Simeon rejoices that now he can depart in peace, he can die with joy and confidence, for the Word of God has been fulfilled.  Salvation from on high has dawned in the darkness of our world. 

   All of God’s promises receive their yes, in the infant Jesus.  All prophecy, all of the promises of the Old Testament had been awaiting His arrival.  All that God had promised to do for His people is being fulfilled in the Christ Child.

   Simeon rejoices that God has revealed His salvation.  But salvation from what?  Now, this may seem an obvious question.  We drill this basic fact into the heads of our children.  We start the service by confessing our sins; everyone here knows that Jesus came to save us from our sins. 

   Or do we?  Yes, we know it as an answer to a question, and that’s good.  But do we always believe it as the truth, about ourselves?  Our lives are very comfortable, mostly,  and by the standards of the world we are a pretty fine group of people.  We are by the ease and appearance of our lives tempted to think sin is a problem, but not so much for us.  We are tempted to think this way, because often we put on a pretty good show of not being such terrible sinners.  And I’m glad that we all make an effort to avoid sin.  And how could we not try to avoid sin, for we have been redeemed and claimed by the Holy One.  Still, we are tempted to ignore the sin that still clings to us, most especially because facing our own sin is painful.  To confront or not confront your own sinfulness is the “falling” that Simeon spoke of, the question of whether we honestly confess the Truth, about Christ, and about ourselves. 

   Simeon’s “falling” is repentance, my acknowledgement of and sorrow for my sins, and my sinfulness.  And, everyone will repent, eventually.  Every knee will bow before Christ and His Holy Truth.  The critical question is whether a soul repents now, while it is still daytime, and the work of salvation can be done, or only when it is too late.  When every eye sees the One who was laid in a manger suddenly coming on the clouds, to usher in the new heavens and the new earth, then repentance will be no help.  To confess one’s sinfulness then will be too late.      

     By grace you have been saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, lest anyone should boast.  Saving faith in Jesus must be worked in us by God.  We know this.  But, what about repentance?  Is this also God’s work, or are we responsible to repent, out of our own knowledge and wisdom and will? 

   To be saved, the sinner must repent, it is necessary for communion with God, who is holy, and hates sin.  And so, just as He must work faith in us, our Lord does not leave such a great work as repentance in our hands.  True repentance is beyond the strength of the unbeliever,  just as is trusting in Christ and His forgiveness.  As Christians, we have the Holy Spirit, and so we can struggle against our sinful nature, we are much more involved in repentance.  Still, whether before conversion or after, we need God to repent.  God works repentance in us, by preaching His Law, even more, by preaching Christ.  For the true depth of our sin, the truth of our need, is finally revealed through hearing of all that Christ suffered for us.  The sword that pierced Mary’s soul is the ultimate way the Holy Spirit works true repentance. 

   Simeon’s final words to Mary must have been quite a bitter surprise, for Simeon, as he held Baby Jesus, and had been singing so joyfully.  Quite a shock for Mary and Joseph, too.  It’s hard to think that this most wonderful person of all, this perfect, sinless, humble Babe, who would grow into the man Jesus, should have to suffer, for our sins.  The Cross is the Lord’s strongest tool to bring us to repentance.  This is true, even for Mary, whose soul would be pierced, through seeing up close and personal all that her Son would suffer. 

   But we do not despair, for God does not stop with this bitter surprise.  The Christ who causes the fall of many also raises many.  Repentance is bitter, but Salvation is even sweeter, the very best surprise of all.  As Simeon sang:

        This is the Savior of the world, 
        The Gentiles’ promised light,
        God’s glory dwelling in our midst,
        The joy of Israel.

   This Baby is the Savior!  Wonderful surprise.  And, there is another one coming, right behind it.  Do you suppose Simeon was surprised that Jesus was the Savior of the world?  Was he surprised that the promise was also for the Gentiles, as the Holy Spirit led him to sing?  Perhaps not.  Perhaps faithful Simeon knew what the Lord had declared through the prophet Isaiah:          “It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6)   Maybe Simeon always knew.  But certainly this news of Christ for the nations was a surprise to many Jews. 

   Ancient Israel had been set apart by God.  God through His blessings and through His instruction made them different than the Gentiles, that is the nations, all the non-Israelite people in the world.  God set Israel apart, for their good, and for the good of all people.  

   But you know what can happen with a child who is favored over his siblings.  Through generations of being set apart, it was natural for Israelites to begin to think that God only favored them, that His providence and love and mercy did not extend to the nations.  And remember, most of the nations that surrounded Israel were bitter enemies, often persecutors or even conquerors of God’s special people. 

   That the Christ would be the joy of Israel, that was expected.  But that the Messiah would be the Savior of the World, the Light of the nations, the Hope of all people?  The Jews, or better said, Judahites, members of the tribe of Judah, were the great majority of the remnant of Israel at the time when Christ visibly walked this earth.  After centuries of strife, warfare, exile and return, many Judahites were so turned inward that they hated non-Jews.  Or at least they considered them unworthy of God’s salvation.  But Simeon, inspired by the Holy Spirit, sings that Jesus is the light of the nations.  A wonderful surprise, even if unwelcomed by some.   

   Many first century Jews were largely turned inward, unconcerned for the rest of the world.  Does this malady continue to plague the Christian Church today?  We are Gentiles, for the most part, members of the nations, who have put on Christ in our Baptisms.  We have been grafted into the true root of Israel by faith.  Do we forget that Christ is still for all people, all nations?  Do we prefer to ignore the fact that God wills to work through us, through His Church, to reach out to the world of unbelievers? 

   Like forgetting about the ugly reality of our own sin, it is easy for Christians to disregard the world, forgetting that, however evil the world may be, it is made up of souls for whom Christ died.  Souls for whom there is plentiful forgiveness and salvation, in the blood of Christ.       

Lord, protect us from indifference to Your Mission. 

   How can this all be?  How can a tiny baby be expected to do so much?  Because this Child is God, in our midst.  The Son of God come down to earth, to do all that it takes to save the world.  As Job declared: “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.” (Job 19:25)  Or as the Lord declared through Ezekiel: “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.” (Ezekiel 34:11)  Or from Isaiah “The Lord saw it, and it displeased him that there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no one to intercede; then his own arm brought him salvation, and his righteousness upheld him.” (Isaiah 59:15-16)

   That the Savior be human was necessary so that He could truly suffer, and die, for sins.  The sins separating us from God are our sins, human sins, the plague of every man, woman and child descended from Adam.  And so, this debt had to be paid by a human being.  That the Savior be divine, that He be God, was also necessary, since no mere human death could merit forgiveness for all people.  Only the death of the eternal Son of God would be worth enough to cover all sin.  Because His value and merit are infinite. 

   Surprise upon surprise, grace upon grace, God and man in one person, Jesus Christ, born to save.  His story of suffering, the hardest story ever told, God then resurrects into the sweetest surprise in history.  And so, clinging by faith to the resurrected Christ, we with Simeon worship the Babe of Bethlehem, Immanuel, God with us, come to save.   

   This Baby causes every saint to sing with Simeon.  That means you.  Every believer is called a saint, that is, ever believer is called holy, declared to be holy, by God, for the sake of Jesus.  Sainthood does not come from doing good work.  Being a saint is certainly not determined by a committee in Rome.  No, God declares everyone who trusts in His Son to be one of His holy ones, a saint.  For every believing sinner finds forgiveness in Jesus’ blood, and new life in His resurrection.  Faith in Christ re-creates, it restores, it regenerates.  This Baby is the One who gives us access to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, opening the way for us to sing God’s praises forever. 

   This baby who grew to be the Savior gives life to every person whom He joins to Himself, through repentance and faith.  To the Jew first, and also for the Gentile, God’s Son came to save.  And so, Mary carried Jesus in her womb, and sang.  The angels celebrated His birth, and sang.  Simeon sang to God, holding Jesus in His arms. 

   Baptized into His death and resurrection, we have been clothed in Christ.  He has joined Himself to us, and so we too sing.  When we rise from this altar, having received the Body and Blood of Christ, put into our hands, received into our bodies, we sing.  And most often, most appropriately, we sing Simeon’s Song.  We sing and rejoice in the surprising Good News that we too, are ready to die, fully prepared for life forever with God, by faith in the forgiveness won by the Babe of Bethlehem.    

   We too have seen God’s salvation.  From this altar, obeying Christ’s instruction, we receive His Holy Body and Blood into our lowly bodies, for forgiveness, and also for strength for Christian living.  We like Simeon are ready to die.  We are also ready to live, for we are filled with Christ, ready to confess His Name and His Gospel, and to love and serve the neighbors He places around us.  So we sing with Simeon, and with all the saints:    

    With saints of old, with saints to come, 
    To You we lift our voice;
    To Father, Son, and Spirit blest, 
    Be honor, love, and praise.

And all God’s people said, Amen.