Sunday after Christmas + Luke 2:33-40
In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the
Holy Ghost. Amen.
The world is finished with its Christmas celebration by
now and has moved onto its celebration of the new calendar year. But for the
Church today is the sixth day of Christmas and the Sunday after Christmas. The
appointed gospel lesson jumps ahead forty days after Jesus’ birth to Mary’s
purification in the temple at Jerusalem. The text picks up in the middle of
things. “And Joseph and His mother
marveled at those things which were spoken of Him.” The words at which they
marveled were the words of the aged priest Simeon, who had taken the child in
his elderly arms and spoken the words which we now sing every Sunday in the Nunc Dimittis after receiving the Lord’s
Supper where we see the salvation of the Lord prepared for all people. In the Lord’s Supper we, like Simeon, receive
Christ physically, but under bread and wine, and our sins are once again
forgiven. After saying that the Lord can now let him depart from this life in
peace because he has seen the Christ, Joseph and Mary marvel. Not in unbelief
as so many do. They marvel in faith because Simeon’s confession of Mary’s child
matches what Gabriel told both Mary and Joseph before He was born. Simeon says
the same things as the shepherds did who had rushed to Bethlehem with the angel’s
song in the heads from the night Christ was born. Mary and Joseph, forty days
after Christmas, still marvel at all the things spoken about the child. Would
that we would marvel as they did at the words spoken about Christ and treasure
them in our hearts.
But then Simeon throws a splash of cold water on the marveling
husband and wife. “Behold,” he says
as a prophet, “This Child is destined
for the fall and rising of many is Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken
against (yes, a sword will pierce your own soul also), that the thoughts of
many hearts may be revealed.” Christmas joy is tempered by the cross on the
horizon. Simeon, having praised
the Lord for the gift of the Messiah from sin, now prophesies about the
division the child would bring, the rejection He would suffer, the cross Mary
herself would bear. This child will cause the fall and rising of many in
Israel. Those who fall at this child fall because they stumble over the child
as if He would a stone in the path. He won’t cause them to fall in the sense
that He wills their falling. He is the stone of stumbling and rock of offense
that many will stumble over. This was foretold by the prophet Isaiah. The
prophet writes about the Christ, “He
will be as a sanctuary, but a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense to both
the houses of Israel, as a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
And many among them shall stumble; they shall fall and be broken, be snared and
taken.” The words of both prophets proved true. Some of Israel took offense
at Christ’s humility, expecting Him to be more of worldly messiah and political
savior. Others, most in fact, stumbled over His doctrine. They imagined they
were righteous in and of themselves so they took offense that Christ came not
for those who thought they’re righteous but for those who confess their
sinfulness. This is why He told the multitudes, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of me” (Matt. 11:6).
Many
would fall because of this child. But many would rise as well. This rising is
the rising from sin through repentance and faith. Christ is a stone of
stumbling to those who imagine they’re righteous in themselves. But those who
are poor in spirit, Christ isn’t a stone of stumbling but a rock of refuge from
the storms of a terrified conscience. For those who tremble at the word of God
because they know their sin and unworthiness, Christ is a stone of salvation to
which they can cling. To those who are torn down by the knowledge of their sin,
Christ is the chief cornerstone upon which their certainty of their salvation
is built. St. Peter says, “Behold, I lay
in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will
by no means be put to shame” (1 Peter 2:6). To those who do not believe on
Him, this child will be a sign which is spoken against. But all who believe
Christ, all who flee to Him for mercy and trust His merits for their salvation
will by no means be put to shame by their sins, for they take refuge in the
rock of salvation. All who cling to this rock and rise through daily repentance
and faith in this life will rise on the Last Day to everlasting life as well. St.
John writes in Revelation 20:6, “Blessed and holy is
he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the
second death has no power.” The first resurrection is the resurrection from
sin which happens now. All who rise, using Christ as a rock of refuge, are safe
from the second death of everlasting hell and destruction.
To
Mary Simeon says, “Yes a sword will pierce
through your own soul as well.” By this he prophesies the cross that Mary
would have to bear because of her Son. She would have to watch Him be rejected
by many. She would stand at the foot of the cross as she witnessed how much the
devil, the world, and the sinful flesh hate her son who is her God and Lord.
Mary’s grief shows us what kind of grief all Christians must bear in this
world. The world hates your savior. It speaks all sorts of blasphemous things
against Him. It denies His divinity. It tramples Him underfoot. Mary’s cross is
a picture of every Christian’s cross they must bear for confessing Christ in
the world. Yet Scripture tells you, “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and
of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is
glorified. If anyone suffers as
a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter” (1 Peter 4:14, 16). Christ does not take crosses and
suffering away but strengthens us by His Holy Spirit so that we may bear them
patiently as He endured His suffering, for we know that that it glorifies God
and that conforms us to the imagine of Christ our Lord.
Through
Simeon, the Lord teaches us that Christmas joy must be tempered by the cross.
It is good for us to marvel at all the things which were spoken about this child
as Mary and Joseph did. Faith does that. Faith hears the Christmas story again and
like Mary, keeps all these things and ponders them in the heart, meditating on
what a magnificent savior we have in our Lord Jesus Christ, fully God and fully
man. Faith hears the angel’s song to the shepherds watching their fields by
night and joins in with them, glorifying God for the savior from sin that is
for all people. Faith hears Simeon’s words, sung with the Christ child in his
aged arms, are sees with Simeon our salvation. Faith understands this child for
the stone which He is. Some trip over this stone and are dashed to pieces
because of their self-righteousness and love of sin. Others cling to this stone
in faith, wrap their arms around it for dear life, lest they sink in the mire
of their sins and guilt.
Simeon’s
words teach us that cross, suffering, and hardship, aren’t the exception for
this child, but the rule. So we shouldn’t imagine that those who bear the name
of Christ in this life will escape the world’s ire and scorn either. With this
is mind, rise through faith in Christ. Cling to Him as your chief cornerstone
in all temptations, every doubts, and whatever perplexities you face. When you
slip into the mire and sewage of sin, establish yourself on this rock as your
foundation, trusting the promise that His blood covers every sin. He is your
rock of refuge, your mighty fortress, and the stone of your salvation. Amen.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son + and of the
Holy Ghost. Amen.