Christmas: Luke 2:25-38: They Saw God’s Salvation from Afar

You may have seen pictures of Joseph and Mary and Baby Jesus in the temple. In these pictures an old man is holding Jesus and an old woman is looking on. So what were these two doing? And why are they important in the Christmas story?

LUKE 2:25-38: THEY SAW GOD’S SALVATION FROM AFAR

INTRODUCTION

Today we are going to talk about something that happened after Christmas.
Mary and Joseph were devoted to their spiritual heritage. Eight days after Jesus was born they had a priest come to circumcise him.
In this way they dedicated him to God, according to the requirements of the law of the Old Testament.
At that time they gave him his name. It was a name of great significance. It was not a name they chose.
It was the name the angel gave to Mary, when the angel came to her, and then to Joseph, when the angel visited Joseph in a dream.
The angel told Joseph, “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
The name, in the Hebrew language, was Joshua—or “Yehoshuah” which means “The Lord Saves.”

But there were two other important rituals

And that is our story for today.

Read: Luke 25-38.

I. Forty days after the child’s birth the family would come to the Temple for the redemption of the firstborn and the purification of the mother.

A. Do you remember the story of the Exodus—how the Angel of Death killed the firstborn sons of the Egyptians?

Ever after that the Israelites redeemed their firstborn sons with a gift of 5 shekels of silver.
This was to keep the story of their liberation from slavery in their memories.

B. The ritual they called the Purification of the Mother involved a sacrifice of a lamb or—if the family was poor—two pigeons or turtledoves.

Joseph and Mary were poor, so their offering was two turtledoves or pigeons.

C. Picture what we are talking about when we say, “They went to the Temple.”

Ordinary people didn’t go into the Temple building; only priests entered the building.
But around the Temple was a great courtyard—30 acres of courtyard.
All around the courtyard was a colonnade, covered porches under which people could assemble and where the rabbis taught.

II. After Joseph and Mary had given their gift of 5 shekels and offered the two birds, something unexpected happened—

A. An old man approached the little family and took the baby Jesus into his arms. His name was Simeon.

Simeon was a righteous and godly man who for years had meditated on the promises God had made to his people long ago.
Even when the people of Judah were captives in faraway Babylon, God had sent a prophet to promise that God would visit his people and deliver them from captivity and from all evil.
We can read the promise in the book of Isaiah:

“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned,
that she has received from the Lord’s hand
double for all her sins” (Isaiah 40:1-5).

And again, God is speaking to Israel…

“Listen! your watchmen lift up their voice,
together they sing for joy;
for in plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion,
Break forth together into singing…
for the Lord has comforted his people…
and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God” (Isaiah 52:8-10).

Simeon was one of those Jews who had kept this hope alive in his heart, meditating on the promise of God to send his Messiah into the world and fulfill these prophecies.
Evidently he understood that God had appointed him as the watchman Isaiah spoke of.
God had promised him that he would see God’s Salvation before he died.
That explains his words,

“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.”

Notice that Simeon says, “My eyes have seen your salvation.”
When Simeon looked at that baby in his arms, he saw in the little baby Jesus, God’s salvation!
Jesus would become the Savior, not only for Israel, but also for the whole world.

How excited Mary and Joseph must have been to hear this pronouncement of the destiny of their precious baby boy—a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to God’s people Israel.

Then before handing Mary back her baby, he had another prophecy to make—words that prepared Mary for the cost to her of bearing the Savior of the world. He said,

“Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising of many in Israel,
and for a sign that is spoken against
(and a sword will pierce through your own soul also),
that thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”

B. But Simeon had a counterpart, another prophet named Anna, to whom God had also revealed the destiny of this little baby boy.

Anna, we read, was an old woman who had been a widow most of her life.
Anna was a familiar figure to all who came to worship in the Temple.
We read that day and night she was there worshiping and fasting and praying.
As a prophetess, that is where Anna would be, praising the Lord.
When people went home after worship, they would remember this old woman who was a fixture at the temple, constantly praying and praising God.

Anna saw Mary and Joseph and Simeon with the baby, and she joined them, taking the baby into her arms.
It doesn’t say she took him into her arms, but I know that is what she did, because that is what women do.
And when she got the baby Jesus into her arms she blessed him, and she praised God like she never had before.
And “She spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

APPLICATION

Have we seen God’s salvation? Or do we, like most of the world, just see a baby?
This time of year we are surrounded by images of the baby Jesus. Maybe we forget why he came.
Some people, at Christmastime, think only about the baby in the manger, but that was just the beginning. We should think more of what that baby did with his life--
Jesus didn’t come to be a baby. The Bible tells us hardly anything about the baby.

Jesus came to live among poor and needy, sick and suffering people, and, in the end, to be rejected by those he loved and to give his life.
Jesus came to be our Savior. That is what thrilled Anna and Simeon.

Jesus came to die on the cross for our sins and to rise again to give us life.
Jesus came to be our constant companion and friend of all who love him.

That’s what we mean when we say, “Jesus is my Savior.”

Simeon and Anna, when they had welcomed the Savior, were ready to go to God.
And so we—when we have welcomed Jesus as our Savior and Lord—are ready to go to God.

In one of his most beautiful cantatas (BWV 82), the great composer, Johann Sebastian Bach, places himself in the place of Simeon. He gives the baritone soloist these words:

“For me, it is enough.
I have taken the Savior, the faithful one, into my arms.
For me, it is enough!
I have seen him.
My faith has clasped Jesus to my heart.
Now I desire this very day joyfully to depart this earth.
For me it is enough.”

Christmas: John 8:1 & Matthew 5:14: The Light of the World

One of the most exciting things about Christmas is all the lights. Did you ever wonder why we use so many lights and candles at Christmas?

JOHN 8:1 AND MATTHEW 5:14: THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD

INTRODUCTION

We are now in the Christmas season. Everywhere we see the Christmas lights. Lights have been used to celebrate Jesus all through the ages. It used to be candles. Churches were full of candles. I have heard about churches where each worshiper would bring his or her candle into the dark church and when everyone arrived and was seated the church would be ablaze with light.
These candles have a deep spiritual significance. To understand their significance will help us to celebrate Christmas as it ought to be celebrated.
I have two texts for today’s message. The first is John 8:1: Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.” And the second is Matthew 5:14: Jesus said, “You are the light of the world.”
We will take up each of these ideas in turn and see how they help us understand what God has done for us and what he expects of us.
I hope that these thoughts will help us prepare spiritually to celebrate Christmas as it ought to be celebrated.

I. Jesus said, “I am the light of the world.”

A. You know that John begins his story of Jesus long before Bethlehem, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds and the wise men. John begins his story of Jesus before the beginning of time—in the eternity before there was even a world.

Here is how John begins his story of Jesus:

“In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God;
all things were made by him,
and without him was not anything made that was made.
In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:1-14).

Just as we express ourselves with words, so God expresses himself with his “Word,” which is Jesus.
Jesus came into the world to show us in a human life the heart of God.
Probably one of the first Bible verses we learned in Sunday school was, “God so loved the world, that he sent his only-begotten Son, so that whosoever believeth in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.”
When John wrote: “In him was life and the life was the light of men,” he is telling us two most important things about the Lord Jesus.

Jesus is life and Jesus is light: true life, life that never ends, and the light of the knowledge of God.

John is not picturing for us the sunlight that turns the night into day when he says Jesus was “The light shining in the darkness.”
Do you remember when a carnival used to come to town how they would shine those great spotlights into the air?
They didn’t light up the sky, but they pierced the sky with a bright shaft piercing the darkness.

Or imagine yourself on a pitch-dark day out at sea with only the stars above twinkling with a faint light.
And then you see a lighthouse. And the lighthouse cutting a hole in the blackness with its bright bar of light.

B. John says, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

I can remember as a child being lost in the darkness.
The night was much darker when we were children and we didn’t have lights all around us.
The farm where Charlotte grew up had no electricity. The night was really dark and the outhouse was some distance from the house.
The nights were dark, even in the city, where I lived
I lived in the city, but I remember gazing at the Milky Way from my cot on the sleeping porch.

In ancient cities darkness could be terrifying.
A few days ago I read in a history book about the danger of life in ancient Rome.
Night was a time of great danger. Criminals abounded in the darkness.
When dark came people locked themselves in their houses.
Shops were closed and chains drawn across the doors.
If rich people went outside they took slaves with them carrying torches.

So for John, darkness is a good metaphor for a world full of sin and sorrow and evil and danger.
And the darkness—the Bible tells us—is not only all around us in the world; it is also in our own hearts, if they are without God.

But “light,” in the Bible represents peace and joy and holiness and love.
These are the qualities that Jesus brings into our world and into the life of everyone who receives him as Lord and Savior.
We have experienced this.
Even when we experience disappointments and illness and sadness, God dwells within and cheers us with his light.

So when you see the candles and all the bright lights this Christmas, remember that they represent Jesus, the light in a dark world.

II. In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said to his followers: “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 5:14-16).

A. Isn’t that interesting; not only is Jesus the Light of the World, but you and I—if we are followers of Jesus—are also lights in the world.

Jesus is present in our world mainly in the lives of his people.
The people of the world can no longer see Jesus, but they can see you and me.
And our job in the world is to reflect the light of Jesus to those around us.
And Jesus says that the way to do that is by our “good works”—works of kindness and generosity and compassion.

B. We Christians believers need to consider how we can be lights in a dark world.

Here is a conversation a teacher overheard on the playground:
One boy said to another, “None of us ever wants to play with Mike. He’s such a nerd. But whenever the coach asks us to choose a partner for doubles, you always choose to play with Mike. Nobody will play with Mike. Why do you play with him?”
The other boy responded quietly, “That’s why I play with him.”
That boy was reflecting the light of Jesus in the world.

A girl in the seventh grade went to a school party. But nobody greeted her or talked to her. She sat by herself in a corner wishing she hadn’t come. A wise teacher noticed and came over to her and pointed out to her that there were other lonely people at the party just like her. She said, “Why don’t you go over and talk to some of them?”
She spent the rest of the evening seeking out the wall-flowers and offering them her friendship. By the time the party was over she had had a wonderful time.
That girl was serving Jesus. That girl was letting her light shine in the world.
She had begun to come to Sunday school all by herself, but in the end she won her entire family to Christ.

My Aunt Ruth lived to be over 100. She spent the last years in a nursing home in Dallas. In order to share her faith with others in the nursing home she ordered multiple copies of the devotional booklet, The Upper Room. When the housekeeper or nurse aides came into her room, she would offer them a copy. It got so that some of the employees of the home looked forward to receiving these little devotional booklets and would come in and ask for them. This was Aunt Ruth’s way of letting the light of Jesus shine in her life.

In Ephesians 5:8 we read: “Once you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light.”
Last week we sang in church a beautiful hymn. It began like this:
“I want to walk as a child of the light;
I want to follow Jesus.”

CONCLUSION

A small girl in a church junior choir was chosen to lead the procession for a Christmas candlelight service. After the service, she said to her mother: “I looked back and saw all those people coming behind me, and I was scared!”
Each of us is in a procession of believers that has been processing through history and will continue until Jesus returns.
Each of us is following a procession. But each of us is also leading a procession—children, younger friends, students, younger friends.

How we live influences the lives and decisions of all who follow us.

Think about how much you owe in your walk with God to those who came before you and taught you by their example. And take seriously your role as a light-bearer for Jesus.

“Jesus bids us shine with a clear pure light,
Like a little candle burning in the night.
In this world of darkness so let us shine.
You in your small corner, and I in mine.”