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.”