The Good News has Arrived

Kevin Gasser

Staunton Mennonite Church

12/28/08

 

Luke 2:22-40

 

22When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23(as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), 24and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

25Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him. 26It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, 28Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, 29“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; 30for my eyes have seen your salvation, 31which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.” 33And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed 35so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” 36There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. 38At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. 39When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

 

            A father was out shopping one December evening when he came across a train set in a department store.  The train set was assembled all around the store complete with tunnels, loading stations, miniature water towers, switches, and a little town to drive through.

            The father looked at the sales associate with excitement in his eyes and said, “This is great!  Wrap one up for me, please.”

            “Yeah,” said the sales associate, “your son is going to love this!”

            “Oh, if that’s the case,” said the father, “you better get me two.”

            We all love getting gifts, don’t we?  And as much as I hate the commercialization of Christmas, I still enjoy the giving and receiving of gifts.  I remember as a child the anticipation that would build up to the big day.  I remember the waiting and the excitement.  And I remember the joy of receiving the perfect gift and how much I looked forward to telling my friends all about it.

            Today we are going to talk about the anticipation that Simeon and Anna had to endure as they awaited the perfect gift over 2000 years ago.  And I hope to show us all how that gift is still the perfect gift today.

            Our scripture for today begins with the new parents, Mary and Joseph, taking their young son to the temple to be dedicated to the Lord.  This is similar to the practice that we have today of dedicating a baby at a church service.  And as a part of the dedication process, Mary and Joseph offer either a pair of turtledoves or a pair of pigeons.  And this is a little insight for us to see just how poor these two were.  They couldn’t afford a sheep or goat, a cow or any other large animal.  They offered birds and everyone would have seen their offering and known that this young couple was pretty poor.

So Mary and Joseph take their son Jesus to the temple and there they meet up with a righteous and devout man named Simeon.  This man Simeon had received a message from the Lord that he would not die until he met the Lord’s Messiah.  Our Scripture says that Simeon had been guided to the temple that day by the Holy Spirit and based on the Scripture it sounds like Simeon saw this baby and he went up and scooped him up in his arms, knowing very well that this was the one that he and all of Israel had been waiting for.  This was the Lord’s Messiah; this was the one.

So here we continue to see the upside down nature of Jesus’ rule as king.  There isn’t a lot of pomp and circumstance surrounding this child.  His parents are poor and can only afford a small sacrifice.  Simeon would surely have been able to see that.  But he knew that this little one was the one he was expecting.

But what was Simeon expecting from this child?  Our scripture teaches us that Simeon was expecting the Messiah as the one who would console Israel.  Remember that Israel was once again under captivity; this time by the Romans.  And the Romans were able to force the Israelites to do things that they didn’t want to do, give up land and housing, carry their packs, and so on.  They were under the rule of a foreign nation that cared less about the well being of the captive Israelites and more about Pax Romana, peace by way of Roman domination.  And as Simeon held this young redeemer in his arms, he prayed out to God, (v. 29-32) “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.”

My eyes have seen your salvation.  That which Simeon had been waiting for had now arrived.  Or perhaps a better way to say this is the event that Simeon had been anticipating was now being initiated.  God was once again acting on behalf of his people; their salvation had come.

Now it is really difficult for us to know what Simeon’s understanding of “salvation” would have been, but I think we would be wrong to read back into this scripture our modern understanding of “salvation from the pits of hell” as what Simeon is referring to.  Remember that the paradigm for salvation in the Hebrew Bible was the Exodus event where Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt and to the Promised Land.  But regardless of what Simeon’s understanding of Salvation might have been, we can see clearly that he understood Jesus as the one that would bring this salvation to the people.  The one he had been waiting on had arrived.

Furthermore, we don’t know how long Simeon had been waiting on the Lord’s Messiah.  We don’t know when he received the message that he would not die until after the Messiah had come and we don’t know how much time had passed since he received that message.  But Simeon is not the only person in the temple that had been waiting for the one that we know as Jesus.  There was someone else there that we know had been waiting for a long time.

In the temple we find the Prophetess Anna.  In fact, it sounds like it would have been difficult to find Anna anywhere but at the temple for some time now.  She had been married for 7 years before her husband passed away, and since then she had been in the temple, day and night, fasting, worshiping, praying and waiting.  She would have likely married at a young age, maybe around 13-14 years old like was common in those days.  And now she was 84 years old.  That’s a lot of time in the temple…that’s a lot of time fasting, worshipping, praying, and waiting.  But as the old saying goes, all good things are worth waiting for.  Again, we don’t know exactly what Simeon and Anna were expecting from this child named Jesus, but we know that he is the one that they had been waiting for.  They knew right away that this was the one.  And when their waiting was over, they celebrated the coming of the Messiah.

Last week we celebrated Christmas.  Growing up, I remember anticipating the big day because of, what else, the presents.  For months leading up to Christmas I would drop hints as to what I wanted for Christmas.  A new video game, a remote control car, a tent, and of course teenage mutant ninja turtle action figures (oh yes, I came of age in the 90’s).  As Christmas got closer and closer, I anticipated the day when I would open up those gifts.  We would string together loops of paper, tearing off a loop each day as a way to visualize the coming of the big day when I would be able to open these gifts.  Then when the big day came we would tear open the presents that didn’t look like clothes and search for batteries to try out the new gifts that we had been waiting for.  Christmas was indeed a time for celebration.  It was a time for new toys.

It is hard for us to say what Simeon and Anna were anticipating with the coming of the Messiah, just as it is difficult for us to anticipate what is coming to us in the form of a gift for Christmas.  Sure we might think we know what is coming our way.  We might even peak from time to time.  And perhaps when the big day comes we find that we were able to guess correctly; or perhaps we did not get what we were anticipating.  But the thing that is so much different about the gift of Jesus that Simeon and Anna were anticipating is that regardless of whether or not it was what they were expecting, it was the right gift. 

There have been years when I expected a remote control car and instead got a board game.  There have been years when I wanted a blue sweater and got a red one instead.  There have been times when I needed a 34 inch waist pants and got a 32 inch by mistake.  And maybe I was disappointed at first because I got the “wrong gift”.  But with Jesus, even if he was or was not what Simeon and Anna were expecting, he was the correct gift.  And he was worth waiting for.

Now if we return to our scripture for this morning, I think that it is interesting to look at the response of Anna when she found the one that she had been waiting for.  Her first response was to celebrate the fulfillment of the prophecies; that the Messiah had come.  Her second response was to tell all the others that were looking forward to the redemption of Israel of what she had just found.  She had good news, and she wasn’t about to keep that to herself.

Last week Sonya and I had the opportunity to grab a bite to eat with some friends.  I had spent the last three years in Seminary with the one fellow and we have grown to know each other’s spouses as our friendship has grown.  And I enjoy spending time with this friend of mine, we’ll call him Tom.  We get together and we discuss theology with one another, which usually involves discussing books we have read/are reading and popular theology that we see and hear on television and radio.

But after our evening was over, Sonya brought something to my attention.  Most of our time spent in conversation with Tom is spent criticizing other people’s theology.  We make sure to point out why our theology is right and someone else’s is wrong.  We talk so much about what is wrong with the world, what is wrong with the church, what is wrong with a specific author or televangelist.  And after a while, I believe the negativity started to annoy Sonya.  And I believe that our negativity brought us down and anyone that was unfortunate enough to be listening to our conversation.

I could only guess as to how much of our time spent in that restaurant was spent complaining about other people’s theology and how much time was spent seeing the good, but I would guess that the proportion was very much in favor of the negative.  And this was only four days before Christmas.  Here we were, approaching the “Most Wonderful Time of the Year”, and all we wanted to talk about was the bad stuff.  As Simeon and Anna found out, this is a time to celebrate and to share the good news.  So why was our time spent focusing on what is wrong?

Now don’t get me wrong.  I don’t simply view the world through rose colored glasses.  I know that there are a lot of reasons to be discouraged this year.  The economic troubles, the ongoing war in Iraq, poverty, genocide.  You know the normal list.  And I don’t begin to pretend to agree with every soundbite and quote that I hear or see in print from every well-known preacher.  But I think that rather than focusing so much on what is wrong with various theologies, we need to be focusing on what we believe is true, beautiful, and right.  Christmas is an opportunity to celebrate and rejoice like Simeon and Anna because our redeemer has come.  Our salvation from the oppressive empire has arrived.  For unto us a child of hope is born.

Simeon and Anna were waiting on the coming of the one who had been promised to them.  They were waiting on the Messiah.  And when they found him, they celebrated his arrival.  We have much reason to celebrate this Christmas because our salvation has come.  Jesus came to console and save his people; to free them from the oppressive powers of evil; be that empire, poverty, sickness, or sin.  The birth of Jesus marked the beginning of something new, something that we cannot keep secret.  The birth of Jesus is good news and a reason to celebrate.  Let’s not forget about all of the evil that exists in our world today, but let us remember that we have the antidote to that sickness.  We have the good news.  We have a king who has turned the Principalities and Powers upside down.  For our eyes have seen God’s salvation.  It is now our job to live out that salvation as people redeemed by Christ and to share that good news.

I have seen the face of the ugliness of this world in that last few weeks and I have seen the face of God through the same experience.  I sat right here at the church one Monday and spent an hour in conversation with a woman who had been living with her husband and her dog in their truck for the last eight months.  And I just listened to this woman as she told me her story and of course I was saddened by her experiences.  And I asked her if she had any family in the area that she could turn to in this hard time.  She told me that she had two siblings and two children that live in this area.  They had lived with her daughter for a little while, but her daughter kicked them out.  “Young people don’t want to be troubled with us old folks” she told me.

You better believe that this bothered me.  That to me is an example of everything that is wrong with the world today; some people just don’t care about anyone but themselves.  I can’t imagine allowing my parents to live in a truck when I have room to put them up, even if it is an inconvenience for me!  I wouldn’t let any of you sleep in your vehicles.  It was difficult for me to not invite this woman to come live with us, which as a Christian I probably should have done.  So much of the world’s evil was present in this woman’s story; the evil of poverty and oppressive systems, the evil of the absence of love for family and other people created in the image of God.  This is hard to deal with and it is hard to see. 

So what would Jesus do?  Give her a little money and tell her not to come back for at least six months, right?  I gave this woman a little money to try to help her out, but I tried to give her more than some cash and coins.  I gave her my undivided attention for close to an hour and I believe that meant more to her than any amount of money could have.  I think I gave her hope in people and hope in the church.  I gave her love.  If only for an hour, that woman knew that someone cared about her.  And I shared with her why I gave her those things.  I told her that my actions were a manifestation of my faith.  I told her that Jesus loves her and that I believe that when we reach out to people in need that we are feeding or clothing Jesus himself.  We prayed together and parted ways, not knowing if we would ever see each other again or not.

When Simeon saw a poor child born to poor parents who could only afford a couple of dirty birds for a sacrifice, he recognized that this child was his savior.  I couldn’t help but see my savior in this woman as well.  I hope that through the love that I showed to her that she could see at least a glimpse of the image of God within me.

It is Christmas time, a time to be merry, a time to be filled with joy.  We are not merry and joyful because the world is perfect and that everything is how it should be.  We are merry and joyful because we have been given a gift that is the antidote to all of the world’s pains and sorrows.  We have been given the one we have been anxiously awaiting since humanity first made the decision to disobey God.  We have been given the gift of a savior, one who has redeemed his people and will one day set all of creation back to the way it was meant to be.  Let us take the prophetess Anna as an example and tell all those that are awaiting this good news that their salvation has come and that they are invited to join in this movement.

Your salvation is here!

Kevin Gasser

Staunton Mennonite Church

12/23/07

 Isaiah 7:10-16

10Again the Lord spoke to Ahaz, saying, 11Ask a sign of the Lord your God; let it be deep as Sheol or high as heaven. 12But Ahaz said, I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test. 13Then Isaiah said: “Hear then, O house of David! Is it too little for you to weary mortals, that you weary my God also? 14Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel. 15He shall eat curds and honey by the time he knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good. 16For before the child knows how to refuse the evil and choose the good, the land before whose two kings you are in dread will be deserted.

 Matthew 1:18-25

18Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. 19Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. 20But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” 22All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23“Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” 24When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife, 25but had no marital relations with her until she had borne a son; and he named him Jesus.

            Charles Dickens’ book A Christmas Carol has been a holiday favorite for many people since it was first written in 1843.  This popular novel has been adapted into different forms of stories, movies, and plays which has allowed many people to come to love and appreciate Dickens’ work.  Across town at the Blackfriar’s Playhouse they do a wonderful rendition of this novel and Sonya and I have had the chance to see this play the last two years.

            I assume that most of us know the basic story of A Christmas Carol.  We have this old man that seems to care about nothing else but acquiring more money for himself.  In the first scene of the book we find Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve turning down an invitation from his nephew to celebrate Christmas with his family, Scrooge turns away collectors that are trying to raise money for the poor.  He resists giving his employee Bob Cratchit coal to heat his part of the office, and Scrooge reluctantly allows Cratchit to take off the next day, which is Christmas day.

            But over the night, Scrooge is visited by three different ghosts.  Now please recognize that this is a work of fiction and I am not claiming to believe in ghosts.  But Scrooge is visited by the Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas yet to come.  The Ghost of Christmas Past helps Scrooge to see what had happened in the past, the Ghost of Christmas Present helps Scrooge to see what is happening that Christmas, and the Ghost of Christmas yet to come helps Scrooge to see what is going to happen in the near future.

            Today we are going to look at the scriptures that Ronald read and hopefully we can see, much like Ebenezer Scrooge, a vision of things that have happened in the past, long before Jesus’ birth, the things that were going on in Joseph’s day, and also the things that are yet to come.

So we begin today by going back, back around 700 years before the birth of Jesus.  We need to set the context for this Isaiah passage to really understand it.  This is the time of the divided kingdom.  The Northern Kingdom is often called Israel or Ephraim.  The Southern Kingdom is called Judah.  We need to remember that Isaiah was a prophet to the Southern Kingdom during the times when the Assyrians were a great power and they were taking all of the land they could come in contact with. 

            With the threat of the Assyrians invading their countries, the Northern Kingdom forms an alliance with another nation, which Isaiah calls Aram.  And this alliance of the Northern Kingdom and Aram approaches king Ahaz of the Southern Kingdom and asks him if he would join their alliance against the Assyrians.  But Ahaz refuses to join them.  So the king of Aram and the king of Ephraim decide to attack Jerusalem, to over throw Ahaz, and to put in place a puppet king who would join them in their coalition against Assyria.

            Now I know that all of those hard names make it difficult to really understand what is going on here.  But what we need to remember is that these two countries are planning to team up on king Ahaz of Judah to over throw him.  It is going to be two against one.  And it is probably worse odds than that because there are likely people in the Southern Kingdom’s army that wish to form alliances with these other two nations to fight off the Assyrians.

            So the two other nations are against Ahaz and his own solders may be against Ahaz.  It doesn’t look too good for Ahaz, now does it?  But this is where the prophet Isaiah comes in.  Isaiah reassures Ahaz and tells him to have faith in standing firm in his decision.  And God even offers Ahaz a sign to assure him that God will keep him safe.

            Now Ahaz probably does what is right and he remembers his teachings.  He says that he will not put the Lord to the test.  But God gives him a sign anyway.  A young woman, some versions say a virgin, will have a child and he shall be called Immanuel.  And by the time that child is old enough to know right from wrong, by the time he is old enough to make decisions for himself, those two nations that are threatening Judah will fall.

            This child was not the savior of Judah, but he was a sign that God was with Judah, that God would save Judah.  And while I don’t know exactly how old someone is when they know what is right and wrong, we know that the Northern Kingdom did fall in the year 722 and the Southern Kingdom of Judah remained standing until 586.  God was with Judah and the child was a sign that God would save his people.

Now we fast-forward another 700 years.  A man named Joseph is engaged to be married to a young woman named Mary.  That’s great and exciting for them.  One problem, Mary is pregnant and Joseph knows that he is not the father.  So Joseph decides to break off the engagement and try to salvage whatever dignity he could for himself and for Mary.  He wanted to do this quietly because Mary would have been subject to stoning if she had committed adultery against Joseph, her betrothed.

            Then as Joseph was sleeping the angel of the Lord came to him and told him not to dismiss Mary because the child that she was carrying was not from another man.  She had not committed adultery.  This child was conceived by the Holy Spirit.  And they are to name him Jesus, which means “God is salvation”, or “God saves”.

And Matthew, the author of this book of the Bible, looks at this encounter and he says, “Whoa, this is the fulfillment of prophecy!”  Matthew remembers what Isaiah said 700 years ago.  He remembers that a young woman was to conceive and bear a son.  And that son was to be called Emmanuel, God with us.  In the days of Isaiah this son came as a sign that God would save his people.  Now, 700 years later, that prophecy was being fulfilled in Jesus.  This time the child was not a sign of salvation, the child was the source of salvation.

So Joseph wakes up from his sleep and he does everything that the angel instructs him to do.  He marries Mary and she has a son and they name him Jesus.  They name him “God is salvation.”  But salvation from what?  The angel of the Lord answers that question when he instructs Joseph to name the boy Jesus.  In v. 21, “For he will save his people from their sins.”

I think we need to broaden our understanding of salvation to understand the salvation that Jesus brings.  He brings salvation in that he brings forgiveness of sins for his people and he brings salvation in that he shows the people a way to get out of the rut of sinfulness.  Jesus comes and he is the atoning sacrifice for the forgiveness of the sins of his people.  And he comes and he shows them how to break the sinful cycle, to escape their sinful ways.  So when we read that the angel of the Lord tells Joseph that they are to name the boy Jesus because he will save his people from their sins, that saving takes on a whole new meaning.

            One of my favorite scenes from A Christmas Carol comes near the end when Ebenezer Scrooge wakes up after being visited by the various ghosts and opens up his window only to realize that everything that he had encountered had taken place in one night and it was in fact Christmas morning.  And I remember this scene clearly, Scrooge yells out to a young boy in the street and he asks the boy if the big goose is still at the butchers.  And the little boy yells back to Scrooge, “You mean the goose that is as big as me?”  And Scrooge replies, yes, that’s the goose.  And Scrooge sends the boy to go buy the goose and have it delivered to the Cratchit’s home for Christmas dinner.

            It is in this simple act of generosity that we find the spirit of Christmas coming out in this old man.  But it is more than just the spirit of Christmas, it is the spirit of Christ coming out of Scrooge.  He gives of himself freely to the Cratchit family, buying them the biggest goose in the entire neighborhood.  He who has much is giving to those that have little.  And the next day when Bob Cratchit comes in late for work, Scrooge forgives him and actually gives him a raise to make up for the years of poor pay.  Though this story of A Christmas Carol is largely void of any mention of Jesus, I believe that Scrooge experiences one of the ways in which Jesus brings salvation from sin.  Because Scrooge is able to escape the rut of his sinfulness.  He is able to escape that pit that he has been in for so many years.

            Jesus died for our sins on the cross, but he also showed us how to escape the sinfulness of this world when he led a life counter to the ways of the world around him.  The ways of the Roman Empire in Jesus’ day were much like the ways of the Assyrians in Isaiah’s day.  Their goal was to acquire as much land and power as possible.  And anything that stood in their way would be wiped out with the sword.

            And this is why so many people in the 1^st century were expecting a messiah that would come in and free Judah from the oppression of the Roman Empire.  They expected a leader who could defeat Caesar.  Now it is common to modern Christians to say that the 1^st century Jews just missed the point, that Jesus was not a political leader at all.  But I beg to differ.  Jesus was a political leader, a leader unlike any that came before him.  A political leader that cared more about the people than he cared about money, land, or power. 

And this makes me think back to last week’s scripture when we looked at Mary’s song.  In Luke 1:51-54 Mary sings about her expectations for this child that he has been told she is about to bear, “51He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.  52He has brought down rulers from their thrones but has lifted up the humble.  53He has filled the hungry with good things but has sent the rich away empty.  54He has helped his servant Israel.”

            And I don’t think that Mary missed the point of the role of her unborn son.  And I don’t think that the Jews missed the point as badly as we often assume that they did in their messianic expectations.  When we look at what Mary’s reaction was to the news that she was going to bear the Messiah, and look at what the angel of the Lord told Joseph about Jesus saving his people from sin, we can understand that this Jesus was both a great political leader and the source of salvation from sins.

            The reason so many Jews missed Jesus as the Messiah is because they were expecting a different kind of political leader.  They were looking for someone that would replace Caesar as their leader and lead the Jews in victory over their enemies.  The Jews were looking for a Messiah that would be a Jewish Caesar.  But instead we all got a savior.  A savior from that sinful power, land, and money hungry system, and a savior who would die for our sins.

            So now like Ebenezer Scrooge, we must look to the future.  And the future that Scrooge saw was not one that he liked.  When Scrooge was met by the Ghost of Christmas yet to come, he was shown a series of images of death.  The death of Tiny Tim, and even his own death.  My brothers and sisters, we are all going to die some day.  But we are given a decision to make.  When Scrooge saw his dismal future, he knew that he had to change things.  Scrooge knew that he needed to stop living for himself, to stop living by the selfish ways of the world, and start sharing some of the blessings that God had given to him. 

            Jesus came into this world to save his people from their sins.  He came to die as an atoning sacrifice for our sins, and he came to show us how to get out of the rut of sinfulness.  Today I look to the future, and I proclaim that Jesus Christ is Lord.  He has saved us from our sinfulness, and he has rescued us from our sinful nature.  We must follow him.  The child born to Joseph and Mary is our king.  Not a king like the Assyrian kings, not a king like Caesar.  He is the king of Glory.  His name is Jesus.