Epiphany 4, 02/01/2009

Sermon on Luke 2:22-40, by Samuel D. Zumwalt

22And when 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 male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") 24and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said 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, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 29"Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word;
30for my eyes have seen your salvation 31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel." 33And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35(and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." 36And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. 39And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

THE PRESENTATION

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Because our congregation worships on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday each week, we are celebrating festivals this year that fall on any of those three days. The Feast of the Presentation of our Lord is always on February 2, forty days after Christmas. In keeping with the instruction of Leviticus 12, the Virgin Mary and her husband Joseph have the baby Jesus circumcised on the 8^th day (January 1) and then on the 40^th day she also goes through the purification rites following childbirth which include making a thank offering in God's Temple.

Luke's theological emphasis becomes clear. Mary and Joseph are pious keepers of God's Law. They are doing everything according to the Torah's instruction when it comes to child-rearing. The Lord Jesus is being taught to keep God's Law perfectly. And on His 40^th day, God's Son, our Savior, comes to His Father's house for the first of many times. He who will be known as Prophet, Priest, and King is carried in His mother's arms into God's house where she will give the Father thanks and praise for this wondrous gift. Once again, Mary and Joseph will be surprised and startled by the testimony concerning who this child is and with what great hopes He is entrusted!

Already in chapter 1, the angel Gabriel told Mary of the wondrous birth to be and then John the Baptist leaped in his mother's womb at the mere sound of the voice of Jesus' pregnant mother. Earlier in chapter 2, shepherds came to the manger with amazing stories of angel choirs and tidings of great joy concerning this child. Now two elderly saints, Simeon and Anna, are overcome with joy and offer God the highest praise that they have been given the opportunity to lay eyes and hands upon God's infant King, the long-awaited Savior of the world.

Compared with Mark's understated opening line, "the beginning of the Good News of Jesus Christ, the Son of God" (1:1), Luke's two-chapter infancy narrative is completely over the top. In the Church's traditional understanding, Luke's narrative is less the product of a fertile theological and literary imagination and more a reflection of oral history interviews with the elderly Virgin Mother at John's home in Ephesus.

Looking back on her life and on the joy and pain of being the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary tells Luke intimate details that describe the pious home life and spiritual nurture that shaped and molded the Savior of the world. All of which serves as a kind of encouragement to parents who would raise their own children as followers of her Son.

SIMEON AND ANNA

As representatives of the very best of Jewish religious tradition, Simeon and Anna rejoice to lay eyes and hands upon the infant King and Savior. Unlike scribes and Pharisees and other religious leaders who will take offense at and even reject the Son of God when He comes to claim His people, Simeon and Anna are filled with the Holy Spirit and testify to the wondrous things that God has already done and will yet do through this child. They are the forerunners of the vast numbers of Jews who will confess that Jesus is the Messiah, the incarnate Son of God, and the Savior of the world.

Centuries of Lutheran Christians know Simeon's song even if they cannot remember his name, because, after receiving the Lord's true body and blood in Holy Communion, they have joined in singing: "Lord, now lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace" or "Lord, now you let your servant go in peace your Word has been fulfilled." Simeon is the embodiment of the pious widower who spends his days in God's house praising and thanking Him and who longs for the fulfillment of all God's promises.

Anna is the embodiment of the pious widow who spends her days in God's house praising and thanking Him and whose only hope is in the Lord God. As a prophetess, she proclaims the coming Crucifixion of God's Son and the stumbling block that He will be for those who reject Him, in the same way that Mary Magdalene will proclaim His Resurrection from the dead and the life that He will give to those who embrace Him.

Simeon and Anna are role models for elderly saints today whom God has not yet called from this life. They are embodiments of what is possible when eyes and ears are tuned not to the disappointments and heartaches of this life but to the hopes and promises that God offers to all who put their trust in Him. Others may show bitterness and cynicism or the yielding to depression and world-weariness but not Simeon and Anna. With great rejoicing, they point to the infant King and Savior as if to say: "What joy to know that God answers our prayers and keeps His promises in Jesus Christ! What joy to see and hear and hold Him even before He goes to His cross for us and our salvation, even before He rises from the dead and ascends in glory to intercede for us at the Father's right hand!"

OUR OWN SACRIFICE OF PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING

When mothers and fathers and godparents and grandparents bring little ones to receive the gift of God's Baptism, they are like Mary and Joseph and Anna and Simeon. God has entrusted parents with so much more than a living validation that they have been here and left behind this flesh and blood monument to their existence. Rather God has placed in their hands a fragile and precious gift whose very future and indeed the world's future depends upon their faithfulness and godly example.

So many parents and mentors get their roles jumbled by broken imaginations in a broken world. Now it is not that God does not care if the child hones and develops her or his talents and has a successful life. Indeed God has given everyone great nascent gifts for the well being of the corner of God's world in which they will live out their earthly lives. But, and this is the essential thing to remember, if one raises a child to gain the world but she or he loses her soul, then it is an eternal tragedy of unimaginable cost.

Like Mary and Joseph and Simeon and Anna, parents and godparents and grandparents and other interested mentors hold in their hands a gift created by the greatest Gift ever given. A parent who refuses to bring a child for Baptism and refuses to surrender her or his own life to God's good and gracious will is already a millstone around the child's neck. The baby does not know what she or he is missing, because the parent has not and will not get her or his life's priorities in order.

The parent who always finds another excuse why not to come to worship and why not to bring the child for baptism, even whining the same old impious words about the church's failings, is a millstone around her or his child's neck. As the Lord Jesus later says, "Whoever causes one of these little ones to sin, it would be better if that one had a millstone hung around her or his neck and be cast into the sea" (Mark 9).

The Lord Jesus' many warnings about spiritual enslavement by money and possessions can just as easily be extended to all the other cultural musts of this present dark age. So-called enlightened parents are captive to dark forces when in their high hopes for their child's success they opt not to bring their children to the services of God's house, place in their hands the Holy Scriptures, teach them the basics of the faith, and fail to provide for their instruction in the Christian faith.

And that is why Mary and Joseph and Simeon and Anna become essential embodiments of the pious and godly life in the face of high-sounding nonsense that reduces human life to what some have a called a bag of chemicals. The Lord Jesus is the author of life and indeed He is, by His death on the cross for the whole world, the guarantor that all life is precious, lovable, and valuable to God. Mary and Joseph and Simeon and Anna embody for parents, godparents, and grandparents everywhere the essential role to which they are called as shapers and molders of the godly life.

How will the child be baptized into the Lord Jesus' death and resurrection if she or he is not brought for Baptism? How will the child be nurtured in the Christian faith and life if she or he has no teachers and examples of righteousness? How will the child come to know the shape of the Christian life as daily dying to sin and rising to new life if her or his parents, godparents, and grandparents do not embody such a way of life and model it? How will the child learn to open God's Word, to pray, and to sing God's praises if no one is her or himself fluent in the ways of God's Kingdom? How will the child learn to value not only her or his life but that of others if no one ever shows in countless ways that this life is a wonderful gift from a great and compassionate God?

And so today we have Mary and Joseph and Simeon and Anna as encouragers for us to offer our own sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving. For God has graciously sent His only begotten Son into our flesh to save and redeem us lost and condemned creatures from sin, death, and Satan. Baptized into His death and resurrection and nourished with His own true body and blood in bread and wine, we can indeed offer our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving not only with our lips but with our lives.

We do well this day as parents, godparents, grandparents, and even as fellow sisters and brothers in Christ to remember that every child is a present from the great Giver. Treasures such as these are to be cherished and guarded and stewarded in such a way that the nascent gifts in each child are nurtured until they give God the glory that is due Him alone forever and ever!

Now may the Holy Spirit lead us and guide us in this way of life that our words and deeds bring glory and honor and worship and praise to the Thrice Holy God!

In the name of the Father, and of the +Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Samuel D. Zumwalt
St. Matthew?s Evangelical Lutheran Church
Wilmington, North Carolina USA

E-Mail: szumwalt@bellsouth.net

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