Luke
2:22-40
Christmas
1
December
28, 2014
William G. Carter
Now 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. It
had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before
he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided
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, Simeon took him in his arms and
praised God, saying, “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.” And
the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. Then 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 so that the inner thoughts of many
will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
There are nearly fifty
Christmas carols in our new hymnal. There’s no way we can get all of them in
this year, even if we started singing them at Halloween. Some of favorite carols
have gotten longer – Joy to the World has an extra verse, which has been around
for year, but just restored to our hymnal. Others have been “fleshed out,” so
to speak, as in “What Child Is This,” which has a lot more words in it than we
had expected.
There is something about
the birth of our Savior that generates fresh words and music. More carols are
written each year. One of my favorites was written in New Zealand, where
Christmas comes at summer time. The first two lines go, “Carol our Christmas,
an upside-down Christmas / the snow is not falling and the trees are not bare.”[1]
What do you expect? They sing this in New Zealand.
That one didn’t make it
into a North American hymnal, even though there is something upside-down about
the main event. The invisible Creator becomes a creature with baby feet. The
One who is eternal chooses to be bound by human time. The Savior chooses to
come as a vulnerable child, and his very vulnerability is the means by which we
are saved. It’s upside-down.
Luke knows this. On Mary’s
lips, he places a Christmas carol about the mighty coming off their thrones and
the lowly being lifted up. It is a theme of his Gospel to declare the first
become last and the last become first. The sinner is forgiven, the righteous
are exposed in their hypocrisy. This is a way to declare God’s saving work,
which begins decisively in the birth of the Christ child. The nameless
shepherds are sought out by angelic messengers, while famous Caesar Augustus
and Quinirius are ignored.
All the way through the
Christmas story are songs. Zechariah sings, Mary sings, the angels sing –
everybody is singing. The best theology is sung. And the final Christmas carol
is put into the air by an old man in the temple. His name is Simeon. Luke likes
him a lot, calling him “righteous and devout.”
But the greatest
affirmation is when Luke says, “The Holy Spirit rested on him.” Luke is always
pointing to the Holy Spirit, pointing to the moments when the presence and
power of God come upon a person. Jesus will be full of the Spirit, says Luke.
So something of what would fill the Christ is touching down on old Simeon. That’s
how he knows the Child, long before the Child will grow up to do his work.
The Spirit prompts his
song:
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.
The Spirit also prompts
Simeon to speak the truth to Mary:
This child
is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel,
and to be a
sign that will be opposed so that
the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—
and a sword
will pierce your own soul too.
Christmas has an
upside-down message: salvation comes in the child Jesus, and it shall come at a
great cost. There is the consolation of seeing the One who is God’s gift to all
the people, both Gentiles and Israel. But the piercing of the soul, the
exposure of the resistance that lies within us – that suggests a lot of hard
work that we must do. God’s Word comes to us as a sword, says the scriptures,
separating true from false, cutting through old and new. And yet it comes with
surgical precision to do the necessary work on our souls.
I spent some time
chewing on this during Advent, pondering in my heart what Simeon must have
seen. Here’s a bit of my own free verse, as if Simeon continues the
conversation with God:
Spirit, your vision of peace pierces me.
You show me truth in this swaddled Babe.
No reason to see any more.
Any Lord who saves us through a baby
Is a God of upside-down imagination
uneasy with the world as it is.
I have seen enough
Let me go.
Any Lord who saves us through a baby
Is a God of upside-down imagination
uneasy with the world as it is.
I have seen enough
Let me go.
While I yet have breath
Let me speak truth to his Mother
So she remembers what will come.
The Child will come to a brutal end
For this is a broken dominion
That cares not for the weak and vulnerable.
Those who live by the sword
Bequeath weapons to their children.
It is hard for an old world
To give up old tricks.
So she remembers what will come.
The Child will come to a brutal end
For this is a broken dominion
That cares not for the weak and vulnerable.
Those who live by the sword
Bequeath weapons to their children.
It is hard for an old world
To give up old tricks.
I am sick of it.
Let me go.
Let me go.
For my days remaining
Let me be perpetually offended
By cruelty,
For hatred is not the way of heaven
Nor can it be the health of earth.
By cruelty,
For hatred is not the way of heaven
Nor can it be the health of earth.
The Child swaddled in blue is sufficient for us.
Here I plainly see
Innocence before it suffers,
Vulnerability stronger than death.
Let me depart now
With a glimpse of Isaiah's peace
Seared into my heart,
Ever trusting this is the little Child
Who shall lead them.
Here I plainly see
Innocence before it suffers,
Vulnerability stronger than death.
Let me depart now
With a glimpse of Isaiah's peace
Seared into my heart,
Ever trusting this is the little Child
Who shall lead them.
I believe it.
Let me go.
Time is short. Before I depart
Let me speak to all peoples
Of a holy justice
Greater than what we see each day.
Of a holy justice
Greater than what we see each day.
God’s final work is not punishment
For what we rightly deserve.
The upside-down God forges mercy
out of a twisted crown of thorns.
All God owns shall be restored.
My
falling shall be Christ’s rising.
At my end, all shall be well.
I have seen what you have prepared.
So let me go.
So let me go.
In the nine remaining
days of Christmas, may you be pierced by God’s Word and consoled by God’s
grace. And may God reveal to all of us what Simeon has so clearly seen.
(c) William G. Carter. All rights reserved.