Between Consolation and a Sword

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.

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.

I am sick of it.
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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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[1] Shirley Erena Murray. Text at http://folksong.org.nz/nzchristmas/upside_down_xmas.html