A GIFT FOR ALL PEOPLE
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Luke 2: 22-36
KEEPING HOPE ALIVE
Our youngest son has a dog named Zaia ( that means LIFE, in Greek). Zaia is so well trained. If he tells her to sit, she sits. He tells her to wait, she waits. He puts a dog bone on her nose…and she sits perfectly waiting…with great hope…until he says RELEASE! Then Zaia twitches her nose and the bone quickly falls into her waiting mouth. Zaia is an amazing picture of what it’s like to wait with amazing discipline and expectation. I’m so impressed with her training!
Today’s readings, of course, are not about a dog doing tricks. But we meet two very impressive people who waited for decades with amazing discipline and expectations.
Simeon and Anna, both grew very old. We don’t know how old Simeon was, but Anna was said to be 84. In a society where poor people rarely made it to 60, this was a VERY old age. For decades they had been waiting with unwavering devotion and huge expectations. Forty days after that first Christmas morning, Joseph and Mary carried their baby Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem, to dedicate him, as the law required. And there, the Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon and Anna…that this baby is what they had been waiting for.
So, what were they waiting for? We just read that Simeon " was waiting for the [hope] of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him." He didn't lead a social movement. He watched. He prayed. He was doing something awesome, even though he may not have fully understood. He was keeping hope alive.
HEAVEN & EARTH
So what was the hope? If you visited the city of Jerusalem back then, the largest thing you’d see in Jerusalem is the temple. That’s where both Simeon and Anna were waiting. And this wasn’t like any church building or synagogue you might see today. There was only one temple, by design, in the whole city…actually in the whole world. This temple was the one place where the sphere where God dwells (heaven) and the sphere where humans dwell (on earth) intersected. Here, in this place, people could get a glimpse of what it was like for heaven to rule on earth. God had a “transform-the-earth” plan, and this is where you could taste and see it.
This is more than a dog bone on your nose. The Temple was where God and humans could meet. A few select people, were given the Holy Spirit to guide them. And this gift made them prophets, like Simeon and Anna. It was their job to recognize what God was doing anywhere, and to point it out.
Simeon and Anna lived in the Temple, because the Holy Spirit guided them to wait…attentively…there. God was preparing for a historic change, and they would be the first prophets to see it! This day, 40 days after the first Christmas, the Holy Spirit stirred Simeon to walk into the temple courtyard just as young Mary and Jospeh entered, carrying the baby Jesus. Immediately he recognized that this tiny baby embodied everything he’d waited for. Simeon declared:
“…[Lord] 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.”
A GIFT FOR ALL PEOPLE
Wow! This must have been incredible for Mary and Joseph! I mean, we’re all proud of our babies…but this is a little over the top.
A lot was changing with Jesus. In fact, we’ll spend the rest of the church year exploring all that God teaches and reveals through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. But, today, I want to note one enormous change. Remember, up to this point in history, it was the Temple, which was the only place on earth where the God’s dwelling place and that of humanity intersected. That first Christmas, Jesus changes all that. We call Jesus Emmanuel (God with us), because His Body is now the place where God dwells – and Jesus is not limited to the temple. He walks all over and brings the presence of God and a glimpse of God’s rule on earth, everywhere He goes. Jesus replaces the temple!
Fast forward, and Jesus baptizes people with the Holy Spirit – both Jewish people and non-Jewish people! All these people become followers of Jesus! And Jesus passes His role as the new temple to everyone who receives the Holy Spirit – every one of His followers. Beginning with the first disciples, the place God dwells on earth is in and through the followers of Jesus. Now the temple is replaced by millions of “temples” in the form of the followers of Jesus.
The Spirit “rested” on Simeon, now the Spirit rests on the followers of Jesus in every age. What does the Spirit compel us to do? Much like Simeon, we are compelled to pray, act, and speak with a focus on God’s will, not our own.
We are called by God, not just to wait with expectation and discipline, like Simeon and Anna. We are called to participate in life as a construction zone of heaven on earth.
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
Do you remember Billy Graham, and his wife Ruth Graham? Billy was an incredible evangelist, sharing the Good News of Jesus Christ. Ruth was less famous, but also saw her role as partici[ating in acts that were part of construction of God’s will being done on earth as it is in heaven. She lived to be over 100 years old, but Ruth asked for a very specific engraving for her tombstone. She asked that it read: "End of construction. Thank you for your patience."
In this life we wait. Everybody here is under construction. Don't lose patience. Don't give up because it's all about Jesus, because in Jesus the invasion of earth by heaven has begun in earnest, and it will be carried through until God’s will occupies every moment.
When you forgive someone, you are part of that construction. When you care for someone stuggling with poverty…when you stand with someone who is lonely…when treat somone with dignity and love who is hurting…when you pray…all these acts participate in the construction that Jesus has called us to.
Let us pray,
Oh God, grant us vision like Simeon and Anna. Please open our eyes, that we might recognize the Holy Spirit’s messages in our hearts. Help us listen. Help us be patient and recognize your gifts that come our way.
Amen.
Pastor Doug Cox