Luke
2:22-40
22
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 firstborn male shall be designated as holy to
the Lord"), 24 and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in
the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons." 25
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. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would
not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah. 27 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, 28 Simeon took him in his arms
and praised God, saying, 29 "Master, now you are dismissing your servant
in peace, according to your word; 30 for my eyes have seen your salvation, 31
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 a light for
revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." 33 And
the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 34
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 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and
a sword will pierce your own soul too." 36 There 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, 37 then as a widow to
the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with
fasting and prayer night and day. 38 At 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. 39 When they had finished everything required by the
law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was
upon him.
A
young couple has been planning for months, and then one day, their plans come
to fruition, when the wife announces with joy that the test is positive—she’s
pregnant. At first, they keep the news to themselves until a trip to the doctor
verifies what the home test revealed. Then, parents and family are told by way
of clever gifts and announcements that range from cute to over-the-top. Soon,
friends and extended family hear the news, and the couple makes it “Facebook
official” with pictures and a status update announcing their good news and
maybe even a due date. The events that follow their announcement have, in
recent years, become more elaborate and extravagant.
First,
there’s the “gender reveal party,” at which the couple has had a cake with
either blue or pink filling prepared in order to announce whether they are
having a boy or a girl. There are variations on this sort of party with opaque
balloons filled with blue or pink confetti, boxes containing gender-specific
clues to be opened in front of guests, games played with rules that eventually
revel the baby’s gender, and the list goes on as far as one’s creativity can go
(or as long as one has a Pinterest account).
Next
come maternity pictures, which can range from the tastefully artistic to the
downright inappropriate. These are usually rather expensive and are often shared
with the world via social media. Then there are the baby showers, where the
mother-to-be (and sometimes the father-to-be) are deluged with strollers, car
seats, baby bottle warmers, onesies, diapers, cribs, diapers, bottles, diapers,
wipes, and of course pastel-colored Jordan almonds and/or after-dinner mints.
When
it’s time for the baby to be born (usually a date a doctor has somehow divined
from a combination of the mother’s preference, the doctor’s schedule, and the
hospital’s availability) there is usually a comfortable “birthing suite” where
the child will be delivered, the mother AND father will be present, and family
and friends can visit afterwards. Of course, there are drugs available to ease
the mother’s pain and even induce delivery should the child wish to be a bit
stubborn about arriving on schedule. Cigars may be passed around with either
blue or pink bands. Newborn photos will be taken, and then there’ll be the
birth announcement, likely more gifts, and (depending on the religious tradition
of the parents) a christening, baptism, or dedication. This will all be
followed by months of “ooh’s” and “ah’s” as the parents bring their new child
out into the world and into the presence of others. All-in-all, a new baby is a
blessing, an event marked with celebration and joy for the new parents, their
families, and those who surround them with love. At least that’s how it is
today, in our culture, for the news of a baby on the way can sound quite
different to those who do not share in our fortunate position.
To
some women in our world, the news of pregnancy bears the news of another mouth
to feed when there is already so little to go around. The news of a coming baby
brings with it the frightening reality of months of pain, months of agony and
anticipation, hoping the mother is strong enough—healthy enough to bear the
child. To some, pregnancy is a death sentence, while still others may receive
the news of pregnancy in the wake of the violation and horror of rape. There
are those who, when told they are pregnant, immediately feel shame and
embarrassment because of their situation in life and their culture’s
expectations. Sometimes, the good news of a new baby isn’t received as such
good news. Sometimes, for some women, some families, it’s difficult to see such
news as a blessing.
On
this fourth day of Christmas, the birth of Jesus is still fresh on our minds
and in our hearts. Most of us still have the nativity scenes up in our homes
(they still adorn our church building) with Mary and Joseph lovingly looking
down on their brand-new baby boy, with his angelic look of benevolence. But the
truth is Mary was likely exhausted, Joseph worried, and both of them would soon
be on their way from Bethlehem to Jerusalem in order to present Jesus (their
firstborn) to God at the temple. We may linger for a while with the babe, the
shepherds, and the manger, but the Holy Family seem to be in perpetual motion
those weeks surrounding Jesus’ birth.
There are no baby
showers, no gender reveal parties, no cigars passed out to the shepherds, no
Mylar balloons with “It’s a boy!” printed on them. There’s nothing of that
sort. Joseph, Mary, and their newborn head to the temple, but they’re not going
so their temple Sunday school class can throw them a shower in the temple’s
fellowship hall. They’re not going to the temple so the priest there can
dedicate the child, give him a silver spoon, a printed certificate and a tiny
copy of the Torah and Psalms. They are going to the temple to dedicate their
firstborn son to God…and make a sacrifice. We’re told in verse 24 that “they offered a sacrifice according to what
is stated in the law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.’"
Two turtledoves or two young pigeons: these could have been bought by the young
couple on their way into the temple, but it’s important to note that two
turtledoves or two pigeons is not the sacrifice first desired in this case—it’s
a lamb. The Torah, however, says that “if you cannot afford a sheep, you shall
bring to the Lord, as your penalty for the sin that you have committed, two
turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt
offering.”[1] In
other words, two turtledoves or two pigeons were the offerings acceptable from
the poor who could not afford the required lamb. Joseph and Mary could not
afford the required lamb; they were poor.
Yet there they were, in
the temple, making the sacrifice (in more ways than one) that was customary at
the birth of a new child. I don’t doubt that countless others had skipped such
a religious requirement, citing the need for food, the need for whatever they
would spend on such sacrifices to go towards the health and provisions of their
families. Mary and Joseph are there in the temple, making the required
sacrifice, dedicating their firstborn son to God, when they come across two,
aged individuals, both making proclamations about the baby.
Simeon, we’re told, had
been promised by God that he would see the Christ (the Messiah) before his
death, and when he held the child in his arms he proclaimed, “ 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…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."
Simeon’s words aren’t
exactly comforting. He envisions Jesus as one who will bring salvation, light,
and glory, but he also sees the child’s future wrapped with conflict and
opposition, even from his own people. No doubt Simeon recognized Joseph and
Mary (with their two turtledoves) as poverty-stricken parents to this important
infant. Perhaps that influenced his proclamation about the Christ-child. After
all, if Jesus had been born to wealthy, powerful, influential parents (those
who could at least afford a lamb for a sacrifice) he would have been born on
the right side of power, on the right side of influence. But being born to poor
parents meant that Christ was going to have an uphill road ahead of him; he was
going to reside among the powerless, the poor, and the marginalized. Perhaps
that’s why when the prophet Anna saw the Christ-child she began speaking about
him to those who were “looking for the redemption of
Jerusalem”—not the revenge or retribution of a nation,
but the redemption of the very city where the worship of God was centralized.
The birth of the
Christ-child to poor parents, to Joseph and Mary, tells us something about the
kingdom of God, about the very nature of God itself. You see, the birth of
Christ is more than a miraculous birth of a miraculous child: it is the very
event of the Incarnation, of God becoming human, God dwelling in flesh and
blood. It is perhaps the most significant theological event that gives power
and meaning to all other events in Christ’s time on earth. Without the
Incarnation, Christ’s death and resurrection is a miraculous resuscitation of a
dead human being (a powerful thing, to be sure), on the scale of Lazarus’s
resuscitation. But the Incarnation, the birth of Christ, God with us in flesh
and blood, makes Christ’s death and resurrection God’s death and resurrection. God could have come to any
earthly parents, in any place, at any time, and in any socio-economic status,
but instead, God came as Christ to two poor, unremarkable parents who couldn’t
even afford the proper sacrificial animal for his birth.
That tells me that God is
on the side of those to whom the luxuries of this world seem to be as out of
reach as the stars. That tells me that God chooses to reside with the
powerless, to raise up the lowly, to help those who have fallen to rise. God
coming to two poor parents tells me that God has a love for the poor and
oppressed, the hungry and those in need, that God’s kingdom is one in which the
powerful, the rich, and the selfish may find themselves strangers. God’s
incarnation taking place in the lives of two poor parents who can only offer
two birds for a sacrifice tells me that God’s kingdom runs counter to the ways
of this world, a world that values, wealth, power, and prestige.
Those are not easy truths
for us to grasp. They require decisions—hard decisions—about the way we see the
world, the way we see others, the way we see ourselves. I believe that is why
Simeon referred to Jesus as “a sign that will be opposed so that the
inner thoughts of many will be revealed.” Christ’s birth, life,
teachings, death, and resurrection all cause opposition. Christ is opposed not
because of beliefs about theology or mystical understandings of his divinity,
but because of the way he brings God’s kingdom into the world. It isn’t through
the ones we expect; it isn’t by means of worldly power or the influence of
those with all the resources. Christ is bringing God’s kingdom into the world
through ways we least expect, and it’s been that way since his birth: God
breaking into this world as a baby born to two, unknown, poor parents; Christ
residing in a rural province rather than the capital of an empire, living and
teaching among the poor, uncouth, and unclean; Jesus dying upon a cross between
two criminals rather than leading a rebellion against an oppressive people; the
resurrection of the Son of God proclaiming to the world that death has no power
and sin no longer reigns; then leaving the responsibility of the kingdom’s work
in the hands of ordinary folks like fishermen, tax collectors, women, you, and
me.
God has come into the
world in ways no one would have ever planned, and God continues to come into
the world in ways we would never expect. May we be sensitive to the ways God is
moving around us, bring the kingdom to light here and now. May we be attentive
to the ways Christ is calling us—all of us—to be a part of his bringing the
kingdom of God here on earth as it is in heaven. For God has come to be with us
in a most unexpected way, a way that reveals so much to us about who God is,
and God continues to come to us, to be with us, in ways that surprise us, in
ways we would never expect—through poor parents, hungry children, difficult
decisions, the stillness of silence, the eyes of a stranger, the voice of one
crying out in oppression…God continues to be with us. May we welcome God and
the kingdom in our midst. Amen.
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