“What Child is This?” - Sermon for Jan 3, 2016, Christmas 2 Year C

“What Child is This?”
Sermon, Year C, Christmas 2, January 3, 2016
Plymouth United Church of Christ, Eau Claire, WI
©2016 Rev. David J. Huber
Focus Scripture: Luke 2:22-40 - Jesus seen by Simeon and Anna in the temple



Next Sunday we will celebrate Epiphany. We, like the wise men, are marching toward Epiphany, which is actually this Wednesday, since it is always on January 6, twelve days after Christmas. But we will celebrate it next Sunday. So in the meantime, until we get to that day, we are still in the Christmas season and we continue reading through Jesus’ birth narrative from the Gospel of Luke. We are reading some more about what happened after Jesus’ birth. Today’s scripture lesson from Luke takes place forty days after Jesus is born. There is another passage in Luke between Jesus’ birth and today’s passage, in which Jesus is eight days old and taken to the temple by his parents for his circumcision. Now in today’s passage, forty days after Jesus’ birth, the family go back to the temple for Mary’s purification, a ritual required by Jewish law to take place forty days after a woman gives birth. It is also the day of Jesus’ dedication as the first born of Mary. It was standard to dedicate the first-born to God, whether it be a child, or the first born of the domesticated animals like cattle, sheep, goats, etc. The first born was considered to belong to God, and so Jesus is being taken for his dedication as well.

But mostly, I think, this passage is about Simeon and Anna, who show up in this text. They are there at the temple, and they come to see this new baby Jesus.

So hear now and listen for God is speaking to you through these words of Luke’s Gospel.

Luke 2:22-40: 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 (as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

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 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, 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. 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. When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

At the beginning of Luke’s Gospel, we get angels showing up to Mary and Joseph saying to them that a messiah is to be born and who and what he will be, and that Mary will be the mother. Now we have two people, Simeon and Anna, seeing the baby and saying “this is who he is.” Simeon, the man who has waited patiently for the messiah. He has been waiting patiently for the Lord’s messiah, and the Holy Spirit is upon him and comes to him to compel him to go to the temple at the same time that Jesus’ family arrived. Simeon sees the baby jesus, and says those words we read, words which we call “The Song of Simeon”:

”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.”

He is saying this about Jesus while holding him in his arms. Then he continues and says these words that are sort of cryptic. They are not quite as direct or intelligible as his first words. He says,

“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.”

In some way, these are good and comforting words. Jesus is going to be in some ways great. He will have an effect on people. He will be known, and will do things in his life that people remember and change the world. But it also ends with uncomfortable words, that warning about “a sword will pierce your own soul too.” This reminds of when the Wise Men show up, as we will read next Sunday, they bring gifts of frankincense and gold. These are nice and easy gifts. But they also bring a gift of the funeral balm, myrrh. There is with Jesus. the Good News of being the Prince of Peace, he is also swaddled in the reality of the terrible ending of his ministry and his time on earth.

And then there is Hannah. Hannah the Prophet. Not a lot of women get to have the title prophet. She is faithful in her daily worship at the temple. She has been a widow for a long, long time. Either she is 84 years old, or she’s been a widow for 84 years, the greek is unclear. Either way, she is quite old, well beyond the average age. And she has been faithful all that time, being in the temple, and she gets the title of prophet. Whether others thought of her as a prophet, or if only the writer of Luke has decided to call her a prophet, we don’t know. But however she got the title of prophet, that gives her words a special authority. Prophets are people designated by God to speak the word of God. She comes and she praises God and speaks about the child to all who were looking to the redemption of Israel. She becomes an evangelist here, telling the people around her who this baby is!

The writer of Luke doesn’t record her words, but I imagine they were very much like Simeon’s. She’s praising God and giving thanks for this baby. And then she probably says words to the effect of, “This is a special boy! A very special boy. He is the one! This is the one we have been waiting for.” Who is this child? He is the one!

In the Orthodox Church, Simeon and Anna are considered to be the last prophets of the Old Testament, even though they show up in the New Testament. But if we think of the time pre-Jesus, there is a long history of prophets being sent to the Jewish people to challenge the people to be more faithful, to repent, and to tell them how things need to change; but they also come to bring words of comfort. To say to the people that God is working something wonderful, there is a messiah to come, God will send a person to us to redeem and save and show us the way of life. And so Simeon and Anna here are in that tradition, except that instead of saying “One is coming who will be sent by God,” but to say, “He has come! This is the one we’ve been waiting for!”

Then “The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.”

And that is just the beginning of that story of Jesus’ life and ministry. And also just the beginning of the story of the Church: a story that continues with us, today.

Thanks be to God. Amen.