Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Nunc Dimittis (Luke 2:21-40)

Transcript

The Nunc Dimittis (Luke 2:21-40) · Reformed Thinking

0:00
Welcome to reformed thinking. I I want you to picture
0:04
something in your mind right now.
0:05
Just try to put yourself in a very specific historical setting
0:08
for a second. Oh, setting the scene.
0:10
I like it. Yeah, I want you to imagine the
0:11
week following the very first Christmas because, you know, we
0:15
get so used to the grand narrative.
0:17
We think about the shining star, the angelic choirs, all of that.
0:20
Big production. Right.
0:22
And we kind of forget what happened after the curtain
0:24
closed. So picture this The skies over
0:27
the fields of Bethlehem are well, they're entirely quiet
0:31
again. Just normal skies.
0:33
Yeah, the blinding light of the angels has faded back into
0:36
standard cold Starlight. And the shepherds who you know,
0:40
they came running in an absolute panic of joy and adrenaline.
0:44
They've gone back to their flocks.
0:45
Back to the daily grind. Right back to work.
0:47
So the mud on the ground, the pungent animal smells, the
0:50
biting night air, that is all that is left.
0:53
And sitting right there in the middle of it is a young,
0:56
completely exhausted couple. Probably terrified too.
0:59
Oh absolutely. Mary is recovering from the
1:02
physical trauma of Labor. And keep in mind, she has 0
1:07
modern medical comforts and they were just left holding a newborn
1:11
baby, staring down the staggering reality of raising
1:14
God in the flesh. Which is just a massive thought.
1:17
It is. And you know, in modern society,
1:20
as soon as December 26th hits, what do we do?
1:24
We start packing up the nativity scene.
1:26
Yeah, right into the attic. We put the ceramic sheep, the
1:29
wise man, the little wooden Manger into a cardboard box and
1:32
slide it into the basement until next year.
1:34
It's neat, it's tidy, it's manageable.
1:37
But Mary and Joseph couldn't pack this away.
1:39
No, they couldn't. They had to wake up the next
1:41
morning and the morning after that, and live in the continuous
1:44
daily reality of the incarnation, the.
1:46
Literal physical reality of it, yeah.
1:49
And so today on our deep dive, we are pulling from the pastoral
1:52
commentary by R Kent Hughes on the Gospel of Luke.
1:55
Specifically, we're looking at chapter 2, verses 21 through 52.
1:59
Which is a fantastic section of the text.
2:01
It really is. Our mission for this deep dive
2:04
is to look closely at these post Christmas events.
2:07
We're going to talk about the circumcision of the child, the
2:10
purification of the mother, the presentation in the temple, and
2:14
a later trip to Jerusalem when the boy is 12 years old.
2:17
A. Lot of ground to cover.
2:17
For sure, we want to uncover how Christ completely identified
2:21
with humanity and what specific posture you and I have to adopt
2:25
to actually receive Him. Because reading the text this
2:29
way strips away all of that cozy hot cocoa Holiday sent the
2:32
mentality. Totally.
2:33
It replaces it with this gritty, heroic, startling reality.
2:37
And that contrast between our modern celebration and their
2:40
ancient reality is just striking.
2:42
We box up the incarnation. We treat it as an annual
2:45
seasonal feeling. You know, a warm glow we
2:47
experience in December. Like a mood.
2:49
Yeah, like a mood. Whereas this couple lived with
2:51
the breathing, crying reality of the Savior in their living
2:54
space. Right.
2:55
A baby who needs to be fed and changed.
2:57
Yeah. The commentary by our Ken Hughes
2:59
does a masterful job of pulling us out of our modern comfort
3:02
zones. He forces us to look at the text
3:04
as literal history. Which we desperately need.
3:07
We do. These events in Luke chapter 2
3:09
are not just filler material until Jesus starts his public
3:13
ministry at age 30. Right, it's not a Fast forward
3:16
montage. No, they're theological pillars.
3:19
They established the very nature of his rescue mission.
3:21
So the text begins by detailing the circumcision of Jesus on the
3:25
eighth day. Which sounds like a minor
3:28
detail, but it's huge. It's massive.
3:30
Luke describes this in a single, concise sentence.
3:34
But the theological weight is incredible.
3:36
To understand this, we have to look back to Genesis chapter 17.
3:40
Right, the covenant with Abraham.
3:42
Spot on. Genesis 17 laid down a strict
3:45
requirement for all males who to be part of Abraham's household.
3:49
God commanded that every male child had to be circumcised on
3:52
the eighth day. No exceptions.
3:54
No exceptions. Without this act, Jesus could
3:56
not have identified with his people.
3:58
He possessed pure Hebrew blood through his lineage, sure, but
4:01
this was the required covenantal sign.
4:03
So he had to undergo it. He did, and what stands out here
4:07
is the tangible physical reality of the incarnation.
4:11
Jesus had a real physical body. He was subject to pain and
4:15
bleeding. His shedding of blood for his
4:18
people did not just happen at the end of his life on the
4:20
cross. It began when he was an 8 day
4:23
old infant. That is a staggering thought.
4:26
He is fully inserting himself into the covenant constraints of
4:29
God's people. He's submitting to the law that
4:31
he himself authored. Right.
4:33
He wrote the law and now he's bleeding for it as a baby.
4:36
And right there at that moment, as part of that eighth day
4:39
ritual, they officially give him the name Jesus.
4:42
Which was not a surprise to them.
4:43
No, not at all. The Angel Gabriel gave this
4:46
specific name to both Mary and Joseph separately, you know,
4:49
before the child was even conceived.
4:51
Yeah, they were well prepared for that.
4:52
But I want to push on this naming aspect because it is so
4:55
entirely foreign to how we operate today.
4:57
I mean, think about the modern approach to naming babies.
4:59
And basically stylistic choice now.
5:01
Yeah, you go on a website, you buy a book, you find a name that
5:05
sounds cute or trendy, or maybe it honors a distant relative you
5:08
like. We pick names for aesthetics.
5:11
We really do. But this naming carries the
5:13
weight of a divine decree. Gabriel visits Joseph in a dream
5:18
and says You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his
5:22
people from their sins. A very clear mandate.
5:24
Yeah, and then Gabriel visits Mary and gives the exact same
5:28
instruction. Imagine the conversations Mary
5:31
and Joseph had during that first week.
5:33
Comparing notes, they realized God had handed them an
5:36
assignment. A literal title for the child.
5:38
But the name itself has a massive historical background,
5:41
right? If you break down the
5:42
linguistics of the name Jesus, it is not just a gentle, peace,
5:46
peaceful moniker, it carries a heavy militant history.
5:49
Yes, the linguistic roots matter so much here, and they
5:52
completely change how we view the infant.
5:54
How so? Well, in our secularized age,
5:57
the average person on the street has no idea what the name Jesus
6:00
actually means. Jesus is the Greek rendering of
6:03
the Hebrew word Joshua. Yeah, and if you trace that back
6:07
even further, Joshua's original name was Hoshea, which
6:10
translates to salvation. Oh, right.
6:13
Numbers chapter 13 records how Moses changed the name of
6:16
Hoshea, the son of Nun, to Joshua.
6:19
By adding the divine name of God, it becomes Jehovah is
6:23
salvation. Wow.
6:24
And Joshua, of course, became Israel's greatest military
6:26
general. Exactly.
6:28
He was the one who led them across the Jordan River and
6:30
directed the conquest of the Promised land.
6:32
He was a warrior. A fierce warrior, yes.
6:35
So the name Jesus or Joshua suggests deliverance by heroic
6:39
militant action from the bondage of sin.
6:42
Isaiah Chapter 9 calls the Messiah Mighty God, right?
6:46
By bearing this specific name, Jesus is designated not just as
6:49
a passive savior who waits for people to figure things out.
6:52
He's a mighty general coming to rescue his people through direct
6:55
heroic action. He is stepping onto the
6:57
battlefield of a fallen world. He is, you know that ships the
7:00
paradigm entirely. If the name Jesus signals a
7:03
military style heroic deliverance from sin, how should
7:06
that alter the peaceful silent Night image we typically project
7:09
onto the infant in the Manger? It kind of shatters it, doesn't
7:12
it? It really does.
7:14
We sing sleep in heavenly peace, but the name Joshua implies he
7:18
came to wage war against sin and death.
7:20
There is a real tension there. Yeah, it completely shatters the
7:23
idea that the baby in the Manger is just a symbol of universal
7:26
peace and goodwill in a vague, sentimental sense.
7:30
Right, like a greeting card. Yeah, like a Hallmark card.
7:32
The name Jesus shouts to the world.
7:34
The heroics of the Incarnation The baby is a warrior taking on
7:39
flesh to execute a rescue operation.
7:41
That's a great way to put it. The sharp cry of the Son of God
7:44
and the blood of his circumcision marked the
7:47
beginning of a lifelong campaign against darkness.
7:50
This is an active, aggressive salvation.
7:52
Very aggressive. And this aggressive rescue
7:55
mission leads us directly into the specific condition of the
7:58
people he came to save, which becomes visibly apparent during
8:02
the family's next stop. The trip to Jerusalem, yeah.
8:05
Let's look at what happens about a month later.
8:08
Mary and Joseph have to travel to the Temple in Jerusalem for
8:10
the purification rights required by the Law of Moses.
8:13
A very standard practice for the time, right?
8:16
But I want you to break down the mechanics of this visit because
8:19
it is not just a casual trip to church.
8:21
There is a whole economic and social reality happening here.
8:24
There really is. To grasp the reality of this
8:28
visit, we have to look at Leviticus chapter 12.
8:30
OK, what does Leviticus say? It lays out the strict
8:33
regulations for a woman after childbirth.
8:36
A woman who gave birth to a male child was considered
8:39
ceremonially unclean for 40 days.
8:43
Days. Yes.
8:44
And this was not about personal sin.
8:45
It was about the biological realities of childbirth and the
8:48
ceremonial boundaries between life and death in ancient
8:50
Israel. That makes sense.
8:51
Once those 40 days were complete, she was required to go
8:55
to the temple in Jerusalem to offer sacrifices.
8:57
And what were the sacrifices? Well, the standard purification
9:01
offering required by the law was a yearling lamb for a burnt
9:04
offering, plus a pigeon or a turtle dove for a sin offering.
9:07
So a lamb and a bird. Yeah, the lamb was the
9:10
expectation. However, the law made a merciful
9:12
provision for the impoverished. Leviticus 12 verse 8 states that
9:17
if a family could not afford a lamb, they were permitted to
9:20
bring 2 turtle doves or two pigeons instead.
9:22
OK, so a cheaper option for the poor.
9:25
Precisely. And Luke's Gospel deliberately
9:27
notes that Mary and Joseph brought the birds.
9:30
They bypassed the Lamb entirely. Wait, let me make sure I'm
9:34
picturing this correctly. They brought the birds, which
9:37
means they absolutely could not afford the lamb.
9:40
They did not have the funds. And the Temple was not a
9:42
private, secluded place. It was the bustling center of
9:46
Jewish life. It was incredibly crowded.
9:49
Yeah, there were lines of people.
9:51
There were wealthy families bringing their pristine,
9:54
unblemished yearling lambs, handing them over to the priests
9:58
with a sense of status and accomplishment.
10:00
A lot of public fostering. Right.
10:02
And then you have Mary and Joseph stepping up to the priest
10:04
in the middle of this crowded courtyard, handing over 2 cheap
10:07
birds. This isn't just a private moment
10:10
of being broke. This is a public, undeniable
10:13
declaration of absolute poverty right in the middle of the
10:16
religious establishment. It is when they handed those
10:19
birds to the priest. Everyone in the temple courtyard
10:22
knew their financial status. Everyone knew they were
10:25
destitute. They were at the bottom of the
10:27
social and economic ladder. And our can.
10:29
Hughes draws out a vital theological thread from this
10:32
specific event. Which is.
10:35
Christianity begins entirely with the spirit of need.
10:38
It starts with spiritual destitution.
10:40
Oh wow. Yes, Psalm 34 tells us that the
10:42
Lord is near to the broken hearted and saves the crushed in
10:45
spirit. God draws near to the bankrupt,
10:49
never to the self-sufficient. Never to the proud.
10:51
Exactly this public display of poverty by the earthly parents
10:55
of the Son of God is not an accident of history.
10:58
It is a calculated demonstration of the posture required to
11:01
approach God. That makes so much sense.
11:03
It echoes Mary's song from the previous chapter, the
11:05
Magnificat. In that song, she praises God
11:08
specifically because He looked on the humblest state of His
11:11
servant while scattering the proud in the thoughts of their
11:14
hearts. So God actively seeks out the
11:17
empty. Yes, the persistent refrain of
11:19
Christ's life is that God favors the empty.
11:22
I mean, the angels revealed the birth to outcast shepherds
11:26
working the night shift. Not the wealthy.
11:28
Right. Not to the high and mighty
11:30
elites in Jerusalem, The wretched circumstances of the
11:33
birth in a stable, the poor woman's offering at the temple,
11:36
it all points to the same truth. We have to come empty.
11:39
We do. We most constantly guard against
11:42
the illusion of personal spiritual adequacy.
11:44
Even those who've walked in face for decades can wrongly turn
11:48
spiritual maturity into a prideful self-sufficiency.
11:52
Like they've somehow earned their spot.
11:54
Yeah, a sense that they have somehow earned their standing.
11:57
But our only adequacy is found in Christ, and we access it by
12:00
admitting we have nothing to offer.
12:02
You know, I want to focus on that idea of self-sufficiency
12:05
because it runs contrary to everything we are taught as
12:07
human beings. Oh, 100%.
12:10
Think about an analogy like applying for a bank loan or
12:13
trying to get accepted into a prestigious club, or even going
12:16
on a job interview and human systems.
12:18
What do you do? You sell yourself.
12:20
You Polish your resume, you wear your best suit, you project
12:24
wealth, competence and utter self-sufficiency to gain access.
12:28
You hide your flaws, you bury your debts, and you highlight
12:32
your assets. You have to look like you don't
12:34
need help. Exactly.
12:35
You walk into that bank and you try to prove that you do not
12:38
actually need their money, which is the only way they will give
12:41
it to you. It's so backwards.
12:43
It is, but God's economy operates in total reverse.
12:47
He requires us to walk through the door and declare absolute
12:50
spiritual bankruptcy to gain access.
12:53
He requires us to bring the two cheap birds, so to speak.
12:57
That's a great image. So since God's economy operates
13:00
in total reverse, why do people so frequently try to clean
13:03
themselves up before approaching God?
13:05
Why do we instinctively try to hand God a flawless yearling
13:08
lamb of our own good works? Well, we do that because the
13:11
human ego recoils at the idea of being hopeless.
13:14
It hurts our pride. Right.
13:15
Admitting total bankruptcy, it feels like death to our pride.
13:19
We want to contribute something, even if it is just a small
13:21
percentage, to our own salvation.
13:23
Like chipping in for the bill. Yeah, we want to feel that our
13:26
moral choices, our charity or church attendance gives us some
13:31
leverage or standing before the Creator.
13:33
We want to earn it. The theological term for this is
13:36
justification by works, and it is the default setting of the
13:40
human heart. We want to hand God our good
13:43
works to prove we belong in the temple.
13:45
A God rejects that. He does.
13:47
God says no. Bring the poor woman's offering.
13:51
Admit you have absolutely nothing of value to purchase
13:54
your salvation. Man, that takes a brutal
13:57
humbling. It strips away all our moral
13:59
posturing. But this precise posture of
14:01
spiritual bankruptcy and intense hunger was perfectly embodied by
14:05
two senior citizens waiting right there in the temple
14:08
courtyard. Simeon and Anna, yes.
14:10
While the religious elites were busy projecting their
14:12
righteousness, there were two people who understood what it
14:15
meant to be empty so that God could fill them.
14:17
Yeah, this brings us to an incredible encounter in the
14:19
text. While Mary and Joseph are in the
14:21
temple courtyard with their poor woman's offering, we meet Simeon
14:24
and Anna. Two amazing figures.
14:26
Let's look at their profiles because they are fascinating.
14:29
Simeon is described as a man who is righteous and devout, waiting
14:33
for the consolation of Israel. A very specific phrase.
14:36
Right, and the text notes that the Holy Spirit was upon him,
14:39
which was rare before the day of Pentecost.
14:42
He held a divine Oracle from God stating he would not die before
14:46
seeing the Lord's Messiah. A direct promise from God.
14:49
And then you have Anna, a prophetess.
14:52
Her back story is staggering. She had lived with her husband
14:55
for seven years after her marriage and then lived as a
14:57
widow until she was 84. Which means she was very old.
15:00
Yeah, depending on when she was married, which was usually an
15:03
early adolescence in that culture, scholars note she was
15:06
likely over 100 years old. Just incredible longevity.
15:09
And she never left the temple she was worshipping with fasting
15:13
and prayer, night and day. Put yourself in that setting.
15:16
1st century widowhood was an incredibly vulnerable position.
15:20
There was no safety net. No social safety, no pension, no
15:24
retirement fund. A widow without a family to
15:27
support her was completely reliant on the charity of others
15:30
just to survive. Yet she spent decades in the
15:33
temple courtyard, fasting and praying.
15:36
Their physical reality contrasted sharply with their
15:38
spiritual vitality. You have to visualize these two
15:41
individuals standing in the massive stone courtyards of
15:43
Herod's temple. It's quite a scene.
15:46
Their physical profiles were stooped.
15:48
Anyone approaching would see age, spotted hands, translucent
15:51
skin around veined eyes, the physical frailty of advanced
15:55
age. They were fragile.
15:56
Very fragile they were at the end of their physical lives, but
15:59
beneath that physical decay were souls that were incredibly
16:03
young, vibrant and growing. They were spiritually.
16:06
Alive, they represented the absolute best of Israelite
16:09
piety. They were the faithful remnant
16:11
you mentioned. Simeon was waiting for the
16:13
consolation of Israel. Yeah, what does that phrase
16:15
mean? Their phrase is highly specific
16:17
and loaded with theological meaning.
16:18
It connects directly to the Greek translation of Isaiah
16:21
chapter 40, verse one, which reads Comfort, Comfort my
16:25
people. OK, so they were waiting for
16:27
comfort, Yes. The Jewish people had endured
16:30
400 years of prophetic silence between the end of the Old
16:34
Testament and these events. 400 years is a long time.
16:37
It is they were under the brutal occupation of the Roman Empire,
16:40
ruled locally by the paranoid and violent King Herod.
16:44
Simeon and Anna were waiting for the ultimate comfort.
16:47
The Messiah. The promised Messiah who would
16:50
break the silence and bring redemption.
16:52
What stands out is that they believed and waited when almost
16:55
no one else in Israel did. Everyone else was distracted.
16:58
The religious leaders were focused on politics and power,
17:02
but Simeon and Anna shared this electric, joyous expectation.
17:06
They came to God's house hungry, possessing A perpetual sense of
17:09
need. It is the ultimate paradox.
17:11
They were totally empty so they could be filled.
17:13
Beautifully said. I want to contrast their posture
17:16
with how we view success today. Kent Hughes references Ernest
17:20
Hemingway's concept of the completest man.
17:23
Oh, that's a brilliant comparison.
17:25
Hemingway idealized the man who needs nothing.
17:28
He relies on no one, takes what he wants by his own strength,
17:31
and certainly does not need God. The ultimate self-made man.
17:35
Yeah, that rugged individualism, that total self-reliance is the
17:39
cultural ideal. Today we celebrate the self-made
17:41
person, but Simeon and Anna flip that completely upside down.
17:46
They do. They personify total dependency.
17:49
They are flesh and blood examples of the spiritually
17:53
bankrupt people to whom Christ comes.
17:55
They had nothing but their hope. Right.
17:57
I picture Simeon and Anna like someone standing by a mailbox at
18:00
the end of a long, dusty driveway.
18:02
Just waiting. Imagine someone standing by that
18:05
mailbox every single day for decades, waiting for a promised
18:08
letter. The weather changes, the seasons
18:10
pass, the paint on the mailbox peels.
18:12
And people probably thought they were crazy.
18:14
Oh for sure, people drive by and mock them for standing there
18:17
telling them the letter is never coming, but they they never lose
18:20
hope. Such stamina.
18:21
In a modern culture obsessed with instant gratification,
18:25
where we get legitimately angry if a web page takes 4 seconds to
18:29
load, how can a modern person cultivate the kind of patient,
18:33
desperate longing for God's grace that kept Anna in the
18:35
temple fasting for 84 years? Well, cultivating that kind of
18:39
patience requires an honest, unflinching assessment of our
18:43
own insufficiency. We have to admit we need help.
18:46
Yes, if we believe we can satisfy our souls with our
18:49
careers, our technology, our entertainment or our financial
18:52
portfolios, we will never wait by that mailbox.
18:55
We'll just distract ourselves. We will just go back inside and
18:58
turn on the television. Simeon and Anna stayed in the
19:01
temple because they knew the world offered no real
19:03
consolation. They saw through the illusion.
19:06
They understood that the Roman Empire, the local economy and
19:09
even the religious rituals themselves could not fix the
19:12
brokenness of the human condition.
19:14
None of it was enough. So we cultivate that longing by
19:18
asking God to expose our spiritual poverty.
19:21
It sounds completely counterintuitive to the modern
19:24
year. Praying to feel poor.
19:26
Yeah, that's weird, but. Praying for a greater sense of
19:29
your own spiritual need is the gateway to grace.
19:32
You have to realize the well of your own self-sufficiency is
19:35
entirely dry before you start thirsting for living water.
19:38
Wow. Anna fasted and prayed because
19:42
she recognized her physical hunger was just a shadow of her
19:45
spiritual hunger. She leaned into her emptiness.
19:48
And after decades of that emptiness, after decades of
19:51
waiting by that mailbox, one ordinary afternoon, it finally
19:54
happens. The letter arrives.
19:56
Yes, Simeon spots a poor couple walking into the courtyard,
20:00
carrying a baby and a pair of cheap birds.
20:03
Out of all the people in Jerusalem that day, the Holy
20:05
Spirit prompts this old man to approach this specific,
20:08
unremarkable family. It's such a quiet, normal
20:10
looking moment. But his lifelong anticipation
20:13
culminates in a song. Simeon takes the baby in his
20:16
arms and sings a brief, beautiful hymn that the church
20:19
has historically called the Nuncdemidis.
20:21
Which comes from the Latin translation.
20:22
Right, based on his opening words.
20:24
Now let your servant depart in peace.
20:27
I want to visualize the physical scene here because it is so
20:30
incredibly moving. In the picture.
20:32
You have this old man with trembling, frail arms reaching
20:35
out and lifting a fat, dimpled baby from a startled young
20:39
mother, and for a moment the entire world stops turning.
20:44
Simeon looks up and says to God, For my eyes have seen your
20:47
salvation. The magnitude of Simeon's claim
20:50
in that moment cannot be overstated.
20:52
It's massive. It is the early church actually
20:55
called Simeon Theodocus, which is a Greek term that translates
20:58
to God receiver. God receiver, I love that.
21:01
When he says my eyes have seen your salvation, it raises a
21:05
critical theological point. Simeon does not say he has seen
21:08
a part of God's salvation. Like a down payment, right?
21:10
He does not say he has seen the beginning of a process that
21:13
humanity has to finish through good works or moral effort.
21:16
He's not saying. Here's the starter kit.
21:18
No, he holds a helpless infant and declares he has seen the
21:21
whole of it. Christ is totally sufficient.
21:24
The theological reality here is that salvation is Jesus Christ
21:27
plus nothing. Plus absolutely nothing.
21:30
It is completely external to Simeon.
21:32
And then Simeon continues his song.
21:34
He identifies this child as a light for revelation to the
21:38
Gentiles and for glory to the people of Israel.
21:41
Which is a bold thing to say there.
21:42
That is a massive, shocking statement to make right in the
21:45
middle of the Jewish temple. It really is.
21:47
The Temple had a literal dividing wall of hostility,
21:50
separating the court of the Gentiles from the inner courts
21:53
where the Jewish people worshipped.
21:54
They literally kept them out. Yeah, the Gentiles were the vast
21:58
majority of the world's population, and they were
22:01
largely despised by the religious establishment of the
22:04
day. Yet here is a Jewish prophet
22:07
standing in the Jewish temple holding the Jewish Messiah, and
22:11
the first group of people he mentions in his song of
22:13
salvation are the Gentiles. He opens the door to the whole
22:16
world. Simeon announces the universal
22:19
scope of the offer. Jesus is the light in a Dark
22:22
World for the nations while simultaneously being the full
22:25
realization of Israel's glory. It's a gorgeous promise.
22:29
But I want to focus on the emotional reality of Simeon in
22:32
that exact moment. Picture this old man feeling the
22:36
heavyweight of his years, feeling his physical decline
22:39
holding an infant. His arms are probably shaking.
22:43
Yeah, and suddenly he feels completely ready to die, he
22:46
says. Now let your servant depart in
22:48
peace. You know, humans usually
22:51
associate peace with resolved conflicts.
22:53
Like paying off a mortgage. Right.
22:55
We feel peace when we have enough money in the bank or when
22:58
we ensure our families are secure when a medical test comes
23:01
back clear. Circumstantial peace.
23:04
Why does holding a helpless infant provide a man with such
23:07
absolute, resolute peace that he is entirely ready to face death
23:11
right then and there? Because true peace does not come
23:14
from controlling your circumstances, it comes from
23:16
resting your soul in the finished work of God.
23:19
OK. The theological concept here is
23:22
objective justification. Simeon's peace was not based on
23:26
his own internal feelings. It wasn't based on his own track
23:29
record of Righteous. It wasn't about what he had.
23:31
Done. It was based entirely on the
23:33
object he was holding. He held the Prince of Peace.
23:36
He recognized that the divine rescue mission was secured in
23:40
the person of this child. The guarantee was in his arms.
23:43
Yes, if salvation depended on Simeon's own continued moral
23:48
efforts, he could never die in peace.
23:50
Because he would never know if he did enough.
23:52
He would constantly worry if he'd done enough, if he had
23:55
prayed enough, if he'd been good enough.
23:57
But because salvation was entirely bound up in the child
24:00
he held, the burden was lifted off his shoulders.
24:03
The work was done. He could depart in peace because
24:06
the mighty warrior, the true Joshua, had arrived to fight the
24:09
battle for him. The outcome of the war was
24:12
guaranteed so the old man could finally rest.
24:15
That is just breathtaking. But just as we are swept up in
24:18
this beautiful, ecstatic song of peace, Simeon abruptly pivots.
24:22
He takes a sharp turn. The mood in the courtyard
24:25
changes instantly. He turns his focus directly to
24:27
Mary, and he delivers a harsh, striking prophecy that
24:30
completely shatters whatever warm sentimentality was left in
24:33
the room. It gets very heavy.
24:35
Simeon blesses them and then looks directly at Mary and says,
24:39
Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many
24:43
in Israel and for a sign that is opposed.
24:46
A sign of opposition, yeah. Then he adds a chilling
24:50
parenthetical warning specifically to her, he says.
24:54
And a sword will Pierce through your own soul also.
24:57
Just devastating words for a mother to hear.
24:59
Finally, he concludes the prophecy by saying so that
25:02
thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.
25:05
Let's break that down piece by piece, starting with the sword
25:07
piercing Mary's soul. What is the reality she is
25:11
facing? We have to remember that Mary
25:13
had previously sung the Magnificat praising God that
25:16
future generations would call her blessed, which was true.
25:18
That was entirely true. But Simeon is revealing the
25:21
excruciating sorrow that will accompany that blessing.
25:24
The Greek word used for sword here is not a small dagger.
25:27
It's not a pocket knife. No, it is a large broadsword
25:30
used for heavy combat. It signifies the massive tearing
25:33
agony she will endure as the mother of the Messiah.
25:37
Give me some examples of that agony.
25:39
Well, it points to the family's terrifying sudden flight to
25:42
Egypt to escape Harrah's murder squads were slaughtering infants
25:46
in Bethlehem. They became refugees, yes.
25:49
It points to the reality of watching her son grow up only to
25:52
be misunderstood, mocked, accused of having a demon and
25:56
violently rejected by his own community.
25:58
Which would break any mother's heart.
26:00
And most brutally, it points to Mary standing helpless at the
26:04
foot of the cross, watching the child she nursed and raised
26:07
slowly suffocate to death as a public criminal.
26:10
The ultimate pain. The most honored woman in
26:13
history with no unimaginable pain.
26:16
The sword of his suffering would Pierce her own soul, Man.
26:19
And then there's the rest of the prophecy, which applies to
26:21
everyone else, not just Mary. The falling and rising.
26:23
Right. He declares that the child is
26:25
appointed for the fall and rising of many, and that he will
26:28
be a sign that is opposed, revealing the thoughts of many
26:31
hearts. How does Christ reveal the
26:33
thoughts of hearts? Christ acts as a brilliant,
26:36
unyielding diagnostic tool for the human soul.
26:39
What do you mean by that? When people truly encounter the
26:41
biblical Jesus, their inner thoughts, their hidden motives,
26:45
their pride, their self righteousness, their secret
26:48
sins, they are dragged out into the light.
26:51
Nowhere to hide. Human goodness, when placed next
26:54
to the blinding holiness of Christ, is exposed as filthy
26:57
rags. Because humans are naturally
27:00
unable or unwilling to handle that kind of exposure, they
27:03
instinctively oppose Him. We fight back.
27:05
We do, the text says. He is a sign that is opposed.
27:09
This touches on the doctrine of total depravity.
27:12
Apart from God's merciful intervention, the natural human
27:15
default is not to seek God, it's to fight against Christ's
27:19
authority because he threatens our autonomy.
27:21
We want to be in charge. We want to be our own kings.
27:25
Jesus brings a crisis wherever He goes.
27:27
People must fall in humiliation before they can rise in grace.
27:30
You know, it makes me think of a harsh medical diagnostic scan.
27:33
Like an MRI. Yeah, exactly.
27:35
Imagine you go to the doctor because you have a minor ache,
27:37
expecting them to just give you a pill.
27:39
But they run an MRI and the scan reveals a deadly, aggressive
27:42
disease you desperately did not want to acknowledge.
27:45
A terrifying moment. That scan hurts emotionally.
27:48
It ruins your day. It shatters your illusion of
27:51
health and forces you to confront your mortality.
27:54
Ignorance was. But seeing the disease clearly
27:57
on the screen is the only way you will ever submit to the
28:00
painful, necessary cure. That's a perfect parallel.
28:03
So how does this concept that Jesus actively knocks us down in
28:07
humiliation, exposing our spiritual disease so he can pick
28:10
us up? How does that challenge the
28:12
common modern perception of Jesus as just a mild moral
28:17
teacher whose main goal is to boost our self esteem?
28:20
Oh, it completely dismantles that modern caricature.
28:23
A mild moral teacher just gives you helpful tips on how to live
28:26
a slightly better, more fulfilled life.
28:28
Like a life coach. Right Life coach gives you
28:30
strategies for success, but Simeon says Jesus brings a sword
28:33
and causes people to fall. He causes a craft.
28:35
You must bow in total humiliation and poverty of
28:38
spirit before you can rise to new life.
28:40
If Jesus is just a life coach, you never have to fall.
28:43
You just add them to your routine.
28:44
You never have to admit bankruptcy.
28:46
You just implement his five steps for a better marriage or a
28:50
better attitude. But the biblical Christ demands
28:53
absolute surrender. Total submission.
28:56
When we see our utter inadequacy, when our filthy rags
28:59
are exposed by His perfection, only then are we ready for
29:03
grace. He brings us to the end of
29:05
ourselves. He breaks us to heal us.
29:06
Yes, He does not come to improve our old nature, He comes to put
29:11
it to death so he can resurrect a new one.
29:14
This revealing of hearts, this exposing of human inadequacy and
29:18
His own absolute allegiance to the Father's will define his
29:21
entire time on earth. This whole mission.
29:23
And we see this clearly demonstrated when Luke fast
29:25
forwards the narrative. The text jumps 12 years later.
29:29
Let's look at what happens when Jesus is a 12 year old boy.
29:31
We skip past the childhood. Yeah, the text notes that.
29:33
Jesus his parents went to Jerusalem every year for the
29:35
feast of the Passover. The Hebrew Scriptures required
29:38
all males aged 13 and above to attend the major feasts in
29:41
Jerusalem. A big annual event.
29:43
While it was not mandatory for women, Mary's consistent
29:46
presence year after year testifies to her intense piety.
29:50
Now Jesus is 12 years old and the family travels in a large
29:54
caravan from Nazareth to Jerusalem.
29:57
A long trip. Can you explain the logistics of
29:59
that travel? Why a large caravan?
30:02
What did that trip actually look?
30:03
Like the logistics of travel in the 1st century were daunting
30:07
and physically exhausting. Not like taking a flight today.
30:10
Not at all. Nazareth was in the northern
30:13
region of Galilee, and Jerusalem was in Judea to the South.
30:17
The distance was roughly 80 miles, which typically required
30:20
several days of travel on foot. 80 miles walking.
30:23
Often over steep, rocky terrain, they travelled in a large
30:27
extended group, gathering other pilgrims from various towns
30:30
along the way, primarily for safety.
30:32
Safety in numbers. Exactly.
30:34
The most direct route from Galilee to Judea passed straight
30:37
through Samaria. However, the region of Samaria
30:39
was historically hostile to Jewish pilgrims due to centuries
30:43
of ethnic and religious tension. So they went around it.
30:45
To avoid conflict, these caravans would often cross the
30:48
Jordan River, travel down the eastern bank through Perea, and
30:52
then cross back over near Jericho.
30:54
That adds miles to the trip. It does, And then they began the
30:58
long, dangerous uphill climb to Jerusalem.
31:01
Traveling in massive numbers provided necessary protection
31:04
from bandits who frequently ambushed travelers on these
31:07
roads. Like the parable of the Good
31:09
Samaritan. Yes, very similar setting.
31:11
It also created a vibrant communal camaraderie.
31:15
Imagine hundreds of people walking together, cooking
31:18
together, and singing the Psalms of Ascent as they climb the
31:20
roads toward the holy City. Preparing their hearts.
31:23
Preparing their hearts for the Passover.
31:25
That paints A vivid picture of the physical toll of this life.
31:28
But why is it significant that Jesus is exactly 12 years old on
31:32
this particular trip? Why is Luke highlight the
31:35
specific age? This age provides crucial
31:38
cultural context in Jewish tradition.
31:41
At age 13, a male officially became a son of the commandment.
31:45
A son of the commandment. OK.
31:46
He took on the full responsibilities of an adult in
31:49
the religious community, very similar to a modern bar mitzvah.
31:53
He was now personally accountable for keeping the law.
31:56
So 12 is the prep year. Exactly.
31:58
The Mishnah, which records Jewish oral traditions and
32:01
regulations, suggested that fathers should actively train
32:05
their sons in the Passover observance one or two years
32:08
prior to their coming of age. Getting them ready.
32:10
Therefore, bringing 12 year old Jesus was part of his formal
32:14
theological training. He was brought to observe and
32:18
participate in the very heart of Israel's religious life.
32:22
He's stepping up to the plate. He's preparing to take on the
32:24
full yoke of the law. So we can draw a Direct Line
32:28
from the infant who is passively presented in the temple,
32:32
shedding blood at his circumcision without any
32:34
conscious choice, to this 12 year old boy walking into the
32:37
temple courtyard under his own power.
32:40
It's a huge shift. He's keenly aware of his unique
32:42
relationship with his Father in Heaven, and he is preparing for
32:45
the ultimate Passover mission he would eventually fulfill on the
32:48
cross. The contrast between the baby
32:51
and the boy is striking. Yes, the progression is vital to
32:54
reform theology. Tell me more about that
32:56
progression. Well, in the earlier verses we
32:59
saw his passive obedience as an infant.
33:03
He submitted to circumcision and the presentation in the temple.
33:07
He shed blood and fulfilled the law without conscious action.
33:10
He just let it happen to. Him, He allowed things to be
33:12
done to Him to fulfill the righteous requirements.
33:15
Now, at age 12, we see the beginnings of His active
33:19
obedience. Active obedience.
33:21
Yes, he is sitting in the Temple courts listening to the greatest
33:25
theological teachers of Israel and asking them questions.
33:28
He is actively engaging with the law.
33:30
He's participating. He is fulfilling all
33:32
righteousness perfectly in His thoughts, his studies, and His
33:36
actions. The irony is astounding.
33:38
You have to step back and look at the whole picture.
33:40
He is sitting there as a 12 year old student, taking notes,
33:43
asking questions, and learning the very law that he himself
33:46
authored as the second person of the Trinity.
33:48
It's almost funny to think about.
33:50
He gave those laws to Moses on Mount Sinai, and now he is
33:54
sitting on the floor as a boy submitting to them, seeing
33:57
Jesus, actively studying and submitting to the law.
34:00
How does that expand our understanding of His act of
34:03
obedience and His total identification with humanity?
34:06
It proves that he did not take any shortcuts in his
34:08
incarnation. He did the work.
34:10
He did not bypass the human experience of learning, growing,
34:13
and submitting to authority. Luke tells us that he increased
34:16
in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
34:20
He grew up like a normal kid. He experienced the full
34:22
limitations and developmental stages of human life, yet
34:26
without sin. This concept of active obedience
34:29
is just as necessary for our salvation as His death on the
34:32
cross. Wait, really?
34:34
Just as necessary. Yes, if Jesus only died for our
34:37
sins, He would wipe our slate clean, but we would still have
34:40
no positive record of righteousness to present to a
34:42
holy God. We'd be at 0.
34:44
Right neutral. He lived the perfect life of
34:47
obedience that we failed to live, so that his flawless
34:50
record, his act of obedience to every demand of the law, could
34:53
be credited to our account. He earned the A plus for us.
34:57
He earned the righteousness that we desperately needed.
34:59
That brings all the historical threads together beautifully.
35:02
Let's summarize the core insights from our deep dive
35:05
today. Our Kent Hughes shows us through
35:08
his commentary that the incarnation was a gritty, real,
35:12
physical rescue mission. Not a fairy tale.
35:15
Not a neat theological concept floating in the clouds.
35:18
It involved real physical pain and blood.
35:20
On the eighth day of circumcision, the.
35:22
Cries of a baby. It involved real public poverty
35:26
with the cheap turtle doves at the purification.
35:29
It involved decades of literal waiting by Simeon and Anna and
35:33
the courts. And it involved the real
35:35
physical dust, sweat and danger of a caravan traveling from
35:39
Nazareth to Jerusalem. And the central theological
35:42
pillar standing amidst all that historical reality is that Jesus
35:45
is salvation plus nothing plus nothing.
35:48
Accessing this grace operates on an entirely different economy
35:51
than the world's systems. It requires the absolute
35:54
spiritual bankruptcy of the poor woman's offering.
35:56
The tuber It requires the patient, desperate hunger of
36:00
Simeon and Anna. You cannot bring your own
36:03
merits, your own resume, or your own self-sufficiency to this
36:07
transaction. It won't work.
36:08
You have to come empty. So let's turn this directly to
36:11
you, the listener. Consider your own posture before
36:14
God right now. Think about your daily life when
36:17
you pray, when you attend church, when you think about
36:20
your standing before a holy God, how are you approaching Him?
36:25
It's the most critical question. Are you walking in with a
36:27
polished resume of your good deeds, your theological
36:31
knowledge, your moral superiority over your neighbors?
36:35
Holding up your spotless lamb. Are you carrying a pristine
36:38
yearling lamb of your own making, trying to prove you
36:41
belong? Or are you approaching with
36:43
empty hands like Mary and Joseph, holding those cheap
36:46
birds, declaring your absolute desperate need for a Savior?
36:50
We have to constantly guard against prideful
36:52
self-sufficiency. If you think you are doing
36:55
pretty well on your own, if you think you just need a little
36:57
advice from a mild moral teacher, you will never see the
37:01
beauty of the Nunctomidis. You'll miss the peace.
37:03
You will never know the absolute rock solid peace Simeon felt
37:07
when he held that baby. That specific peace is reserved
37:11
only for those who know they are completely ruined without
37:14
Christ. I want to leave you with a final
37:16
thought to Mull over, something to consider long after this deep
37:19
dive ends. When the holiday season
37:21
inevitably concludes and we pack away our nativity sets, what are
37:25
we really doing? That's a convicting thought.
37:27
Are we safely boxing Jesus up as a quiet, harmless piece of
37:31
history to be stored in the attic?
37:33
Or are we preparing ourselves for the massive broadsword
37:37
Simeon promised, the sword that ruthlessly exposes our hidden
37:40
inner thoughts and demands our complete, unyielding allegiance
37:43
every single day of the year? That is the defining question,
37:46
that true Christ will not be managed and He certainly will
37:49
not stay in the box. Keep examining the text closely,
37:52
keep looking for the truth, and thank you for listening.