A good trial lawyer who is trying to get a certain verdict from the jury will labor, piling evidence up more and more so that the jury can feel certain as to the truth of the matter they are judging. If there is one more detail the lawyer can point out that supports this truth, he will not avoid it but will point it out to those judging the case. He wants them to have no reasonable doubt about the truth of the matter. As Luke writes this gospel, he is writing to Theophilus so that he “may have certainty concerning the things [he has] been taught” (Luke 1:4). Therefore, as Luke deals with the identity of Jesus, looking at who he is, Luke pours on the evidence.
Thus far through his gospel Luke has shown the witness of Gabriel, Elizabeth, Mary, Zechariah, a host of angels as they spoke to the shepherds, all proclaiming that Jesus is indeed who he claims to be – the Son of God through whom men are reconciled to God. But Luke wants to leave no room for doubt. He wants Theophilus to have certainty concerning what he has been taught about Jesus, so he continues to add witnesses. In our text this morning the witness comes from two older saints, Simeon and Anna, as they encounter the Christ child at the temple.
My hope this morning is that as we continue to look at the witness Luke gives us that we will grow in certainty concerning the things that we have been taught about Jesus. Therefore, I want to point us to some truths that come out in this story of Jesus being brought to the temple that we find in Luke 2:22-40.
The narrative begins telling us that Mary and Joseph were coming to the temple for a number of reasons. First, the text mentions that the time had come for their purification according to the Law of Moses. According to the law, a woman was ceremonially unclean until the fortieth day after giving birth to the child. At that time she was to go to the temple to offer a sacrifice of a lamb and a turtledove. Therefore, we can place this incident about forty days after the birth of Jesus. Mary and Joseph are coming to the temple to bring the purification sacrifice. However, Luke makes no mention of a lamb. Rather, he speaks of “a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” This was an allowance made in the law for one who could not afford a lamb. Such an individual could simply bring two pigeons or two turtledoves. That is what Joseph and Mary bring, obviously not being blessed with great wealth.
Yet there is something else going on here as well. They are bringing Jesus “to present him to the Lord” in accordance with the Law as well. After the Passover, as all the firstborn of the Egyptians were killed, the firstborn of every Israelite was considered to belong to God. He had redeemed their lives. Now, instead of taking all of the firstborn into his permanent service into the tabernacle (and, later, temple), God had taken the Levites to serve in the place of the firstborn from each tribe. However, when a couple had their firstborn son they were to bring him to the temple and offer five shekels as a redemption price to the Lord. That is another event taking place as Mary and Joseph come to the temple this day.
Finally, it appears there might have been some formal act of dedicating the child to the Lord. Samuel’s parents had done this in the Old Testament as he had been given wholly to the service of the Lord, and Jesus was obviously to be used of the Lord as well. This may be why Luke speaks of “their” purification in verse 22. Possibly both parents had gone through some steps of purification as they prepared for this dedication of their child to the Lord’s service.
There’s simply debate as to what all is going on as Mary and Joseph come to the temple on this day. What we can know for sure, however, is that this is sometime forty days or more since the birth of Jesus and Mary and Joseph are coming to the temple because they are a righteous couple, seeking to obey God’s law in all they do. But, as with every event we’ve seen in Luke’s gospel so far, this would be no normal day at the temple.
There was another man coming to the temple that day. His name was Simeon. According to the text, Simeon was not a priest but a devout and righteous man who was waiting for the coming Messiah. Specifically Luke tells us that he was waiting for the “consolation of Israel” a text that makes much sense when we consider the hardships, struggles, and oppression God’s people had known and were now tasting under the Roman Empire. And the Spirit had revealed something interesting to him. He had revealed to him that he would not die until he saw the Christ.
Therefore, day after day Simeon had waited, but he would have to wait no longer. Because on this day as he came to the temple and saw a young couple approaching, he knew it was the Christ. The Spirit made it clear to him. So he meets the couple, takes the child in his arms, and blessed God, saying, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (2:29-32).
But let us pause here a second, even before focusing on what Simeon has said (and will say) about Jesus and simply note (yet again) that God fulfills every detail of his purposes and plans.
God’s purpose for Simeon’s life had been that he live long enough for him to see the Messiah, no doubt so that he might bear further witness as to who Jesus was. God had even promised him that this. Simeon could know for certain that God would spare his life until he saw the Messiah. And now we can assume Simeon is an older man who had waited years for the fulfillment of God’s plan for his life, dreaming as to how it might be fulfilled. And one day he comes to the temple, sees this baby that he knows is the Christ, bears witness to him, and God’s purposes and plans for Simeon’s life have been accomplished.
Could you imagine Simeon sitting anxiously in his home one day, biting his nails, and saying to himself, “I bet I’ve missed him. I bet I’ve messed this up somehow. I knew I would somehow ruin God’s plans for my life. Now I’ll die without ever seeing the Messiah.”? Of course not. God had a plan for Simeon’s life and he was going to fulfill it. In fact, the promise to Simeon was no doubt more about the witness he would serve than the blessing he received. It would have been silly for Simeon to grow anxious. God was going to fulfill his purposes and plans for his life.
But how would Simeon know where he was? How would Simeon find himself in the presence of the Messiah? Did God make it so that he had to be one of the greatest detectives in the world, figuring out the precise place he could go to ensure that his life would intersect with the Messiah’s? No. Rather, it appears that the Spirit simply moved him to go to the temple on this precise day. I think that’s what Luke is saying when he writes, “He came in the Spirit into the temple.”
But how did Mary and Joseph know to take Jesus on that day? The answer is that they were simply obeying the commands of God. Do you see? Joseph, Mary, and Simeon were all just obeying God in what they knew to do and God was fulfilling every detail of his purposes and plans for their lives.
Let this be instructive to us. Isn’t it so easy for us to doubt that God will fulfill every detail of his purposes and plans for our lives? Though we think it silly to picture Simeon growing anxious, aren’t we at times gripped with anxiety, thinking that though we just want to obey God we might mess up and get in the way of his plans for our lives? Just as God did not simply set out an end for Simeon and then tell him to figure out how to make it happen, so with us God doesn’t just give us ends in life and tell us how to figure out how to make it happen. He simply tells us to obey him. And as we seek to obey him, God will fulfill every detail of our lives. Even the things we do wrong, God will work them to the end for which he has planned for us.
So may we grow in our faith and trust toward God as we consider Simeon and how God fulfilled every detail of his purposes and plans for his life. Let us make our lives about obeying and trusting God.
But let us now move on to the content of what Simeon says about Jesus. First, Simeon notes that Jesus is salvation.
As he holds Jesus in his arms, Simeon declares, “My eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel” (2:30-32). Simeon is able to look at Jesus and say, “I’ve seen salvation.”
Simeon speaks a truth that we all need to let settle in our hearts: Jesus is salvation. He is the light who reveals God to the Gentiles who had not received revelation to God and is the glory of Israel. He is the true Israel, the one who will truly be God’s Son and inherit all the promises. Israel’s glory is this one – Jesus. He is salvation. And if the nations want to know salvation, they must know Jesus.
This is such a key theological concept for us. Salvation is not something outside of Jesus so that we can separate salvation from Jesus. We know that someone doesn’t understand what salvation is if he asks, “Can one be saved apart from Jesus?”, for every aspect of salvation comes to us as we are united in Christ. This is why Paul speaks of the blessings of salvation coming to us “in Christ.” We have life because we have been united with one who is now alive. We are justified because we have been united with one who has been justified by his resurrection from the dead. We await the inheritance from God because we have been united with one who is the heir of all things. We are God’s sons because we have been united with the one who is truly God’s Son. We are righteous before God because we have been united with one who is righteous in every way. Salvation is that blessing we have by being united with Jesus Christ through faith so that what is true of him is true of us as well. That is what salvation is. Jesus is himself our salvation.
This was always God’s plan. It was never to bless a people apart from his Son. That is why Simeon says that God’s salvation has been “prepared in the presence of all peoples.” From the very beginning God has prepared people for the coming of his Son. From the beginning the salvation of God’s people has always focused on a person – the seed of the woman, the seed of Abraham, the son of David, the Messiah, God himself – the one Simeon calls “salvation” – Jesus of Nazareth.
And because salvation is not simply a concept but a person, then Jesus brings division.
Simeon speaks of Jesus as the promised salvation of God to all people, Jews and Gentles, as many as who will believe in him. And Joseph and Mary were amazed. As much as they had heard and seen, God’s promises and words of prophecy are always amazing. But then Simeon said something Joseph and Mary might not have anticipated. He turned to Mary and said, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed” (2:34-35).
Simeon is saying that Jesus will serve to bring about the stumbling and vindication of many. For some Jesus will be one whom they do not want to accept. They will say they want God’s salvation and even want to serve God, perhaps, but they will stumble over Jesus, who is salvation. Others will believe in him and will be vindicated on that last day. Jesus will cause many to fall and many to rise. The response to him will be mixed. And on the whole, generally speaking, Jesus will be opposed. He is the stone that the builders rejected who is the chief cornerstone. Simeon tells Mary that though her Son is God’s promised salvation, many will oppose him and fall to their demise.
And he also addresses the effect it will have on Mary. He mentions that a sword will pierce through her own soul. This probably means that Mary will suffer as she witnesses her Son’s life and ministry. Jesus’ choices and words bring about great opposition. He is mocked, slandered, and will eventually be killed. She is blessed because she has given birth to this child but she will also know great distress because she is the mother of one who will be persecuted even to the point of death. Opposition to her Son from many will be a sword piercing through her soul, something few of us may have considered – the difficulty of Mary in witnessing opposition to her Son.
Jesus brings division. As a whole, if we were to survey the culture as to what Jesus is like we would probably get a response saying that Jesus is one who would unify everyone. Regardless of our views, lifestyles, politics, or whatever else, we would all be drawn to Jesus and therefore drawn together. He might be seen as the great unifier. But that is not the biblical picture of Jesus. He brings division because he must be obeyed.
Surely everyone wants salvation, but Jesus is salvation and must be followed. He is Lord. We must place our faith in him personally. Salvation is in Jesus alone. And because Jesus comes as salvation, demanding our full allegiance, he brings division, as some will follow him and others reject him. And it is our response to Jesus that shows our heart toward God.
Simeon notes that as many fall and rise on account of him and many oppose him, he notes that this happens, “so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” Simply put, one’s response to Jesus shows one’s heart toward God. If one truly wants to love and honor and follow God, then he will love and honor and follow Jesus. And if you don’t love and honor and follow Jesus, then you have revealed that the thoughts of your heart are in opposition to and rebellion against God.
Jesus is so central in God’s plan that our response to God is displayed in our response to his Son. God displays his glory by exalting his Son. Therefore, if one claims to love God and yet despises Jesus then he is a liar and is in rebellion against God. That is what Simeon tells us here. And this is key for us to realize as well.
I mentioned a while back a conversation I had with a Jehovah’s Witness on my doorstep one Saturday morning. As I think back to that conversation I can still remember the struggle in my heart as I heard him speak. He was a very nice and polite man. And he knew much of the Scripture. In fact, he kept talking about how he wanted to honor the God of the Bible. He talked about how he wanted to give his life in service to God. And I remember thinking, “He doesn’t understand the Trinity, which is a hard concept. He doesn’t get how Jesus can be both the Son of God and God the Son. But he seems really to want to please God.” But then as I thought through the Scriptures, it became clear to me that this man did not want to please God. It might have sounded like it. It might have seemed like it. In fact, I don’t think he got back in the car rubbing his hands together saying, “Satan, let’s see who else we can deceive.” The thoughts of his heart that day seemed to be that he wanted to love and serve God above all else.
However, those were not the thoughts of his heart. His heart was one that was opposed to and in rebellion against God. How do I know? It is because of his response to Jesus. Why did he refuse to honor the Son as he honors the Father? It is because he does not want to honor the Father. God has given us his Son as one who when he is opposed reveals people’s heart toward God. And many oppose him.
People in our day-to-day lives might seem to show much affection toward God, but don’t be deceived. Unless one bows the knee to Jesus as God’s Son and God the Son, then he does not love God. The God of the Bible is the God who has revealed himself to us in Jesus of Nazareth who is God’s salvation for us. Simeon shows us much about Jesus. He is our salvation. He brings division. And our response to Jesus reveals our hearts to God.
And finally, we are reminded yet again that Jesus is indeed the Promised One from God, our redemption.
The story ends with an old woman named Anna, a prophetess bearing witness concerning Jesus. Though it is difficult to see exactly what Luke writes about her it appears that she had gotten married and had become a widow after seven years. Then, instead of remarrying, she dedicated herself wholeheartedly to the Lord. She spent her days and nights praying and fasting. What an example Anna is of service to the Lord. And she was a prophetess. So, when she sees Jesus she too begins to speak to all waiting for the Messiah, telling them that he has come.
Simeon and Anna bear witness to Jesus. He is the indeed the Promised One spoken of in the Scripture. He is God’s salvation. He is to be believed and obeyed. And now Luke has given us two more witnesses to who he is, that of Simeon and Anna.
Yet there is one more witness in our story. As Luke transitions us into the next story of Jesus in the temple he ends this section speaking of Jesus returning to Nazareth, growing in strength, and being filled with wisdom. Then he notes, “And the favor of God was upon him.” God displayed throughout Jesus’ life that this one was different. This was his Son with whom he was well pleased.
Therefore, let’s focus our lives on Christ. Trust God. Believe in Christ. And declare to others there need for Christ, pleading with them to believe so that they might be saved. May we even now express our trust and faith in Christ as we come to the table. Amen.