Luke 2:21-40, 51-52: Waiting for the Salvation of the Lord
Introduction
There are five parts to our text this evening, five episodes we want to observe, relate, and apply in our meditation on the Lord’s Incarnation. The first is Jesus’ circumcision on the eighth day after he was born. The second is the presentation of Jesus at the Temple forty days after his birth when his parents brought him and completed the rites for Mary’s purification according to the Law. The third is the encounter with Simeon. The fourth is the testimony of Anna. The fifth is Christ’s submission to his parents and growth in wisdom and stature over the first thirty years of his life.
What do these episodes have in common? Each of them relate in some way to the theme of waiting. Jesus’ parents wait until he is eight days old to circumcise him as the Law commanded. They waited until he was forty days old to go to the Temple for the presentation and purification rites, again, as the Law required. Simeon was “waiting for the Consolation of Israel.” Anna was waiting to die having been a widow devoted to prayer and fasting for a very long time. And Jesus waited in Nazareth--obeying his parents, learning a trade, and submitting to authority as a child-- until the day arrived for his public ministry to commence. All of these episodes involve waiting for the next step in God’s work of salvation.
As the Church of God we also are waiting for the next step in the Lord’s plan. We wait for the coming Messiah as Israel did for so long, but rather than waiting for his first Advent, we await his return. Like Anna we wait and watch with prayer and fasting. Like Joseph and Mary we practice obedience to God’s law while waiting to see what will happen next. Like Jesus we rest in the Father’s sovereign plan without resisting, protesting, or neglecting our duty here while we wait. This is the Church’s posture and practice following in the footsteps of our Lord. The saints have always been waiting for the next phase: whether exodus from Egypt, conquest of the land, return from exile in Babylon, Messiah’s appearance, or the everlasting kingdom. So on Christmas, we look back on Christ’s birth and look ahead with hope to his return.
Waiting to be Circumcised (21)
Why did Joseph and Mary wait 8 days to circumcise Jesus? That’s easy. Because the Law of Moses said to. But why did God require families to wait 8 days? Some of you are going to give me a biological answer. A baby’s clotting mechanism is warming up during the first week of their life, and it would be dangerous to perform a surgical procedure (without an injection of vitamin K) during that time. Fair enough. But this is like saying dietary laws in the OT forbade pork because it is high in saturated fat. Who made it that way? And does God not care about our cholesterol in the New Covenant?! The Lord could have made newborn babies with fully functioning blood clotting systems, or he could have made a special dispensation so that circumcision was safe to perform in the first week. He didn’t. The wait was intentional, and God always has his reasons. We may not always understand them. We may not be able to explain them. But he has them. Never doubt that.
What were you thinking about during the first three days after your child was born? “This is the most beautiful baby in the world. Yep, five fingers on each hand and five toes on each foot. I’m so glad that’s over. I’m never doing that again. How can I take care of this baby? Am I ever going to sleep through the night again?” Those first few days might not be the most ideal time for one of the most special, sacred, and spiritually significant events in the family’s life. So God made parents wait. What do you think couples thought about as the day of their son’s circumcision drew near? Were they thinking about the promise God made to Abraham? The covenant that defined their identity and purpose? The Law which ruled and regulated every facet of their lives?
Many of us don’t like waiting because it makes us think. Waiting for surgery or a doctor’s appointment or the birth of a child or for our older kids to come home fills our minds with all kinds of thoughts, good and bad. Waiting is an opportunity to meditate on what is meaningful, to direct our thoughts to what is good, right, and true. What was Mary thinking about for the week prior to Jesus’ circumcision? Actually, Luke tells us (v.19). She was thinking about who her Baby was.
Waiting to be Purified (22-24)
The OT Law gave specific instructions for a mother’s purification after childbirth (Lev. 12). This does not mean childbirth was regarded as sinful in any way. Unclean does not mean wicked in the OT law. You would be unclean for attending a funeral or making love to your wife. The point was to teach the Israelites holiness in every part of life. There is no neutral space, and Yahweh is Lord of labor and delivery and postpartum recovery just as he is Lord of the Temple and worship. But the Law required a sin offering and burnt offering for atonement and consecration. Why? Because even our best deeds, even our most natural and normal acts, are tainted and defiled by our sinfulness. If even our repentance and prayers are imperfect, how much more the delivery of our children?! The offerings were a sign that God had to cleanse every aspect of life and that childbirth was consecrated to God in order to produce godly offspring.
The flow of blood resulting from childbirth made a woman unclean and restricted her from participation in the Temple and corporate worship for a time. But this was not a punishment but a time of waiting and reflection. The mother had participated in God’s work of creation by carrying a new image bearer in her womb for the last nine months. The birth of that child had come with a painful reminder of the curse of sin and that mankind no longer lives in Eden. This was not only a time to rest and physically recover but a time to reflect upon the covenantal and redemptive aspects of the child’s birth. God was Lord there also, and the sacrifices at the end of the period affirmed it.
We may not offer sin offerings or burnt offerings in the same way today--more on this next year--but the same principle of God’s Lordship applies to us. And just as Joseph and Mary waited for the day of her purification and Jesus’ presentation at the Temple, so we are waiting for our sanctification to be complete and for the day we are presented as holy and righteous in the presence of God by the sacrifice of Christ. We are waiting for purification and presentation just as this family did. It’s something to meditate on as you celebrate Christ’s birth and its theological significance.
Waiting for Israel’s Consolation (25-35)
Simeon and Anna deserve to have more than just a few minutes in a Christmas Eve service to expound the verses where they appear but time will only permit a few observations tonight. Simeon was a man of the Spirit. Did you see how often the Holy Spirit is referred to in vv.25-27? He was a man filled with the Holy Spirit and guided by the Spirit. The Lord had made known to him that Messiah would appear in his lifetime, and the clock was ticking. We don’t know how old Simeon may have been, but the hymn of praise he offers sounds like a closing number in the story of his life. This was the climax, not whatever may have preceded it. The climax was seeing Christ.
Simeon was “waiting for the Consolation of Israel,” and the NKJV capitalizes consolation in order to emphasize that this consolation is not a what but a who. Christ is the consolation. His coming would bring joy, peace, and justice to Israel. Simeon was not waiting for deliverance from the Romans, for the reestablishment of a Davidic monarchy, for a return to the economic prosperity of Solomon. He was waiting for the Savior, One who would rescue Israel from her sin. That is our true consolation, not temporal or material advantage, as pleasant as that may be. We are waiting for spiritual and eternal salvation. That is what Christ brings, and that is our soul’s lasting consolation.
Christmas is hard for many families because of the memories and absence of loved ones. We remember gathering to eat and unwrap presents around the tree, but some of those with whom we shared these times are no longer with us. We sometimes wonder if this Christmas may be the last time. Some of us have potentially life-threatening illnesses. Maybe the doctor has said it’s not looking good. And regardless of our health, our lives are but a vapor, fragile and quickly perishing. Simeon was waiting to see Christ, and he knew that when he saw him, the last milestone in his life was over. But he did not try to postpone, avoid, or prolong that encounter. He longed for it, and when it arrived, he celebrated. He could depart in peace because he had seen Jesus. Our hope as we celebrate tomorrow should not be for one more Christmas with family but for the eternal day of joy and celebration when we shall be with Christ and his beloved saints forevermore.
Waiting in the Temple for Redemption (36-38)
Anna had been alone a long time. She had been widowed after seven years of marriage while still very young, and now she was an elderly woman. Evidently she never remarried which would ordinarily have been desirable due to her age and due to the protection and means of life it provided. But she had her eyes on another husband; her heart was fixed on Yahweh, the God of her fathers. She was always in the Temple. I don’t think this means she never left the premises, but she spent every day there, for hours and hours. It was her home, her life, her constant occupation. Anna did not have a prayer life; she lived a life of prayer. Fasting every day and offering continual supplication to God. Later monastic traditions would pray seven times a day, including waking up in the middle of the night, and they would recite the entire Psalter every week. Anna was no less dedicated; indeed, those monks had nothing on this woman! She was a prophetess, a servant of God, one who spent her whole life in prayer before God’s throne.
Why did the Lord leave Anna on this earth for so long? Why not take her home to glory? We do not know if there were others in Anna’s life, family or friends, to whom she ministered. We know very little about her story. What we know is remarkable, but it seems rather lonely. Wouldn’t such a person desire more than anything to depart and be with God (cf. Php. 1:23)? Maybe her life served many purposes, but nothing she ever did could have been more significant than what she did here. She welcomed Jesus into the Temple, and in so doing, she saw the glory of God return in the Person of Christ, albeit only for a while. She gave thanks to the Lord and spoke of the Messiah to those who, like her and Simeon, were waiting and watching for redemption. Like Simeon, this was the climax of a long and dedicated life of service. She did what she’d waited 80 years to do.
As we gather around Christmas trees, dinner tables, and living rooms over the next day or two, our presence should be a form of worship which includes explicit thanksgiving and speaking of Christ, the One who brings redemption. Christmas should be celebrated not only with gifts and rich desserts but also with glad hearts, giving thanks to God, and speaking loudly and lovingly of the Lord who loved us by becoming a Man. Worship on Christmas must be a culmination of prayer and watching, and it should, in turn, fuel further fasting and prayer, a life of waiting on the Lord. We are not merely waiting to open presents. We are waiting to welcome and praise God’s Son.
Waiting for the Public Work to Begin (39-40, 51-52)
Finally, notice that even the Lord waits in our passage. He waits in a manger, he waits in his parents’ house, he waits under their authority, he waits in a submissive posture on his heavenly Father’s will. Jesus shows us the divine humility. It seems paradoxical, but God has been stooping down since the beginning, humbling himself to speak and bless, to forgive and support, to redeem and glorify his creatures since he first began to create. Why didn’t Jesus begin his ministry as a precocious four year old? His answers in the Temple at age 12 prove it could have happened. We could have known our Savior as a pre-adolescent preacher, but that was not the Father’s plan. Jesus went home, obeyed his parents, listened and learned, and grew as a true Man. He worked as a carpenter, he got splinters in and calluses on his hands, and he patiently awaited the day when the Father would summon him to the Jordan River to be baptized and begin his preaching ministry.
We tend to think of the important events as… well, important, and they are. But did you know that waiting is an important part of God’s plan too? He didn’t create the world in a single instant, but there is absolutely no doubt he could. Jesus did not commence the Incarnation as a 30 year old. Why not? Because he had to fulfill all righteousness, and that includes the righteousness God requires of a one day old, and a one year old, and an eleven year old, and so on. Even when God’s saints are waiting, we’re never merely waiting. We are watching, praying, contemplating, and hoping. We are always looking ahead, not backward with regret but forward with excitement, because Jesus has come, and one day he will return.
Conclusion
How long, O Lord? This is a question the saints often ask in prayer. How long until our pain is over? How long until our enemies are judged? How long until the struggle ends? How long until suffering and sorrow in this world is no more? How long until we see the glory of Christ? When will God put an end to blasphemy, perversion, persecution, and trials of various kinds? How long will the wicked go unpunished and the saints suffer hardship and eat their bread with tears? How long will false teaching flourish? How long must we wait for God’s promise to end in joy?
It can be hard to wait, and not just to open those presents under the tree or eat the pies and cake which have been baked. You will have ample opportunity in the next 24 hours to remind your children, grandchildren, and yourself that waiting with joyful, patient anticipation is the posture of faith. We are not merely waiting on the turkey to be done, the table to be set, and the presents to be opened. We are waiting for Jesus Christ to come. He came two thousand years ago, and we are here this evening to acknowledge and thank God for that. But that was only the next step in God’s work of salvation. It was the crucial step, the phase which guaranteed all others, but it was not the last step. God has prepared more for us to enjoy. The best is truly yet to come.
The joy you find in unwrapping presents may be dimmed slightly on Saturday, and if not then on Monday, by the post-Christmas blues. Your satisfaction in a hearty Christmas meal may be offset somewhat by heartburning indigestion. The pleasures of Christmas are only a poor sample of the greater, unmarred, undiminishing joy which the saints will have forever in Christ. That is not to say we ought to disparage good things at Christmas. They are God’s gifts, and it would be wrong for us to be so ungrateful as to suggest they are anything other than pleasures to be enjoyed. Eat the fat, drink the sweet, give gifts to your children, sing hymns and carols loudly with your brethren. Laugh until you cry. Be glad for all that our God has made. His works are very good. The Lord is not glorified by a sour, ungrateful attitude, Mr. Scrooge. Celebrate Christmas with gusto, but as you do so, remember that we are still waiting. This is only a prelude to the real celebration. Christ is coming. Wait for him with patience, confidence, and joy. Amen.
