s I am not sure how you understand the Christmas story…
- Sometimes in between the baby in a manger, the last-minute shopping, Santa, the giving and receiving of gifts
- We lose sight of the significance of what it is we celebrate at Christmas…
- An article in The Guardian in London researched what children think Christmas is all about…
- A four year old informed his father that the wise men had bought “Gold, common sense and mirth”. I’m not so sure about that…
- Another little boy who on reciting the Lord’s Prayer was heard to say “Forgive us our Christmases as we forgive those who have Christmased against us.”
- Maybe you feel Christmassed against… I did as I circled for parking at Warringah Mall.
- Trick for players… park at Bunnings and walk!
But let me suggest that Christmas is about Jesus, and light coming into the world.
- We are in a little Advent series in Luke chapter 2
- Already in Luke, due to the census of the Roman world, Joseph and Mary have travelled to Bethlehem, where Jesus has been born in a manger.
- The shepherds watching their flocks at night are met by an angel who brings them the good news of what has occurred.
- The angel says “Do not be afraid, I bring you good news, that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you. He is the Messiah the Lord.”
So it is a remarkable story, one which we have been saying is a Kairos moment – this idea that God is definitively acting in human history!
- The long awaited and promised saviour and Messiah has arrived
- And God will act through him to bring salvation and deliverance to all who trust and follow him!
- God’s rescue plan is under way!
- And that is what we are celebrating with Dean and Eric today – they have met Jesus, trusted in Jesus and are now getting baptised as a sign of their new life in Christ!
So let’s continue the story this Advent – Luke 2:25-35
25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”
33 The child’s father and mother marvelled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.
Well this is one of my favourite parts of the Christmas story…
- In the telling of the story of the birth of Jesus we meet a man in Luke chapter 2 named Simeon who had been promised that he would not die before he saw the Lord’s Messiah.
- He would have known promises from the Old Testament like Zechariah 2:10 in which God says “shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,”
- In his righteousness he waits… and waits… and waits…
- Until as an old man, one fateful day, Joseph and Mary arrive at the temple with an infant named Jesus.
- The Holy Spirit is on this Simeon and he takes the baby Jesus in his arms and begins praising God.
- Right? It is revealed to him, this is the one! So he says;
“Sovereign Lord as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in sight of all nations.
A light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”
For my eyes have seen your salvation…
You know I think naturally in the West we are a skeptical people, imbued with the rationalism of the enlightenment…
- Often we have to see something to believe it.
- A couple of years ago, in one of those East Coast lows… a massive storm and swell came through Manly.
- And because of the run off, the bay, or swim to Shelley Beach from Manly turned wild, and the water was brown.
- Now most sane people would just take a break and get a coffee…
- But this particular morning… peer pressure got the better of me… and so my friend Dave, Scotty and I did the swim.
Now add to that, there was a shark sighting and the shark sign was prominently displayed on the beach.
- Now I don’t know about you, but I am skeptical of the shark sign on the beach.
- I assume that someone has seen a big fish, or a wobegone, or at worst, there is a shark, but it is 300m off the beach and not interested in us.
- So the 3 of us headed out into what became known as the battle of the brown! Everyone else decided not to swim!
Well we got around the point, and I must admit, we were all swimming in a pretty tight little pack… each of us vying to be the one in the middle…
- When all of a sudden a shark, at least the size of me swam right underneath us! And the water got a little browner…
- Seeing is believing…
- Well to finish the story, we kept swimming… and whether out of admiration, or concern at our complete stupidity… a life guard on a jet ski came out and did circles around us the whole way over…
- Which was, to be honest, very reassuring! Though my friend Dave was eaten by a shark… nah.
Well, if we are skeptical, and seeing is believing…
- What was it that made Simeon declare “for my eyes have seen your salvation.”
- In the nativity story we are told it was the Holy Spirit, that is God’s presence, that prompts him to know that this is the one they have been waiting for.
- And that is often the case when someone comes to Christ… God is at work opening their eyes to the truth!
- Anyhow he knows, salvation will be found through this child.
- God’s rescue plan for humanity is brought to him in the temple by Mary and Joseph.
But what would you see if you read the stories of Jesus? To behold this salvation Simeon talks about?
- Because it is through seeing and comprehending Christ that we come to believe.
- And remember last week, Luke wrote this account of Jesus life from eyewitness accounts…
- So we can trust the witness of what we read…
- But what will you see if you read about Jesus in the bible?
Well I love the confessions of faith in the Gospels…
- They often come in response to something remarkable happening through Jesus.
- The gospel writer John says “the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
- John the Baptist sees the heavens open at Jesus baptism and declares “the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.”
- When Peter had been with Jesus and seen him heal the man at the pool and feed the 5,000, and walk on water…
- He declares “You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
In the midst of the Lazarus story where Jesus raises him from the dead, Mary proclaims “you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
- And there are so many more…
- People acknowledging that no one has taught with authority like Jesus has.
- Blind people who get healed who declare him Lord.
- When a man possessed by evil is delivered, the crowds say “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.”
But maybe the most significant one is Thomas… doubting Thomas… who misses Jesus first resurrection appearance and is skeptical…
- Imagine that… you pop out for a coffee and miss the resurrection of Jesus!
- Right?
- He says “unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my fingers where the nails were, and out my hands into his side, I will not believe.”
- Fair enough right?
- But then a week later, Jesus appears to him in the upper room, after his crucifixion… and he invites him to stop doubting and believe.
- Thomas, having now seen the resurrected Jesus, declares, “My Lord and my God.”
So I wonder for you… can you confess like Simeon “my eyes have seen your salvation”?
- That is probably the biggest decision you will ever make in your life.
- I was just reading about Niall Fergusson this morning. The famous Scottish atheist historian. He has just been interviewed by Greg Sheridan…
- And he has become a Christian and just got baptised! He is all in.
- CS Lewis once said “Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important.”
- Right?
In the great hymn Issac Watts wrote…
Were the whole realm of nature mine,
that were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all.
Unlike Simeon, you don’t have to wait your whole life to behold Jesus and your salvation.
- You can call on him today…
- Dean after night one of Alpha… I’m in…
- But it is demanding… Jesus asks for your soul, your life, your all…
Well the next thing Simeon says with the baby Jesus in his arms, praising God, is he will be; “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”
- Now that just rolls off the tongue…. But let’s consider this as our second and final thing
- So this Jesus will be a light for revelation to the Gentiles
- Two interesting words there – light and revelation…
- Light is the Greek word Phos which simply means illumination and can literally mean the light emitted from a lamp or a star.
- Or metaphorically Phos can mean the divine presence and truth and purity that comes from God. Light is associated with what is good and pure and pushes back the darkness.
But revelation is probably the more interesting of the two because it is the translation of the Greek word apocalypse… (just got more interesting…)
- So what does apocalypse mean?
- Well, apocalypse was the word used to convey the unveiling or revealing of something…
- Like when you go to the theatre and the stage curtain is pulled back, revealing the set and actors on the stage.
- What was hidden has now been apocalypsis… all has been revealed.
- So when an apocalypse happens, you get to see something that was hidden… Jesus is to be an apocalypsis to lighten the world.
- This child in Simeon’s arms is the revelation of light in a dark world.
- This child is the unveiling of God’s divine presence and plan to put things to rights.
And all through the bible there is this amazing motif of light and darkness…
- Darkness representing all that is wrong and broken about the world and in us…
- And light representing God’s presence, his character and our mission…
- Yes, that’s right, before Star Wars, the bible introduced us to the light and dark side of the universe…
So in the beginning in Genesis it says God separates the light from the darkness and it says, he saw that the light was good.
- Light brings order to chaos…
- Then, in Exodus, as God leads them out of slavery in Egypt his presence that guides them is light…
- Exodus 13:21“By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light.”
- So the very presence of God is characterised as a light!
- As Psalm 27 says, “The LORD is my light and my salvation. Whom then shall I fear?”
- So in the Old Testament God is associated with light, and it is his light that guides, that protects and saves us
But in the OT, by the time we get to the prophet Isaiah, we are told we haven’t seen nothing yet!
- A great light is to come into the world… do you know Isaiah 9?
- Verse 1 Nevertheless, there will be no more gloom for those who were in distress. The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.
So, that’s the promise. A light is to come into the world that will end the gloom for those living in distress…
- But in such dark world… this is going to take an apocalypse… a great revealing to push away the darkness…
- So they are waiting and waiting… like Simeon… for a fulfilment to occur… for the light to dawn…
- God is going to act in a Kairos moment, decisively to reveal his nature and put things to right.
As that amazing song we sing at Christmas says…
Long lay the world in sin and error pining,
Till He appeared And the soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices,
for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
So we read in Matthew 4 that the waiting is over.
- Talking about the coming of Jesus, his incarnation… the gospel writer quotes Isaiah 9
- “People living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.”
- The Gospel writer John in chapter 3 says; “This is the verdict, light has come into the world.”
- This is what Simeon declares over the infant Christ.
But possibly my favourite moment in all of this is in John chapter 8
- The people of God have gathered in Jerusalem for the Feast of Tabernacles.
- At this festival the people would quote these very verses from Isaiah about God being light.
- They are waiting for the fulfilment of the prophecy that light would come… that God himself would come.
- John 8:12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
- Drenched in the fulfilment of these promises and prophecies…
- Jesus Christ reveals he is the one, the light of the world!
Well let’s finish with this. Because as much as this is all interesting and good news, we are told this child will cause the falling and rising of many… and the revealing of many hearts…
- In other words… some will accept Jesus, and some will be opposed…
- For some it will reveal an openness, and humility and scope for belief in their hearts…
- For others it will confront the darkness and evil that lives in their hearts.
- In other words, Jesus is good news to many, and bad news for others.
- As it says in John 3 “This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil.”
- That’s challenging stuff…
This is the reality of the world that we live in…
- And I think this manifests in two ways… the personal and the societal.
- On the personal we all deal with degrees of darkness within.
- And it manifests in the gossip, the greed, the immorality that lives in us all. And it is tough to bring those things into the light….
- I think sometimes when we talk about sin or darkness we think mainly in terms of others, but the reality is that the line between light and darkness runs right through the heart of us all.
I remember hearing a story about one of the earliest Westfield malls.
- It had no natural light… and not long after the grand opening, the power failed and all of the lights went out.
- At first people froze, but then eventually carnage broke out.
- An hour later when the lights finally came back on, shelves had been stripped, clothes grabbed off racks and stolen. The place had been ransacked.
- Now either there was one bad person who somehow in an hour had ransacked an entire mall… or maybe it revealed something different…
- Maybe it revealed something about all of us?
- The reality is that sin lives in us all, and when darkness covers, darkness is exposed…
So hear the invitation this Christmas…
Amen.
“Do not be afraid, I bring you good news, that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David, a Saviour has been born to you. He is the Messiah the Lord.”
For my eyes have seen your salvation… a light for revelation to the gentiles…”
Come into the light this Christmas – come to Jesus.