Destined Child
12/27/09
Luke 2:21-52
Pastor Greg Smith
Christmas is over! Christmas has just begun! In the church year, Christmas has just begun. Advent is about waiting and anticipating. But the Christmas season is about celebrating the Word who become flesh, God-is-with-Us in Jesus!
One of the most memorable contemporary Christmas songs is “Mary Did You Know?” Bruce sang it for this year’s choir special:
“Mary did you know, That your baby boy Is Lord of all creation?” Mary did you know that “When you kiss your little baby, You've kissed the face of God”?
Mary did you know? Mary, what did you understand about Jesus? We know Mary as a model of faith and trust in God’s word. When Mary was told by the angel Gabriel that she would conceive and bear a son to be named Jesus who would “be called the Son of the Most High,” and who would reign on David’s throne forever,” she was puzzled but ready to trust God’s word. Look in Luke 1 beginning with verse 34.
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.
We can assume that Mary was very young, maybe 14 or 15 years old. I’m sure that life seemed to swirl around her. So when the shepherds came with their story of the “heavenly host,” Luke 2:19 says,
19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
What was being said about her child could only have been overwhelming!
Luke 2:13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Mary had a lot to ponder! A son who would be king? A son who will be called the Son of God? It might be easy for us to see what that meant, but back then Jesus didn’t fit into any ready-made categories.
Ann Rice is a very popular novelist, scores of books, one of her most famous series of books is about vampires. A few years back she recommitted her life to Jesus and went through a time of intense New Testament study. She has begun to write a series of novels on the life of Jesus. I’ve read both books: the first about Jesus birth and early childhood, the second about Jesus as a young man living at home about to begin his public ministry.
Reading the books raises so many questions. What was it like to be God and yet fully a human being?
Philippians 2:6-7
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
Hebrews 2:17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
What did Mary understand about her son? What was it like to take care of the 2 year old Son of God? Like the song asks, “Mary did you know?”
Some of you remember the feelings you experienced bringing your child to be baptized or dedicated. You came to dedicate yourself as a parent and declare your hopes for the spiritual growth of your child. You probably had feeling of great hope as well as uncertainty as you thought about the future.
I wonder what Mary and Joseph were feeling when they brought their baby Jesus to be dedicated in the temple. Was it an event for the extended family? Or did they make the journey to Jerusalem alone? The Bible doesn’t say. This is what we do know.
22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”
Luke records that they presented a poor family’s sacrifice: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” This was instead of the lamb that was expected for those of even modest wealth. Hardly the family of a king!
This was Jesus’ first public event. And it soon became clear to those with God-given insight that the Mary and Joseph’s son was not just any child. Simeon and then the prophet Anna spoke unusual words on behalf of the baby.
Let’s first look at what Anna said. Anna was either eighty-four years old or she had been a widow for 84 years meaning she was over 100 years old. Either way, an extraordinary age for the time. She was a widow who lived in the temple and “worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.” Let’s begin with verse 36.
36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then had been a widow for eighty–four years. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
Simeon had a strong reaction to the baby as well. Simeon’s character is described like this in the New Living Translation:
38 He was a righteous man and very devout. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he eagerly expected the Messiah to come and rescue Israel.
Let’s start in verse 26.
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.”
Like Anna, Simeon knew that Jesus was more than an ordinary child. This child embodied the hopes of Israel. This child was God’s way of advancing his purposes in history. Simeon could die in peace because he knew that God was fulfilling his plan of liberation and salvation.
Luke 2:33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.
It’s what Simeon goes on to say to Mary that I want to focus on more deeply. Look at verses 34-35.
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. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
It takes a hard-hearted person to withstand a child. Few people have anything but tender affection for a child. But this child would grow up and according to Simeon, there would come a day when the child who had grown to be a man, would run up against plenty of opposition.
• He “will be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.”
• There will be a “falling and the rising of many.”
• The child will be an object of contention and division.
• People will take sides for or against him and on that decision folks will rise or fall.
The people of Israel in Jesus’ time are like people today: they needed a savior! But not all will accept the savior that God sends. There will be divisions even in families.
Jesus would says this in Luke 12:51-53
51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother–in–law against daughter–in–law and daughter–in–law against mother–in–law.”
You could paraphrase what Jesus says like this: Don’t think that I’ve come to make everyone happy. Some people will accept me and others will not. It will be a decision that is so crucial that families will divide over it. In fact, the level of loyalty that I require means that some of you will have to choose me even over ties to family.
Decisions have to be made about Jesus. He will cause the rising and falling of many. And even people in the same family will not agree. In the Jewish culture of the time, like so many ethnic groups today, it was expected that family members follow the lead of the head of the family, especially in matters of faith. The great festivals were family gatherings. They were like our Christmas Eve service where so come as family groups.
I remember a woman we met in Kenya who was a convert from the Muslim faith: her father would kill her. According to Simeon, and according to Jesus himself, Jesus would not always bring family peace and tranquility. Indeed, Jesus says, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division”— division that puts allegiance to him above even family loyalty.
In these initial chapters of Luke’s story, Luke is preparing us for how Jesus fulfills God’s purpose in surprising ways. Luke wants us to begin now to reflect, ponder, think, and finally decide: “Who is this Jesus?” He wants us to be like Mary as well as Joseph.
The next story in Luke’s gospel, the story of Jesus at twelve years old in the temple, raises this issue for Mary and Joseph. Look at the story beginning in verse 41.
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Festival, according to the custom. 43 After the Festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Who is this son of mine? We are not told about Mary’s inner thoughts. We can only guess what she must have been going through. She obviously feared for Jesus’ safety. She strained to understand who this beloved but totally disconcerting flesh-of-her flesh was and what he was about.
Mary made a first step of faith and trust when she said yes to the angel Gabriel. Yet as the puzzles of life came her way, she had to continue making decisions of faith and trust.
There is an important message here: Family relationships are very powerful and important. But even being part of the biological family of Jesus was not enough, let alone your own family. Your own decision has to made about following Jesus.
For the disciple of Jesus, there is a new way of being family. The surprising teaching of Jesus is that the body of Christ is your first family. Why does Paul and the rest of the New Testament so often refer to fellow Christians as sisters and brothers? This helps make sense of why Christian fellowship is meant to be so deep, and why Paul was content to be unmarried and joyfully serve Christ. Why? Because Jesus calls us to be born again into the family of God. The radical teaching of Jesus and the whole New Testament is that the body of Christ is our first family. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is more important than the deepest natural family loyalty.
Those that become Christians out of non-Christian or only nominally Christian families know what I mean. And those that are married to non-Christians understand this as well. They feel the pressure not to spend so much time on church activities. They have heard the arguments of why it’s foolishness to give so much money to the church and other Christian causes. They know the strain that comes in a family when loyalty to Jesus changes a person’s values and lifestyle.
Luke’s gospel has a second volume: the Book of Acts. It tells the story of Jesus’ followers after his resurrection. In the first chapter Luke tells how the group of believers gathered to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit as Jesus had directed them. There is a detail that’s easily missed but finishes the story of Mary for us.
14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
Now Mary was Jesus’ disciple. She took her place in the new family of God not on the basis of a biological relationship to her son, but as one who followed her son as Savior and Lord. That is the decision we are called to make and to lead our children and all others to make.
Pastor Greg Smith
Christmas is over! Christmas has just begun! In the church year, Christmas has just begun. Advent is about waiting and anticipating. But the Christmas season is about celebrating the Word who become flesh, God-is-with-Us in Jesus!
One of the most memorable contemporary Christmas songs is “Mary Did You Know?” Bruce sang it for this year’s choir special:
“Mary did you know, That your baby boy Is Lord of all creation?” Mary did you know that “When you kiss your little baby, You've kissed the face of God”?
Mary did you know? Mary, what did you understand about Jesus? We know Mary as a model of faith and trust in God’s word. When Mary was told by the angel Gabriel that she would conceive and bear a son to be named Jesus who would “be called the Son of the Most High,” and who would reign on David’s throne forever,” she was puzzled but ready to trust God’s word. Look in Luke 1 beginning with verse 34.
34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.”
38 “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me according to your word.” Then the angel left her.
We can assume that Mary was very young, maybe 14 or 15 years old. I’m sure that life seemed to swirl around her. So when the shepherds came with their story of the “heavenly host,” Luke 2:19 says,
19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
What was being said about her child could only have been overwhelming!
Luke 2:13 Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.”
Mary had a lot to ponder! A son who would be king? A son who will be called the Son of God? It might be easy for us to see what that meant, but back then Jesus didn’t fit into any ready-made categories.
Ann Rice is a very popular novelist, scores of books, one of her most famous series of books is about vampires. A few years back she recommitted her life to Jesus and went through a time of intense New Testament study. She has begun to write a series of novels on the life of Jesus. I’ve read both books: the first about Jesus birth and early childhood, the second about Jesus as a young man living at home about to begin his public ministry.
Reading the books raises so many questions. What was it like to be God and yet fully a human being?
Philippians 2:6-7
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
Hebrews 2:17 For this reason he had to be made like his brothers and sisters in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people. 18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
What did Mary understand about her son? What was it like to take care of the 2 year old Son of God? Like the song asks, “Mary did you know?”
Some of you remember the feelings you experienced bringing your child to be baptized or dedicated. You came to dedicate yourself as a parent and declare your hopes for the spiritual growth of your child. You probably had feeling of great hope as well as uncertainty as you thought about the future.
I wonder what Mary and Joseph were feeling when they brought their baby Jesus to be dedicated in the temple. Was it an event for the extended family? Or did they make the journey to Jerusalem alone? The Bible doesn’t say. This is what we do know.
22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”
Luke records that they presented a poor family’s sacrifice: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.” This was instead of the lamb that was expected for those of even modest wealth. Hardly the family of a king!
This was Jesus’ first public event. And it soon became clear to those with God-given insight that the Mary and Joseph’s son was not just any child. Simeon and then the prophet Anna spoke unusual words on behalf of the baby.
Let’s first look at what Anna said. Anna was either eighty-four years old or she had been a widow for 84 years meaning she was over 100 years old. Either way, an extraordinary age for the time. She was a widow who lived in the temple and “worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.” Let’s begin with verse 36.
36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then had been a widow for eighty–four years. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
Simeon had a strong reaction to the baby as well. Simeon’s character is described like this in the New Living Translation:
38 He was a righteous man and very devout. He was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he eagerly expected the Messiah to come and rescue Israel.
Let’s start in verse 26.
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.”
Like Anna, Simeon knew that Jesus was more than an ordinary child. This child embodied the hopes of Israel. This child was God’s way of advancing his purposes in history. Simeon could die in peace because he knew that God was fulfilling his plan of liberation and salvation.
Luke 2:33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.
It’s what Simeon goes on to say to Mary that I want to focus on more deeply. Look at verses 34-35.
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. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
It takes a hard-hearted person to withstand a child. Few people have anything but tender affection for a child. But this child would grow up and according to Simeon, there would come a day when the child who had grown to be a man, would run up against plenty of opposition.
• He “will be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.”
• There will be a “falling and the rising of many.”
• The child will be an object of contention and division.
• People will take sides for or against him and on that decision folks will rise or fall.
The people of Israel in Jesus’ time are like people today: they needed a savior! But not all will accept the savior that God sends. There will be divisions even in families.
Jesus would says this in Luke 12:51-53
51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother–in–law against daughter–in–law and daughter–in–law against mother–in–law.”
You could paraphrase what Jesus says like this: Don’t think that I’ve come to make everyone happy. Some people will accept me and others will not. It will be a decision that is so crucial that families will divide over it. In fact, the level of loyalty that I require means that some of you will have to choose me even over ties to family.
Decisions have to be made about Jesus. He will cause the rising and falling of many. And even people in the same family will not agree. In the Jewish culture of the time, like so many ethnic groups today, it was expected that family members follow the lead of the head of the family, especially in matters of faith. The great festivals were family gatherings. They were like our Christmas Eve service where so come as family groups.
I remember a woman we met in Kenya who was a convert from the Muslim faith: her father would kill her. According to Simeon, and according to Jesus himself, Jesus would not always bring family peace and tranquility. Indeed, Jesus says, “Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division”— division that puts allegiance to him above even family loyalty.
In these initial chapters of Luke’s story, Luke is preparing us for how Jesus fulfills God’s purpose in surprising ways. Luke wants us to begin now to reflect, ponder, think, and finally decide: “Who is this Jesus?” He wants us to be like Mary as well as Joseph.
The next story in Luke’s gospel, the story of Jesus at twelve years old in the temple, raises this issue for Mary and Joseph. Look at the story beginning in verse 41.
41 Every year Jesus’ parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of the Passover. 42 When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Festival, according to the custom. 43 After the Festival was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. 44 Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. 45 When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. 46 After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. 47 Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.”
49 “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” 50 But they did not understand what he was saying to them.
Who is this son of mine? We are not told about Mary’s inner thoughts. We can only guess what she must have been going through. She obviously feared for Jesus’ safety. She strained to understand who this beloved but totally disconcerting flesh-of-her flesh was and what he was about.
Mary made a first step of faith and trust when she said yes to the angel Gabriel. Yet as the puzzles of life came her way, she had to continue making decisions of faith and trust.
There is an important message here: Family relationships are very powerful and important. But even being part of the biological family of Jesus was not enough, let alone your own family. Your own decision has to made about following Jesus.
For the disciple of Jesus, there is a new way of being family. The surprising teaching of Jesus is that the body of Christ is your first family. Why does Paul and the rest of the New Testament so often refer to fellow Christians as sisters and brothers? This helps make sense of why Christian fellowship is meant to be so deep, and why Paul was content to be unmarried and joyfully serve Christ. Why? Because Jesus calls us to be born again into the family of God. The radical teaching of Jesus and the whole New Testament is that the body of Christ is our first family. Being a disciple of Jesus Christ is more important than the deepest natural family loyalty.
Those that become Christians out of non-Christian or only nominally Christian families know what I mean. And those that are married to non-Christians understand this as well. They feel the pressure not to spend so much time on church activities. They have heard the arguments of why it’s foolishness to give so much money to the church and other Christian causes. They know the strain that comes in a family when loyalty to Jesus changes a person’s values and lifestyle.
Luke’s gospel has a second volume: the Book of Acts. It tells the story of Jesus’ followers after his resurrection. In the first chapter Luke tells how the group of believers gathered to wait for the coming of the Holy Spirit as Jesus had directed them. There is a detail that’s easily missed but finishes the story of Mary for us.
14 They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.
Now Mary was Jesus’ disciple. She took her place in the new family of God not on the basis of a biological relationship to her son, but as one who followed her son as Savior and Lord. That is the decision we are called to make and to lead our children and all others to make.