Back in December, I made a big deal out of the fact that we don’t celebrate Christmas in the church until Christmas Eve and Day. I made a big deal out of the Advent season as a time of preparation and not celebration. We waited to put up the Christmas decorations and the Christmas tree until the Sunday before Christmas, all to emphasize the fact that were still in Christmas preparation mode, not celebration mode. You may have been a little confused at first why we would wait so long to put the decorations up, but in the end I think you’ll agree that it made sense to handle it that way.
You may not have known that it used to be a custom in Christian churches not only to put up the decorations and tree until just before Christmas, but also to leave them up until February 2. That may also seem like an odd custom at first, until you understand what February 2 is all about. Today, February 2, is exactly 40 days after Christmas Day. Christian church calendars designate today as a special festival remembering the Presentation of Jesus in the temple after he had become 40 days old. Since this occasion lands on a Sunday this year, we will remember this event in the early life of our Savior, which is recorded for us in the Gospel for today. The presentation of a firstborn son in the temple was a common occurrence for Old Testament believers, but today we will see that the newborn Son of Mary and Joseph was the most unique firstborn son ever brought to the temple to be presented to the Lord. This morning, the Gospel from Saint Luke will make a very unique presentation to us. Today, the Word of God presents you with your Savior, and your Savior also presents something. He presents perfection to his Father, and he presents peace to his people.
"When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took [Jesus] to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord’), 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 begins the Gospel for today by referring to a time of "purification." An Israelite woman was considered ceremonially unclean for 40 days after she had given birth to a baby boy. The Old Testament book of Leviticus describes these details for us: "The LORD said to Moses, ‘Say to the Israelites: "A woman who becomes pregnant and gives birth to a son will be ceremonially unclean for seven days….On the eighth day the boy is to be circumcised. Then the woman must wait thirty-three days to be purified…. She must not touch anything sacred or go to the sanctuary until the days of her purification are over."’" As soon as this purification time was over, the proud Israelite parents of a firstborn son would head to the temple to present their son to the Lord, which was another command God had given his Old Testament people in Exodus 13. "The LORD said to Moses, ‘Consecrate to me every firstborn male. The first offspring of every womb among the Israelites belongs to me, whether man or animal.’ Then Moses said to the people, ‘You are to give over to the LORD the first offspring of every womb.’"
God’s Old Testament ceremonial law required two things: every firstborn male was to be consecrated to the Lord, and that consecration would include a sacrifice to the Lord. We won’t get into all the details about this Old Testament law right now, but it’s important to note two things: (1) this is what God required from his people, and (2) these ceremonial laws were kept to the letter with Jesus, just as God demanded from his people. Mary and Joseph made sure that everything God had prescribed in the Law was carried out for their special Son.
When a typical baby is just born, or when a baby is just 40 days old (not even six weeks), it’s hard for us to think of that child as a sinner. They’re so helpless. They seem so innocent. How could they be anything less? I’ve found myself in a discussion about this subject a few times, and when someone tells me that little kids aren’t sinful, my usual response is, "What do parents have to teach their children: how to be good, or how to be bad?" The answer is pretty obvious. Children don’t have to be taught to misbehave. It’s already in them. We call it "original sin" or "inherited sin." We’ve all got it. It’s the terminal condition with which we are all born. It’s the condition that Psalm 51 tells us about: "Surely I was sinful from birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me." Even children are born sinful beings.
But not the child we hear about today. Today the Word of God presents us with much more than another, ordinary child. Today the Word of God presents us with our Savior, and how our Savior presents perfection to his heavenly Father. The Presentation of Our Lord presents us with a vital truth about our Savior Jesus. He was and is perfect. Unlike you or I, Jesus can claim holiness as a reality, and we can see that already when he is 40 days old. God in heaven did not view this event as something Joseph and Mary did, but something that Jesus did, and something that he would continue to do. Jesus kept the law perfectly already at 40 days old. He kept the law perfectly when he obeyed his parents’ wishes as a child. He kept the law perfectly by being baptized according to his Father’s will. He kept the law by resisting the devil’s temptations. He kept the law by standing firm on the Word of God. He kept the law by loving even the unlovable. He kept the law by handing over his life to his enemies. He kept God’s law for us, and with that perfect life he headed to the cross to endure our hellish punishment for us. That’s the Savior whom God presents us today, a Savior who gives us what we need, a Savior who presents his perfection to his Father on our behalf.
Jesus, Mary, and Joseph weren’t the only characters whom we encountered the Gospel for today. We also met Simeon, a man who has become well known among Christians for his short song of praise to God, a song which has been set to music throughout the ages as a canticle, that is, a song used in worship settings. Simeon’s song recorded in the Gospel for today helps us to understand that at Jesus’ presentation, he presented his people with peace. "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 upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 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, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: ‘Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.’"
The first two hymns in today’s service told the story which we’ve just read. Both of those hymns referred to Simeon as an aged man. It seems likely that Simeon was older, but there is nothing that absolutely says he couldn’t have been a younger man. We may not know his age, but this is what we do know. We know he was "righteous." He was one who had been forgiven through the blood that the Savior would shed some 33 years later on the cross. He was "devout." He knew God’s majesty and approached him reverently in worship and prayer. And he was especially blessed, because God had revealed to him in a miraculous way that he would not die until he saw the Savior with his very own eyes. And that’s exactly what happened in the Gospel for today. He went into the temple, and there saw the Son of God he had longed to see. Imagine what Mary and Joseph must have thought as this strange man comes walking right up to them, picks up their son and begins to burst out in a song of praise to the child’s heavenly Father.
Simeon’s familiar song shows us how he viewed his relationship with God. He calls himself the Lord’s "servant" or "slave," and he uses a term for the Lord that emphasizes God’s ownership. Simeon (or any Christian, for that matter) did not belong to himself; he belonged to the Lord. But this wasn’t a manipulative relationship. "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace." Simeon was telling God, "I’m ready when you are. I know I have peace because the child that I’m holding in my arms is the Savior whose loving arms will embrace me in heaven someday." Simeon had true peace for his soul, and he recognizes the reasons for that peace in his song. He sang of the sure and certain fact that in that baby Jesus, he had literally seen the salvation God prepared for everyone from eternity.
"Peace" is a big concept right now, especially as we find our nation on the brink of war. One side chants, "Give peace a chance," while the other side believes that peace is obtained through strength. I think that people living in 21st century America don’t always realize that peace has not been the normal way of life throughout history. War and hostility are much more common in history than peace and tranquility.
Peace is not the norm between God and us, either. In fact, there isn’t a time in our lives when we should be at peace with God, because there isn’t a time in our lives when we haven’t attempted to overthrow God’s law from our lives. But there can be no peace with God if we fail to have perfect obedience to him.
Yet Simeon sings of peace. Simeon sings of peace, and so can you! Simeon saw the peace that was embodied in the Christchild. And you have seen that peace, too. Your eyes have seen God’s salvation. The cross that stands here by this lectern pictures your salvation. The cross of Christ is your forgiveness, your peace with God. You have heard God’s peace to you in his Word of forgiveness. You have felt God’s peace at the moment the waters of baptism touched your forehead and God officially signed your adoption papers with his very blood. You will taste his peace this morning when you come forward to this altar and receive the very body and blood of Christ which gives you a taste of heaven already on earth. That’s what God presents us today – a Savior who gives us what we need, a Savior who presents us with the peace our souls long to have.
If you asked most people what today is, you’d probably get a bunch of answers. It’s Sunday. It’s the start of the first week of February. It’s Groundhog Day. Even most Christians wouldn’t be able to tell you what Christian holiday is observed today. Chances are you didn’t know either, until you opened your service folder this morning. But today, I don’t want you to walk out of this church with mere head knowledge about some Christian observance. Walk out of this house of God with the heart knowledge that your Savior’s presentation now presents you with everything you need for your soul now, and for your entrance into heaven then. Amen.