Sermon on Luke 2:22-40, for the 1st Sunday after Christmas, "Sustained in the Faith for Life"

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Eight days after Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph did according to the law, and brought Him to the Temple in Jerusalem to be circumcised and named Jesus. As this young family embarks on a new journey of parenthood and unexpected wonder, with the baby Jesus, they meet two elderly believers in the Temple—Simeon, and Anna. If we step back from these people in the reading today, we can see that they are examples to us of how faith in God is a lifetime commitment. It’s not like renewing your driver’s license or passport every 10 years, or receiving a marriage certificate once upon a time. Faith is about a living commitment and relationship, a daily walk of trust in the Lord. And as much as it is a lifelong commitment, it is also a commitment that is renewed day by day. Simeon and Anna show a beautiful picture of faith enduring to life’s natural end.

Too often in society, the elderly are neglected or forgotten. But Scripture teaches and shows us how to respect all life, from its natural beginning in the womb, to its natural end. Simeon and Anna stand out among all the unnamed other elders who lived back then, both for their steadfast faith through years of long waiting, and also because they were privileged to see the Christ child, and God’s promises fulfilled. The book of Hebrews, in the great “Hall of Faith” chapter 11, describes many of the faithful: “These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth” (Hebrews 11:13). The author of the Hebrews is making the point that its very ordinary to die in faith, not having received the things promised. Waiting, even dying while waiting, does not negate the promises of God. But he’s also making the point that they were still filled with hope and expectation in their waiting, greeting the promises from afar. This is the posture of faith we see in Simeon and Anna. Greeting God’s promises from afar, and waiting in patient expectation.

Their faith was sustained by steadfast attention to worship and prayer in the house of the Lord, and living in the promises of God’s Word. It’s not hard to conceive of the promise growing dim, and maybe soon forgotten if they had not paid faithful attention to God’s Word, and been nourished in His Temple by worship and prayer. Our faith can easily grow weary or dim through neglect. Waiting without sustaining our faith on God’s Word and promises, can wear down one’s faith. Jesus tells the parable of the ten virgins, who have or do not have extra oil for their lamps, for a prolonged wait. The problem was not the availability of oil, it was a problem of having enough oil to be prepared for the long haul. Likewise there’s no problem of availability of God’s Word and sustaining gifts—from generation to generation, these are given out in God’s house, for free. But that lifelong commitment of faith needs attention.

It really shouldn’t be a surprising discovery—any more than our relationships need the regular attention of communication and love to remain strong; or that cars need regular maintenance to run smoothly and reliably, or bodies need daily food and nutrition to stay healthy. There are plenty of analogies to everyday life, of seemingly mundane routines, that must be repeated over and over, throughout our lifetime for things to be sustained. But the reward of following through with those routines is that we benefit from better relationships, working cars, and healthy bodies. Simeon and Anna had a great “spiritual fitness” routine that kept their faith sustained, healthy, and robust for the long haul. There’s no special secret to having a strong faith—it’s just a matter of the dedicated routine of coming to God’s house and being strengthened and nourished by His gifts.

Customs of the law and rituals from the Old Testament to the New Testament have changed, because the baby Jesus that first entered the Temple, was arriving to be the fulfillment of everything that the Old Testament law and ritual pointed to. God’s promises of long ago were starting to reach their fulfillment in Him. As these faded from shadow to reality in Christ Jesus, Christ instituted new rituals or means for God to grant us His grace. Baptism—a washing of water together with God’s Word: “I baptize you in the Name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” There God places His Name on us, mark of ownership, protection, and promise. Marks us as heirs of Jesus’ Christ, and the promised inheritance of salvation. We are baptized once for the forgiveness of sins, but it’s not just a date to register in our book, but the beginning of a living relationship with God. Baptism joins us to Christ Jesus and the daily struggle of dying to sin, and rising to life anew with Him. Baptism joins us to Christ’s saving work for us.

And the Lord’s Supper. At His last Passover meal with His disciples, Jesus instituted this new meal, the new covenant, He calls it. New Covenant in His blood for the forgiveness of our sins. Under the forms of bread and wine, Jesus offers us, “Take eat, this is my body; take drink, this is my blood of the new covenant.” Covenants were always made with blood (the sacrifice of an animal) in the Old Testament. Same here, but Jesus is the sacrifice, and this new covenant is enduring and unbroken, from God to us. It’s a covenant that depends not on repeated sacrifices of animals, that can’t take away sin, but on the one completed sacrifice of Jesus that takes away all sin. As often as we eat this bread and drink this cup, we proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes. So we are shown that the Lord’s Supper is about the past, present, and future. The past, in bringing the saving benefits of Jesus’ death forward to us—the present, in that we commune and receive it now, when our sins and consciences need release; and the future, in that we anticipate Jesus’ return.

Simeon and Anna were sustained in the Old Testament worship of the Temple, and Jesus has provided for our faith to be sustained in the New Testament worship life of the church. Hebrews tells us we should not forsake meeting together, as is the habit of some, but encourage one another more and more as Christ’s return draws near (Hebrews 10:25). That dimension of our faith as a community of believers, and not just isolated individuals is also endangered today. We have all the makings of a perfectly individualized society—at least in the sense of having everything you could want personalized to your own tastes, entertainment or news preferences, clothing styles, foods, you name it. Our lives are often so individualized that we have little in common anymore; fewer and fewer shared experiences. Christian community builds a shared experience that is not for convenience or mere socializing, but it draws us into life together around God’s Word and promises. From all our diverse interests, opinions and tastes, we come together to be blessed by God’s gifts, sustained in our faith, and to build up, encourage, and serve one another. We learn to love more than just what matches or looks like, acts most like us. We pray for one another and hear, discuss, and learn the Word together, as God intended in Christian community.

No single individual gets to see all of God’s promises come through to perfect fulfillment in their own lifetime. Simeon was uniquely promised that he would not die before seeing the Lord’s Christ. Anna hung on to her faith despite the bitter loss of her husband in youth, and she too was rewarded to see the Christ. But they would not live to see His adult ministry and so many other promises of old beautifully fulfilled. But it was enough for them to greet the promises of God from afar. To rejoice that they saw a chapter or verse of God’s unfolding salvation story be told, and that they were included in it.

Our faith was not meant to be disconnected from the community of believers, but to be found in it. To be found in God’s story of salvation, in this time that He has chosen for us, in our chapter and verse. Not in the pages of Scripture, but living in the promises of God, according to His Word. Living in the days from Christ’s ascension till His promised return, watching signs and prophecies He made unfold, and greeting the promises of God from afar. As the generation before us, our elders, share how God has kept faith with them in life, so also our role in the community of faith is to pass that message down to the youth. That young families beginning their walk in faith together, perhaps at the birth or baptism of a new child, may follow in the same lifetime commitment of faith, but also the daily, weekly renewal of that faith in God’s house.

Their eyes all turned to Jesus, this child of wonder. Mary, Joseph, Simeon, and Anna. They beheld God’s promise, in the person of Jesus, and they did the most sensible thing! They worshipped and praise God, marveling at the future that was in store for this little baby. Great things were foretold for Him, and also great difficulty—foreshadowing the cross, but God had shown these four adults the light of His salvation for the Gentiles and the glory of His people Israel. The plan of salvation was in His infancy, but they greeted the promise from afar.

May we this Christmas, do the sensible thing when we see the light of salvation—no longer in His infancy, but in all the fullness and glory of His salvation, through all that we are told and know in His Gospel—may we bow down in humble worship and adoration, and leap up with a joyful song of praise to God. For all of God’s promises are true in Christ Jesus, and they invite us to worship. And worshipping Him, we find that we too can depart in peace, according to God’s Word. We find peace in being in a harmonious relationship with God—fed by His Word, sustained by His promises, and forgiven of all our sin by Jesus, the light of salvation. We find peace in God’s house, surrounded and renewed by His faith-sustaining gifts, and encouraged by fellow believers. Come and worship, come and worship! Worship Christ the Newborn King! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Sermon Talking Points

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1. Read Luke 2:22-40. How are Simeon and Anna a wonderful model and example of lifelong faith? What is the nature of a “living faith?” What sustains a living faith, for a lifelong commitment?
2. How does our society sometimes neglect or forget or undervalue the elderly? What lessons can we learn from the treatment of the aged in the Bible?
3. What happened to many who lived in faith, but didn’t receive God’s promises? Hebrews 11:13. How does this inform a lifetime of waiting and expectation? What was their attitude despite their wait? How is this exemplified by Simeon and Anna?
4. What happens when faith is neglected, and the worship of God’s house is forgotten? How does waiting affect faith that is not strengthened and renewed? Hebrews 10:25; Matthew 25:1-13.
5. What are you doing to maintain your “spiritual fitness?” God is the supplier of all that we need for spiritual fitness, but we must not neglect prayer and His Word. What are small ways you can make it more intentional in your life?
6. How does God provide, in His house, for the continuing strengthening of our faith? Through Baptism? The Lord’s Supper? The encouragement of the community of faith?
7. How does the church provide an antidote to the individualism and disconnection of today’s society?
8. What is our part in God’s salvation story? What promises do we wait to see fulfilled? What is the sensible thing to do when we see the salvation which God has prepared in the sight of every people?