Holding God in Our Arms

Most of us are familiar with "The Twelve Days of Christmas." Sometime every December you probably find yourself singing, "Three French hens, two turtledoves and a partridge in a pear tree." Several years ago at a high-school choir concert I heard another song called "The Twelve Days After Christmas." The female vocalist told us how on the first day after Christmas she and her true love had a fight. Things went downhill from there. The pear tree was chopped down, the seven swans drowned, the five golden rings turned her fingers green, and the three French hens became chicken soup!

   That song gives a different slant to the sweet Christmas song we are familiar with. The same is true of the Christmas story. We know it very well. But I wonder if we are as familiar with what happened one week or one month after Jesus was born. We tend to leave Mary and Joseph and Jesus in the stable, and

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we forget what happened next.

   It is not surprising that Mary and Joseph stayed in Bethlehem after Jesus was born. Mary needed time to recover from both the exhausting journey from Nazareth and the even more exhausting effort of giving birth. Most likely Joseph's trade as a carpenter provided income, and the quiet village provided an opportunity to rest. Bethlehem was also close to Jerusalem and the temple, and the temple would play an important part in what happened to Jesus and his parents in the weeks that followed his birth.

   The Law of Moses placed three requirements on Mary and Joseph when Jesus was born. First, on the eighth day after his birth, Jesus was to be circumcised. Circumcision was the sign that a child was part of God's covenant people (Genesis 17:10-12). A priest or rabbi or even the child's father would perform the circumcision with great praise to God. This occasion was also the time when the child was officially named. Joseph and Mary obeyed the angel of God and named the boy Jesus, "the Lord saves" (Luke 2:21).

   Thirty-two more days passed quietly in Bethlehem. The Law said that forty days after the birth of a male child, the mother was to offer a sacrifice at the temple for her purification (Leviticus 12:1-8). Because blood is involved in the act of giving birth, the woman was made ceremonially unfit to enter the temple for worship. Simply as a reminder of the curse of sin and of God's judgment on Eve which made pain part of the process of childbirth, sacrifices had to be made. The Law required two sacrifices — a lamb offered as a burnt offering and a dove or pigeon offered as a sin offering. If you were too poor to buy a lamb, the Law allowed the offering of two doves or pigeons. We get some insight into the poverty of Mary and Joseph when we read in Luke 2:24 that they offered two birds. They couldn't afford a lamb.

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   When the offering for purification had been made, when the fellowship between God and the worshiper had been symbolically restored, Mary and Joseph were ready to carry out the third requirement of the Law. They presented their first-born son to the Lord. The background of this custom lies in the deepest roots of Israel's story. We have to go back to the time of Moses, when God determined to deliver the people of Israel from their bondage in Egypt. The final plague God brought on Egypt was the death of the first-born throughout the land. The first-born lamb of every sheep and the first-born son of every Egyptian mother died in one dreadful night. The people of Israel escaped the plague because in obedience to God's Word they smeared the blood of a lamb on the doorposts of their houses. The angel of death passed over any home marked with blood.

   Because he had delivered Israel with such a dramatic display of power, God claimed the first-born son in each family as his own possession (Exodus 13:2). That son belonged to God to serve as a priest before him. Later God set apart one family in Israel to be priests for the nation. The family Aaron from the clan of Levi was chosen to conduct the worship of the people. God then allowed the families of Israel to redeem their first-born sons — in effect, to buy back the sons that belonged to God.

   Here's how it worked. The parents came to the temple and handed their infant son to a priest. They were symbolically giving that child to God. By that act they acknowledged God's ownership. The priest lifted the child before the Lord and blessed God for his gracious gift. Then the parents paid the redemption price of five shekels and by that payment redeemed the child from the obligation of serving in the temple. The child was handed back to the parents as God's possession entrusted to them.

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   As Mary made her way into Jerusalem with her husband and her baby, she found herself surrounded by the noises and smells of a bustling city. She must have also been moved in her spirit by the splendor of the temple of the Lord. I talked this week with the mother of a six-week-old baby. She observed that Mary probably hadn't had a full night's sleep since the baby's birth. Mary may have been struggling with some depression or irritability (as this mother was). The last thing Mary may have felt like doing was going to church! But here she was, pulled along by her commitment to the Law and by a husband determined to finish what they had come to do.

   Just as they were about to approach the priest, something totally unexpected happened. A man stepped out in front of them — an old man named Simeon — and, to Mary and Joseph's amazement, he blessed Jesus as God's Messiah.

Simeon's Psalm

We don't know much about Simeon. Luke doesn't tell us his occupation or where he lived or who his relatives were. We aren't told if he was rich or poor. Luke tells us the things about Simeon that were important to God.

   First, Simeon was a believer in the Lord God; he was "righteous" (Luke 2:25). Simeon had come to trust in the God of Israel. In addition, Simeon was "devout"; he took his love for the Lord very seriously by observing the commands and requirements of the Law (Luke 2:25). The third thing Luke tells us about Simeon is that he was waiting — waiting for the consolation of Israel. That is an Old Testament way of saying that Simeon was looking for the Messiah. In those dark days of King Herod's brutality, at the end of four hundred years in which there had been no prophet sent from God to Israel, Simeon still believed that God would keep his promises to his people. God keeps his word even when things look worst. We

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often forget in a week or two the marvelous things that God has done in our lives. Simeon kept waiting.

   Luke's final description of Simeon is that the Holy Spirit was upon this man. As you read the Old Testament you will find that phrase used to refer to a special anointing or empowering of the Holy Spirit poured out on chosen men and women.¹ The Spirit's anointing resulted in supernatural knowledge for Simeon. It had been revealed to him that he would see the Messiah before he died. We don't know how that knowledge was imparted to Simeon. He may have had a vision or a dream. The knowledge may have come to him as he studied the Old Testament prophecies, particularly Daniel 9, where God sets out a timetable for the Messiah's first coming. Somehow the Holy Spirit conveyed the truth to Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Anointed One of God.

   The empowering of the Holy Spirit on Simeon's life also resulted in divine guidance. Luke says that he came into the temple on this particular day "moved by the Spirit" (Luke 2:27). As Mary and Joseph brought Jesus into the courts of the temple to carry out the requirement of the Law, Simeon stepped out and took the baby in his arms. When he saw this couple with this baby, the Spirit whispered to his soul, "That's the one, Simeon. The baby is the Messiah of Israel."

   Can you imagine how that must have felt? To wait for years, day after day, to go to the temple and watch and hear God say, "Not yet, Simeon, not yet." Now to be stopped in front of a poor, young couple and to have the longing of your heart fulfilled. "This one, Simeon, is the Christ!"

   Some students of Luke's Gospel believe that Simeon was the priest who was responsible that day to bless those children who were brought to the temple. Luke doesn't say that, but whether Simeon was the priest or not, he certainly imitated the priest. He took Jesus in his hands — he held God in his arms — and he

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blessed the Lord. Praise sprang from his lips. Simeon uttered another of the stirring hymns that Luke is so careful to record:

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. (Luke 2:29-32)

Finish Well

"Finish well" is a piece of advice my father has often given me, usually when I was least interested in hearing it. When I left a job for a new one or finished work on a degree or completed mowing the lawn, Dad always stressed the importance of ending well. Simeon is a model for all of us who want to finish well. He didn't come to the end of his life and become a grumpy, self-centered old man. Instead, Simeon cultivated a tender heart to the Lord and to the people around him. He saw himself, in fact, as the Lord's servant. He begins his song of praise by using a very unusual word to refer to God; it's the Greek word from which we get the English word despot. It means "absolute master." Simeon gives God the highest place in his life, and he takes the lowest place. He calls himself God's "servant," literally, "bondslave."

   Have you been keeping track of Simeon's spiritual credentials? So far we've seen his devotion to God, his trust in God's word, his anointing by God's Spirit and now his complete submission to God's authority. The world looks at wealth or power or fame to measure success and influence. God looks at the heart. God searches for men and women fully submitted to him.

   Simeon is now ready to be dismissed in peace. He has waited to see the Messiah, and now he has seen God's salvation.

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Simeon didn't know at that time how this six-week-old baby would accomplish deliverance for lost humanity, but he did know that the final plan had been set in motion by this single birth.

   As he completes his song, Simeon is able to catch a glimpse of what this salvation will produce. The Spirit gives him the insight to see just a flash of God's new society. Simeon sees beyond the cross to the new age of the church. God has prepared this salvation with all people in view. The Messiah will be the glory of Israel, but he will also bring the light of God's truth to the Gentiles (Luke 2:32). We've had two thousand years to condition us to accept non-Jews in the program of God's grace, but that was a radical thought in Simeon's day. That God would ever reach out in love to Gentiles was unthinkable. But Simeon saw the new day coming.

   Maybe that is what amazed Mary and Joseph. Obviously they knew that Jesus was the Messiah, but that Simeon would know — that was amazing! And that Jesus would provide salvation for the world was even more amazing!

A Sword in Mary's Soul

From blessing Jesus, Simeon now turns to blessing Mary and Joseph. From praising God, Simeon turns to predicting Jesus' success. Jesus, Simeon said, would be a divider in Israel. "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed" (Luke 2:34-35). Men and women will either rise or fall depending on their response to Jesus. People like Simeon who believe will be exalted; the majority of people by refusing to believe will be thrown down.

   Then, almost as a whisper to Mary, Simeon predicts the sorrow that Mary will experience as Jesus' mother: "And a sword will pierce your own soul too." That prediction came

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true thirty-three years later at the foot of a cross on Calvary's hill. Mary, who held Jesus in her arms on this day, would watch him die. His suffering would slice into her soul like a sword.

   At that very moment, a very old woman who lived continually in the temple came up and added her words of blessing and praise to God:

There was also a prophetess, 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, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 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. (Luke 2:36-38)

Making It Personal

Simeon and Anna are minor characters in the story of God's redemption. They appear briefly on a page of Scripture and then are gone. They don't get much press when the Christmas story is told. But they stand as reminders to us, living two thousand years later, that God does not forget his people. Simeon was unknown as far as the world was concerned, an old man whose productivity was at an end. But he was greatly blessed of God. Anna probably was never written up on the society page of the Jerusalem Post, but she tasted the new age the Messiah would usher in.

   Your Christian commitment, your trust in Christ and obedience to his Word, will not gain the world's applause. It won't bring wealth or fame or power, but God is the One who will settle the accounts. You may be very small in the world's estimation, with few abilities and fewer material resources. Maybe you, like Simeon and Anna, are old and unable to do much. God's word to us is to keep trusting him. His rewards will come.

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   Simeon and Anna also remind us to keep praising. In the press of the busyness of our lives, there should be the constant theme of praise. Praise is the distinctive mark of the genuine Christian life. God's love for us and God's faithfulness to us ought to overflow continually in praise.

   Mary and Joseph must have left the temple that day with their heads spinning. God had pulled the curtain back a little more on his plan. What stretched ahead for this son of theirs seemed beyond belief.

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