The Other Side of Christmas

Here we are, the other side of Christmas. During the Advent and Christmas Seasons, we have had many messengers and models to encourage and direct us on our walk of faith. If you were involved in the Advent study Pastor Cliff and I did, you have heard from the prophets Isaiah and Ezekiel speaking to us in the Hebrew Scriptures about the coming Messiah. We have also heard from angels, Mary, Joseph, and the shepherds. Today we see Mary and Joseph again, for a couple of verses and then meet two aged sages, Simeon and Anna. By their examples, these four Biblical characters proclaim the gospel message and share with us a simple but profound lesson on our faith and our relationship with God.

However before we read, let us pray:

Luke 2:22-35

Approximately 40 days after the birth of Jesus, Joseph and Mary, being faithful Jews, went to the temple to present Jesus to God—as was the custom of the Jews and they dedicated Jesus to the service of God, which would have involved paying a redemption price to the temple. Mary also went because childbirth rendered a woman ritually unclean and she would have to make a sacrifice for “cleansing” following the birth of Jesus (Lev. 12)

Each year we also go through a ritual cleansing…every Dec. 31^st we look back over the year and take an inventory of our lives. Then we make some sort of promise to ourselves to do something different and to change our lives. Last year for me, it was I was going to lose weight, and grow my hair out. So on Dec. 31^st of 2016, I sat in my house, counted down the New Year while watching the Ball Drop in New York and suddenly it’s like I had a new, clean slate to start over again. As one of my favorite authors, L.M. Montgomery wrote in Anne of Green Gables “Tomorrow is a new day, with no mistakes in it…yet.” However, my long hair didn’t last, and I didn’t get the slender figure that the fad diets I tried promised me. But you see this secular “cleansing” had absolutely nothing to do with God… and it certainly wasn’t ordained by God, as the Day of Atonement was.

And as I studied for this sermon today, I realized that the Sacrificial System of the Temple and New Year’s Countdowns have something in common:

They don’t effect permanent change.

You see, Mary and Joseph weren’t just following the Law of Moses when they came to the temple, and Simeon knew this. Mary and Joseph may not have realized it 100%; but they didn’t just present their first born son at the temple and dedicate Him to God; they presented at the Temple the unblemished, perfect lamb that would bring permanent change into people’s lives, bring in a new kingdom for anyone who wants it. The sacrificial system could not achieve this.

Why not? What was insufficient about the sacrificial system?

First, in the long run, no animal sacrifice was ever sufficient to deal with the problem of sin – you had to keep going back. Jesus’ sacrifice was once for all, he bore the punishment of death on behalf of all people for all time (in human flesh). So that we can be totally forgiven and freed from death.

But there was a second issue … in the Old Testament, when a sin offering was made, it wasn’t only the priest and God who made the exchange. A person would place their hands on the animal to acknowledge their sinfulness (their need to change), and then the life of the animal would be offered for their sins. There was always an element of repentance.

The Law that God set before Moses was clear: if the people obeyed they would be blessed in the land, if they disobeyed they would be cursed … but, as Deuteronomy chapter 30 says, though they had sinned, if they turned to the Lord (if they repented), he would restore them and have compassion on them. It goes further to say that he would gather them from exile and circumcise their hearts…In other words, where there is repentance, God will forgive and bring about a permanent change of the heart … so that there’s no going back year after year after year. As Jeremiah (31) and Ezekiel (36) prophesied, God was going to create a new covenant, in which he would bring about a permanent change of heart.

The problem with the Mosaic covenant wasn’t only that the people continually sinned and needed constant forgiving … God is a forgiving God, which is why he gave the gift of sacrifice … he is ready and willing to forgive and start again … the problem was that they were required to repent … and repentance itself had become a problem.

Repentance had become a problem for Israel, not because they stubbornly wouldn’t do it but because they didn’t even know how to truly repent. They were a people, as Isaiah prophesied, living in darkness, a spiritual desert/wasteland. Their eyes and ears were shut from knowing the truth. They were seeking a physical kingdom; not a heavenly/spiritual kingdom. They had allowed themselves to just go through the motions.

In the Anne of Green Gables series there is a “scene” that plays out where Marilla tells Anne she can’t go to an Ice Cream Social until she tells her where a favorite brooch is. Well if you know Anne, she made up an elaborate story for Marilla and then begs to go to the Social. She only “apologized for losing the brooch” out of obligation to get what she wanted.

Just as in the old covenant, the Jews had started to “repent without change” out of obligation to the Law of Moses. Repentance had become a ritual. Repentance was always the necessary requirement for any sacrifice and it remains the way we access the benefits of Jesus’ perfect sacrifice. This was John the Baptist’s message: Jesus is coming to save you, prepare the way for him by repenting.

As Simeon took Jesus into his arms, he thanked God and said, “My eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light that will disclose the truth to a multitude of people and the glory of your people Israel” (v30-32)

The prophecy goes on … he says to Mary:

“He is destined for the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner-thoughts of many will be revealed – and a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (v34-35)

Sin isn’t just something we do; it’s something we think and feel. It begins in the heart and a good (I would say) 90% of it, remains hidden and we live in denial about who we’ve judged, who we’ve hated, who we’ve been jealous of and what we have coveted.

It’s like the person who on the surface is fit, the picture of health, and physically beautiful and they go to have a scan, and find their body full of cancer. Only small symptoms have begun to emerge, but how it looks on the outside, is no indicator of what’s inside the body.

Sin is like a cancer. It goes unnoticed, even by ourselves. Until we come into the presence of a holy God, who shines a light and exposes everything that is hidden…Jesus’ light is like a cat-scan over the body, or a sword that pierces the soul.

In Hebrews 4 it says that the word of God is sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. Before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.

Here’s the good news: Because we are forgiven we can stand before a Holy God, without fear and we can face the truth in our hearts, because we know he has already paid the price for it. And that means we can do something no one can do outside of being hidden in Jesus Christ: we can repent. His light shows us the sin in our lives, we can face it and repent of it.

We don’t need to live in darkness, making New Year’s resolutions, and never understanding why we can’t change, despite our best efforts and intentions.

He has put his Spirit within us, who counsels us and shows us the sin in our heart. The secrets of our heart will be disclosed to us …

Today we celebrate the beginning of a new year, but more importantly, that God made with us a new covenant … a covenant that does lead to permanent change.

Hymn (Please Stand as we sing...)

BENEDICTION:
Go in peace, knowing that you, like Simeon and Anna have seen, and experienced God’s Salvation. Amen