God's Last Words

PROMISE REALIZED - Part 2

Luke 2: 22-40 NRSV

Last time we talked about God’s promise of a “Kinsman Redeemer” about to be delivered. This week we see the promise realized in the baby named Jesus.

Christmas has come and we need to begin to live with the price of our promises.

In the rush of the last minutes of Christmas shopping, a woman bought a box of 50 identical greeting cards. Without bothering to read the verse she hastily signed, addressed, and mailed all but one of the cards.

Several days after they were mailed she came across the one she hadn’t mailed and then looked at the message she had sent. She was horrified to read, “This card is just to say … a little gift is on the way.”

Unlike this woman God knew what He was doing when He sent us Jesus. In our scriptural passage for today (Luke 2: 22-40) we see the promise already being fulfilled:

When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law of the Lord, "Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord"), and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons."

Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit rested on him.  It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.

Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying, 

"Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel." 

And the child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him. 

Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the 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." 

There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.

At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.  The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

A literature and scripture review tells us this about the prophecies of Jesus:

Jesus will come from the line of Abraham. We are told this in Genesis 12: 3 and we see it fulfilled by Matthew 1:1.

Jesus’ mother will be a virgin. The Prophecy is Isaiah 7:14. It’s fulfilled by Matthew 1:18–23.  

Jesus will be a descendent of Isaac and Jacob. The prophecy is given in Genesis 17: 19 and in Numbers 24:17. It is fulfilled by Matthew 1:2.

We are told Jesus will be born in the town Bethlehem in Micah 5: 2. It is fulfilled by Luke 2:1–7.

It is said that Jesus will be called out of Egypt by Hosea 11:1. That prophecy is fulfilled by Matthew 2:13–15.

Genesis 49: 10 tells us that  Jesus will be a member of the tribe of  Judah. This is fulfilled by Luke 3:33.  

We are told by Malachi 3: 1 that the Messiah, Yeshua, Jesus, will enter the temple. This is important because the temple was destroyed in A.D. 70 and was never rebuilt. This is fulfilled in our scripture reading from Luke 2.

God promised that Jesus will be from the lineage of King David by Jeremiah 23: 5. This is fulfilled in Matthew 1:6.

Jeremiah 31: 15 predicted that Jesus’ birth would be accompanied with great suffering and sorrow. That prophecy is fulfilled in Matthew 2:16. 

There are many prophecies in the old Testament that tells us that the Messiah will live a perfect life, die by crucifixion, resurrect from death, ascend into heaven, and sit at the right hand of God. These prophecies are fulfilled throughout the New Testament.

The text from Luke today represents God establishing Jesus’ credentials to Israel and to us.

The Jewish Prophet Simeon searched the Jewish Torah for prophecy and signs of the coming Messiah because the days and times he lived in were difficult and seemed to be ripe for the promised one’s coming.  We are told that Simeon was promised that he would meet this messiah before he died.

According to a tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church, Simeon had been one of the seventy-two translators of the Septuagint. As he hesitated over the translation of Isaiah 7:14 (LXX: "Behold, a virgin shall conceive..." that many modern scholars read "young woman" for "virgin" in the Hebrew), an angel appeared to him and told him that he would not die until he had seen the Christ born of a virgin. This would make him well over two hundred years old at the time of the meeting described in Luke, and therefore miraculously long-lived.

The messiah was Jesus, Yeshua, the son of Joseph and Mary. His words are known as the “Canticle of Simeon” and the reformed tradition uses them in funerals as recognition of God’s involvement in our birth, life, and death.

Luke describes Anna as "very old." Many Bibles and older commentaries suggest that she was 84 years old. But this is open to interpretation depending on how the scripture is read.

The Greek text states that "she was a widow of eighty four years." But the passage is sort of ambiguous: it could mean that she was 84 years old, or that she had been a widow for 84 years. Some scholars consider the latter to be the more likely option.

Using the second option, she could not have married younger than about age 14, and so she would have been at least 14 + 7 + 84 = 105 years old. What is certain, however, is that Luke is indicating a very old woman.

Both Simon and Anna show us the perfection and planning God has done to realize His promises and reconcile His creation.

This promise is further refined by Jesus in John 14, of His going to prepare a place for us so that we may be with Him for eternity and  is God’s eternal promise. Amen.