SERMON “Jesus, the Final Redeemer” - Luke 2
Lord, grant that we may see you today, the one named Jesus, the Savior of the world. Amen.
Today is one of the high holy days of the Christian calendar. There's a kind of liturgical version of the “scissors, paper, rock” game that the calendar plays. January 1 is the day of the circumcision and naming of the Lord. In most years that falls on a day other than Sunday so this Sunday is generally simply considered the first Sunday after Christmas day. But this day has traditionally been considered an important enough day on the calendar that when it comes on a Sunday it takes precedence. So rather than having readings that are particularly related to Christmas, this year we have the readings which specifically describe the circumcision and naming of Jesus, this eighth day after his birth.
There are three very special elements of the circumcision of our Lord which I want to bring to your attention today. As we saw in Luke's gospel, Jesus, the perfect sacrificial lamb of God came into the temple along with his parents, who brought him and a very humble offering. On the occasion of this offering for sin, Jesus' blood is shed, the perfect offering for sin. And we find that two people, Simeon and Anna, people who have been waiting for their redemption, recognize that Jesus is the Messiah. We look at those ideas in turn.
First, Jesus, the perfect, priceless sacrificial lamb of God came into the temple with his parents and a very humble offering. Under the Old Testament sacrificial system, on the eighth day a male child would be presented before God. His parents would bring an offering of an animal. Because our Lord recognizes that different people would have different levels of wealth and different levels of ability, the offerings ranged all the way from a perfect bull – very expensive – to a pair of turtledoves – affordable to anybody who could find a handful of grain to attract them. Jesus is not born to a wealthy family. The parents given to him by the Father will raise him in humble circumstances. Jesus as he lives in Joseph's family understands hardship, hard work, possibly even hunger. Yet he shows himself to be the perfect sacrificial lamb. Jesus, the perfect offering for your sin and for mine, comes into the temple that day. His parents bring the offering they can bring. They act in faithful obedience to God's command. Yet it is the presence of Jesus which makes the offering effective. All the sacrifices, all the offerings which we could ever make, all of them add up to nothing without God's command and blessing. The Law indeed came through Moses, but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. In him is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. When Jesus comes into that temple he makes the humble offerings perfect. When Jesus comes to his people in Word and Sacrament he fills our worship. He comes to dwell with us. He shows us, no, he doesn't merely show us, he is present for us as the fulfillment of all sacrifices.
Not only is Jesus present in the temple when he is carried in his mother's arms, but he has promised that he will continue to be with us. We, along with the historic Church, confess the true bodily presence of our Lord and Savior in communion. He has not ceased to be with his people in any way. He is absolutely present, seeking those who will worship him in Spirit and in truth. This is why receiving communion is such a wonderful celebration. We who are sinful have come into the presence of Jesus, the perfect lamb of God. We who are sinful receive him. He is as present here as you or I can be present. That's why our communion service is surrounded with expressions of awe and wonder. That's why we treat the consecrated elements in a special way. That's why we look forward with the apostle Paul and the Corinthians to having a participation in the body and blood of our Lord. Jesus is the perfect lamb of God who is present for us, the people in the most humble of circumstances.
Jesus, the perfect lamb of God is present, even in the humble circumstances of his parents. And Jesus' blood is shed in circumcision. We understand that in circumcision there is a shedding of blood, a rolling away of our fleshly nature in the hidden places of our lives. And many many people find that baptism in the New Testament is the parallel to circumcision in the Old Testament. This is Jesus' entrance into the covenant people. But you know as well as I do that Jesus did not need to become a partaker of the covenant promises of the people of Israel. Recall that in the Bible people never ever initiate a covenant with God. It's always the opposite direction. God approaches his people, chooses them, and initiates a covenant. He promises to be with his people, to guide them, to protect them, to multiply them, to govern them. The response of the people of God is just that – a response. We respond to our Lord in faith, making the offerings which are symbolic of the way God has given himself to us. We respond in faith, trusting in his promises, believing that he will do what he has said he would do. We respond in faith, confessing that we are unable to keep the promises of God, but that he has kept all of his promises. This is the way God's covenants work. And Jesus, God the Son, is no stranger to his promises. He is no stranger to the grace of God. Jesus no more needs to enter into the covenant of circumcision or baptism than a man with no legs needs a pair of shoes. Why then does Jesus have his blood shed in circumcision? He doesn't need it. But we do. Where there is no shedding of blood there is no remission of sin, we read in Hebrews. Our Lord has shed his blood on our behalf, even as an eight day old baby, precisely because he is coming as the savior of the world. His blood is shed when he is named Jesus, the name which means he will save his people from their sins. Remember the church sign? Jesus is for sinners only. And by his blood he has provided salvation, through his grace and mercy, according to his covenant promises. Jesus' blood is shed for you and for me.
The perfect lamb of God is present, his blood is shed, and he is recognized as the Messiah, the anointed one of God. This recognition of the Messiah is probably the most important feature of the reading from Luke. A man, we don't know how old, but someone anticipating his death, and an elderly woman both recognize Jesus to be the Messiah. They recognize that he is the savior. They realize that they can go in peace, they can die safely, knowing that they have received their Savior. Do you recognize the words of Simeon from somewhere in the liturgy? They show up in three places. One of them you will sing today, after communion. When we receive Jesus' body and blood given and shed for us for the forgiveness of sins we are prepared to die. Our eyes have seen his salvation and we are ready. The second place? This is typically sung or confessed at the end of the service called “Compline” - a worship service traditionally found at the very end of the day. We confess that as we have seen Jesus we are ready to go to sleep, and that our very death in Christ is no more than a period of rest from which our Lord will awaken us. The third place? I'll probably only do this one with you once, because it is in the prayers typically associated with your deathbed. Again, we see that Jesus, in his completed work, has prepared us to sleep in death.
We can look ahead in our calendar of worship and see how Simeon's confession prepares us. This Thursday the season of Epiphany begins. Epiphany is the time of the revealing of our Lord. We usually associate it with the coming of the Magi, but we see throughout the season of Epiphany, lasting through February 21 this year, the many ways that our Lord has revealed himself to us. It is a time for us to look at our Lord and realize just how much of a savior he is. And our eyes have seen the Lord so we are ready to depart in peace.
I'd like to take just a moment to advertise an emphasis for this year. Here at Faith Lutheran Church, let's make this year the year of the Bible. Let's make it the year when we seek to take in the written Word of God, which will be a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. Let's make this the year when we confirm good habits of reading the Scripture, seeking to see Jesus everywhere, because our Lord says all Scripture points to him. I've prepared a reading schedule that will be printed in your bulletins and will also be posted on my blog, for those of you who like computers. If we read just a few chapters of the Bible almost every day we'll find that we have the entire Bible read by this time next year. We'll read about Jesus, the Messiah, the perfect lamb of God who has come on our behalf. We will look to him realizing his presence and how important that is. And we will see that he has come with salvation, the savior of the nations, our hope, our redeemer, the one who is seated at the right hand of the Father, interceding for us. May the Lord grant us eyes to see him as he has revealed himself in Word and Sacraments.
Now may the grace of Lord be with you, in the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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