Day - 748 The Favor of God Was Upon Him

A sermon given at Second Presbyterian Church, Chattanooga, TN December 28, 2014.

OT reading: Isaiah 61:10-62:3

NT reading: Luke 2:22-40

Over the last four weeks through advent we have ridden a wave of expectation that culminated on the day we celebrate as the day of Christ’s birth. Although we should use the entire Christmas season as a time to contemplate the implication on our lives of Jesus’ birth and expected return, many of us spent it planning the big meals, shopping for Christmas presents, wondering which day our children are going to spend at our house or the in-laws, traveling yourself, or just working on problems at work up to the last minute. Some of us spent the days leading up to Christmas worried, sad and depressed, wondering why we feel so bad in a season when everyone else seems joyful.

Now, here we are, December 28, the last Sunday of 2014. The presents are opened, memories linger of friends or family who shared a meal and have left for their own homes. Some still feel that lonely emptiness that seems to always be here in this season. The choir is gone. The Pastor is taking a deserved respite with family. Only the bare remnant has come back to the sanctuary for worship today. You represents the positive parts of the sermon and need to hear it the least.

However, today might well be the more important day of worship in the Christmas season even though the balloon of the holiday festivities is deflated and the wave of joy and expectation is ebbing back into memory for the next 45-50 or so weeks. This third day is an appropriate time to ask, “How has this baby Jesus born 2,000 years ago said to have ‘The favor of God was upon him’ changed our world?” Seminarians call the birth the “Christ event.” “What does this event mean for us?”

What did it mean for Simeon, an old man who knew his end was near. He felt all his years weighing him down, but carried on, holding a promise from God closely in his heart, wondering…will it be fulfilled?

Luke tells us of Simeon’s inner thoughts. v25-26 reads “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.  26 (A promise) had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.”

If you are closer to my age than the age of my two sons, you may appreciate that waiting on a promise has a strange twist to it. There is a fine line in faith between hopeful waiting for a thing, and sadness coming from doubt that the thing you have awaited for so long may not happen.

On this day when Mary and Joseph have brought their first son Jesus for consecration to the Lord according to the Law, the Spirit led Simeon into the temple. Simeon knew immediately the promise was fulfilled in this child before him. He took the baby into his arms and broke out into a song that we still sing today. Had we had a choir today, I would have asked them to sing it now, or as a benediction because it is a foretelling of the Epiphany we celebrate next Sunday.

You can find my favorite version on page 604 of the hymnal. Listen to Luke’s account:

29       “Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,

                        according to your word;

30       for my eyes have seen your salvation,

31                   which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

32       a light for revelation to the Gentiles

                        and for glory to your people Israel.”

Simeon answered my first question, “How has this baby Jesus born 2,000 years ago who has ‘The favor of God was upon him’ changed our world?” The Lord has reconciled with us and all peoples.

Paul said this reconciliation is the inauguration of the Kingdom of God that shattered the old world of flesh, and will finally displace it. By world of flesh he means the complete reality of our entire existence as a human beings. Our world, our human reality, works hard and often successfully to oppose God, at least in the short run.

But Simeon’s joy is tempered with sadness. He concludes his joyous proclamation with an ominous prophesy that colors the answer to my second question, “What does the “Christ event” mean for you?

He spoke these prophetic words:   34 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 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

Although Christ’s joyful entry into our world marks the beginning of reconciliation of God, in a few short months we will share the grief preceding the empty cross that means we are Easter people, children of God. We know all about that sword that will pierce mother Mary’s soul on Good Friday at Golgotha. That sword and the empty cross are an integral part of the Christmas story that birthed the Kingdom of God.

As for the rising and falling of many in Israel, Paul spread the Gospel throughout the Mediterranean to the Jews of the Diaspora and Gentiles. We know that Judaism was torn by the Christ event. Jews who honored Jesus were driven out of the synagogues as the Gospel of John and letters of John so clearly show. Militant Judaism rebelled against Rome and in 70 CE, the power of Rome brutally suppressed the rebels and destroyed the temple in a reprise of the acts of all the conquerors who seized Judah after the return from exile. It is fair to say that Judaism and Israel have yet to recover fully from the aftermath of the Christ event…

But what about these last prophetic words, “This child is destined … to be a sign that will be opposed 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed?” How do they shape what Christianity means for us today?

Think about it this way. Simeon’s joy is God’s act of reconciliation with humanity in Jesus. If we are reconciled totally to God our Creator, then we are, or should be reconciled to God’s creation, our brothers and sisters and the physical world we live in.

Simeon’s joy should recall for us the two commandments Jesus said are the greatest, the ones that put us on the road to glory, “Love the lord with all your heart, and might and soul,” and “Love your neighbor as you love your self.” These two commandments stand behind the whole of Simeon’s prophesy. They put a spot light on our inner thoughts. They are blessings for the faithful but stumbling blocks for hardened hearts because they represent the highest standard of Christian conduct.

These two commandments define a “radical Christianity” that demands a total repentance, an absolute reversal in behavior towards each other. Our faith in radical or repenting Christianity embodied in these two commandments is the guide for our own practical lives. They are radical commandments because to aspire to them means you seek to reach the highest bar of Christian behavior.

These commandments are always a thorn in our side because we are enmeshed in Paul’s world of flesh that resists these commandments with all its power. It is not going down without a fight and takes every opportunity to induce us to neglect or misapply these commandments.

We can think of many examples where the world opposes Christianity. We can join Pope Francis and decry the persecution of Christians in the Levant, where groups like ISIL, and militant Shiites in Iran and Iraq persecute, kill or force Christians from their homes, cities and country. We can look at the martyrs from the Roman era forward who stood by their faith even to their death.

We can lament the way our own society seems to look down its collective nose at some Christian values. It is quite easy to see the evil exposed within the inner thoughts of other people, even those who call themselves “Christian.”….

But, how often do we look honestly into our own hearts? When we label ourselves “Christian” do we ever realize we can be like the Pharisee on the street corner in Matthew praying loudly, “Thank you Lord I am not like ‘those’ people.”

My point with the children today is like it or not we will stumble over one or both of these commandments and when we do, we broadcast a really big negative message about our faith and about ourselves to our brothers and sisters, and invite the world to do its worst. Like it or not the joyful gift also “is destined … to be a sign that will be opposed 35 so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed.”

Second Presbyterian Church operates St. Matthews Shelter for desperate, homeless, unemployed men. This is a singular and commendable Christian ministry that no other Presbyterian Church and probably only our sister congregation across the street, St. Paul’s Episcopal Church does in Hamilton County. But many are waiting to enter. You can make the ministry even more effective by getting involved. But as I warn every volunteer, it will change you. You will understand how little separates you and the ones you help. If you invest your radical Christianity, you will not look upon people the same way you do now.  Repenting Christianity is not a walk on a wide easy road but rather on a narrow one leading to a narrow gate.

Have we ever allowed our politics to excuse an injustice because we do not like the politics of the people who contest the injustice, or are unwilling to rock the boat? Have any of us ever denied a person Christian hospitality because of their race, particular denominational affiliation, or distaste for their politics? Tennessee has over 200,000 people and families who cannot afford adequate health care, yet our elected leaders continue that situation because they don’t like Obamacare, Medicaid or raising revenue for those citizens in need. We forget the judgment of Jesus who separated the goats from the sheep and glory, telling the goats, “when you refuse to care for the poor, the sick, the naked and imprisoned you do it also to me.”

The roof of our sister congregation at Renaissance Presbyterian Church is in dire need of repair. Can we help repair it? Education is one major path to breaking the cycle of poverty yet many of our urban schools in low income, predominately African-American neighborhoods are in great need of repair, have little modern equipment and pay teachers poorly but the School Board will not spend money on them because it means we might have to pay more taxes. If we think it is a spiritual problem, how many of us speak up for change, or lend our hands as tutors?

Lest you think I am preaching down, I remind you of an old comic strip of my youth, Pogo. Two famous lines in Walt Kelley’s comic strip are, “Even the whitest doves have feet of clay,” and “We have met the enemy and he is us.” I have baggage just like everyone else.

Every Christian carries baggage we want to keep hidden; but as I explained to the children, radical Christians do not have that option. Our inner thoughts always are revealed by our actions. (Sanctification is an ongoing duty.)

“What does this child mean for us?” Mary and Joseph consecrated their first-born male to the Lord according to the Law. Simeon knew this child was consecrated for us all as the power, motivation and obligation for us to be radical Christians who honor our reconciliation with God and fellow sister and brothers.

Simeon understood this child is the sign of the everlasting feast of all God’s children at the common table. Luke can declare, “The Favor of God was upon this child.” It is up to us to show the world that same favor is sprinkled upon us as children of God. I charge you and me always to travel in peace and strive for inner thoughts reflected in public action that say, “I am consecrated as a radical Christian.”  Amen.