Lofty Expectations

Luke 2:22-40

22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons.”

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.”

33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 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.

39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. 40 And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.

As a pretty avid sports fan, I often find myself setting lofty goals for the teams that I cheer for.  For example, I am the typical Cubs fan who believes they will make a pretty good run into October most years.  We know how they expectations have panned out.  As a Chiefs fan, I do not like to get my hopes up for a trip to the Super Bowl because I still remember crying into my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles pillow after a missed field several years ago.  But when the Chiefs so such signs of promise, I cannot help but to get my hopes a little higher than they should.  As a Hawkeye fan... well we all know how that most often turns out for me.  Needless to say, I wasn’t too smart when choosing my favorite teams and I was too stubborn to cheer for the teams that my parents liked so this is what I have come up with.  In hindsight, my parents’ teams have fared much better than mine... Another sermon for another time.  This morning, I want to talk to all of you about expectations.

As I read to you from the Gospel of Luke did you happen to catch the variety of expectations that were mentioned?  I am sure Mary and Joseph had some of their own expectations that were most likely different than what they were hearing and were probably caught off guard by some of what they were hearing.  After Mary and Joseph, a man named Simeon had his own set of expectations once seeing baby Jesus.  Luke tells us that Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel.  In other words, he spent a lot time praying for the help of God to the people of Israel.  Simeon also believed that God had told him that he would see the Messiah before he would die.  When Mary and Joseph carried newborn baby Jesus into the Temple that day, Simeon knew immediately who he was looking at.  Simeon lifts Jesus up and praises God for doing as He had promised.  He then says something that seemed odd to me: Simeon says that his “eyes have seen [God’s] salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”  When a man who spent a lot of his time expectedly praying for Israel to return to glory says that this baby was not only poised to usher in the triumphant return of Israel but was also to be a light to the Gentiles, we should take notice.  It is safe to assume that Simeon was Jewish and undoubtedly looking forward to the Messiah and the glory of Israel to be restored and yet he sees that Jesus is destined for even more?! WOW!  In our modern world, we have lost our understanding of what it means for an Israelite to say something like this but it would be like me sincerely cheering for the Cyclones when they are playing against the Hawks.  It is borderline unbelievable.  I have no idea the ramifications that saying this may have had in the Temple that day but I would imagine he was either dismissed as a lunatic or maybe even cast out of the Temple.  Luke tells us that Mary and Joseph marvelled at what this man was saying so it had quite an impact on them.  Simeon wasn’t done either.  He goes on to say that Jesus would cause the rising and falling of many in Israel, but offers a bit more prophecy when he says that Jesus is a sign that will be spoken against.  What Simeon is saying here is that Jesus will be misunderstood, contradicted and even rejected but even in rejection Jesus will force people to be honest with themselves in their faith.  Talk about expectations!  I can just see Mary and Joseph being told all of this and they are just dumbfounded.  As a parent, I would walk away from that conversation more confused than I started.  In more simple terms, Simeon told them that Jesus was going to do great things but those great things may not seem like great things but hold on for a bit, it will be revealed to you... Eventually... I know that doesn’t really clear it up for us but I don’t think Mary and Joseph left that conversations with much understanding either.  If it were me, I would lean over to Cheyanne as we were leaving and say, “Do you have any idea what that crazy guy meant?” And I think her response would be “no clue.”  In hindsight, we know that Simeon got it right but Mary and Joseph did not have a clue at that point.  The Gospel of Luke then moves onto another prophet named Anna who never left the Temple and was a very devout Israelite in her own right and she spoke about Jesus as the child that would redeem Jerusalem.

I am sure Mary and Joseph knew that their child would be great, a characteristic that is common among most parents, but I doubt they expected this as they walked into the Temple that day.  The next 30 years of Jesus’ life is summed up in a couple of sentences: he grew up strong and wise and the grace of God was on Him.  Even with the angels appearing, the Magi bringing gifts and the shepherds who appeared around the birth of Jesus these claims by Anna and Simeon continue to lead Mary and Joseph down a path of not knowing what really lies ahead of their son.  Every year during Advent we do our best to figure out the meaning of Christmas.  Anna and Simeon help lead us to that answer.  The meaning of Christmas is the incarnation of the Son of God.  We celebrate Christmas as December 25th of every year but the date of our individual Christmas in different.  I am saying that Jesus was incarnated, or born, into each of lives at different times.  But the meaning of Christmas is to remind us that time as well as a reminder of the covenant God made to us by becoming man.  I know it sounds cliche to say that everyday should be Christmas but in all honesty, it should.  We should make an effort everyday to take time to celebrate the incarnation of Christ into each of our lives.  I know the actual date of Christmas is behind us now but it shouldn’t be... The meaning and spirit of Christmas should be a vital part of who we are each and every single day.

Jesus had a lot of expectation placed upon him.  We still do.  We expect Jesus to do things that do not seem possible.  Sometimes he accomplishes those things and sometimes he doesn’t.  It is that place between that we spend most of our faith.  Anna, for example, yearned for Jesus to restore Jerusalem.  He did... but not in the way she expected.  Here we find another faith lesson: Jesus doesn’t always accomplish things the way we think he ought to.  This may lead to more questions and frustration but we must understand that faith is not just something we think.  It is not just Sunday mornings, it is not just prayer, it is not just reading the Bible, it is not even serving a church in some capacity.  Faith is a way of life.  The truest faith is one of conviction and action and it truly determines every breath, every interaction.  This kind of faith is hardly attainable, even the most devout of Christians had their struggles but it must be something we seek, something we do our best to attain.  This kind of faith breeds understanding, patience, mercy and love despite shortcomings and sin.  It is this kind of faith that each of tries to achieve. Here is what I want you to take away from this: the greatest lesson we could learn from our scripture this morning is that we should have high expectations when it comes to faith and self.  We cannot have one without the other.  We should expect God to do great things in our lives but we should expect to put some work in ourselves by making the lessons of Christ a way of life.  Let’s say that for some reason, somehow, God was absolutely proven to not exist... What would you be left with?  An empty faith... Or a way of life that demonstrates the greatest qualities we have as human beings?  The point here is this: there will be times when this world and this life will try to take God away from you.  But if we have been real in our faith, made it a part of who we are at our very core, then we will be shown that it is not possible for anything or anyone to keep us away from the love and grace of our Eternal God.  Amen.