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FIRST SUNDAY AFTER CHRISTMAS December 29, 2024 Pastor Tom Steers Christ the Saviour Lutheran Church, Toronto Brothers & sisters, peace grace and mercy be to you through God our Father, and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen. Our Opening Hymn is: “Let All Together Praise Our God” Lutheran Service Book, 389 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y6xS9tt7cAA Our Collect Prayer: Almighty and ever-living God, as Your only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in the substance of our flesh, grant that we may be presented to You with pure and clean hearts; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. Our Bible Readings: Old Testament – Exodus 13:1-3a; 11-15 Psalm 111 Epistle – Colossians 3:12-17 Gospel – Luke 2:22-40 Our Hymn of the Day is: “In Peace and Joy I Now Depart” Lutheran Service Book, 938 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwyvQd-rg1U Text by Martin Luther, 1483 – 1546 (The words of this hymn are provided at the end of this post.) The Sermon, ‘Human Sight or Spiritual Sight’ – In our lives we’re faced with serious worries and concerns. They may be health issues; those of our loved ones, or our own. They may be money related. The world can appear as an endless series of obstacles we have to battle or overcome to be happy, if not just survive. We see the world through human eyes, and in human terms. In our Gospel passage today we read of Simeon, a man led by the Holy Spirit. A man of intense faith. His very name means, “one who hears.” Simeon listens and believes God’s promise that he would see the Saviour, the promised one, before he died. We can imagine this might have led Simeon to live an existence of worry and anxiety – but it didn’t. Like all the prophets before him, Simeon lived by faith in God’s Word. So, once he sees the infant Christ, he’s content to be taken into God’s arms, after he takes the Lord Jesus into his arms. In peace and joy, Simeon is ready to be with the Almighty. We remember this event in every Divine Service when, after the Lord’s Supper and receiving our Lord’s Body and Blood, we sing the ‘Nunc Dimittis,’ the Song of Simeon. We participate in this Sacrament out of faith. Faithful Simeon isn’t afraid of death, because having seen His Lord He knows he has a Saviour, a Redeemer, who will deliver him from sin and eternal separation from God. It’s the same for us. The Holy Spirit works faith in us using God’s means of grace, His Word found in the Bible, and the Sacraments of Baptism and Communion. These means of grace are found within Christ’s Church. Simeon serves as an example of faith, of a reliance on God that can transform, and help us deal with the trials and struggles we face. He also provides an example of Christian witness to Jesus; the kind of witness God calls all of us to. The temple in First Century Jerusalem was a busy place. The centre of almost constant activity. Into this scene come Mary, Joseph, and the infant Jesus. If any parents had reason to worry, it would have been this couple. Mary, a peasant teenager, had been told she would bear the son of the Most High. She wouldn’t give birth in her hometown with the comfort of family around her, but delivered her child in a stable in another village. Joseph, who had considered divorcing Mary when he found out she was expecting, was told by an angel that his wife would bear the Messiah. Not long after these events described in Luke, Mary and Joseph were told by an angel to run for their lives to Egypt so the ruling Jewish king wouldn’t kill the child. They had every cause to worry. But faith ruled their lives, and they walked by faith, not human sight. Many parents would have brought their first-born baby boys into the temple in Jerusalem on the day Mary and Joseph presented Jesus to the Lord. To others, the Holy family would appear to be just another poor couple fulfilling the Law of Moses. How then were Simeon and Anna able to pick Jesus out of the crowd? How did they identify Jesus as the promised Saviour? And how is it that the rest of the crowd saw nothing special? The divinely inspired words of St. Luke give us the answer. Luke connects Simeon to the Holy Spirit three times in the Gospel reading: 1) Luke writes the Holy Spirit was upon him, 2) It had been revealed to Simeon by the Holy Spirit that he would see Christ, and 3) Simeon came in the Spirit into the temple. Martin Luther reminds us in his explanation to the Third Article of the Apostle’s Creed that the Holy Spirit: calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies. Spiritual sight given by God led Simeon to the temple at just the right time for him to see Jesus. We can think of Simeon waiting in the temple, watching parents bringing their first-born sons, perhaps for years. Then, when Mary and Joseph entered with Jesus, we can see the Holy Spirit telling Simeon – "This is the one!" It wouldn’t have been the wealth or stature of the humble little family that made them stand out. Those who waited for an ‘earthly’ king would have missed Jesus. There was no worldly way of telling this child was the Christ. Even today some may be inclined to downplay the event. They might say, “it was nice that God made this special provision for Simeon, the story about Anna is also touching, but what have they got to do with me?" It’s this: just as the Holy Spirit led Simeon and Anna to Jesus in the temple, He also leads us to Jesus today. The Holy Spirit is the only way anyone sees Jesus as Saviour. And it’s only through the Spirit that we see our lives and the world around us with the spiritual sight God wants us to have, to use, and to help us through our times of worry and pain. In today’s world there are many who believe in the historical Jesus. They’ll be quick to concede Christ lived on earth. They’re ready to admit Jesus did good deeds, taught good teachings, and is a fine example for anyone to follow. They’re ready to praise His bravery in criticizing the oppressive religious and social establishments of His day. In fact, anyone who’s honest must agree Jesus changed history in an incalculable way, and that His great influence continues. Many in the world see the historical Jesus, but they don't see the Son of God come to earth. They see the historical Jesus, but they don't see their Redeemer. Only the Spirit gives us the ability to know Jesus as our own Saviour. And with the Holy Spirit's gift of faith, we see the crucifixion as the truest expression of God's love for each and every one of us here today. It’s the Holy Spirit who opens our spiritual eyes so we become aware of sin in our lives, and our need for a Saviour. He shows us that we haven’t loved God with our whole heart, that we haven’t loved our neighbours as ourselves. By the power of the Spirit, we see the reality of the terrible, eternal punishment our sins deserve. But our loving and merciful God doesn’t leave us in that predicament. It’s Christ Himself that explains this to us. Jesus told Nicodemus one night when that leader of the Pharisees came to Him: “Truly I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” Nicodemus didn’t immediately understand. So, Christ explained that without the Holy Spirit we can neither see the Kingdom of God, nor enter it. How many people today in our world won’t see the Kingdom or enter it because they only see with human sight. So, as Christians, the question for believers becomes: do we care, do we love others as God commands, and if we do, how do we respond, what do we do, how do we help? Has our spiritual sight changed our lives as it did with Simeon and Anna? A blind person can’t react by sight to the world around them. Without help they stumble and fall. If we saw a blind person on the street about to cross a busy intersection, who among us wouldn’t reach out their hand, wouldn’t speak up and offer help. Is it then no less important, no less compelling when we see the spiritually blind around us, the lost who may be lost for all eternity, that we should speak up and offer help – offer witness – to our Saviour? Should we not respond to God’s great gift of love, the gift of salvation through Christ, with the same compassion for others – even strangers? As Christians assured of salvation through Christ, we react to the world around us differently than the faithless, the unsaved, just as a sighted person reacts differently than the blind. We begin to see the world as God wants us to, and our human priorities are realigned with God’s priorities for our lives, and those around us. And what others around us need, more than anything, for this life and for eternity, is to know our Lord & Saviour, and the salvation that comes only through Him. Our ultimate purpose in life is to know Christ and to make Him known, in whatever way, through whatever vocations and gifts God gives us. The Great Commission our Lord gave the disciples, He gives to all Christians –His disciples of today. Because there is a world of blind people outside the Church who are in spiritual darkness . . . . . . who we can reach out to and help as they stumble, . . . who we can be a light to reflecting the true light of Jesus, . . . who we can witness to and speak of the eternal life and salvation found only in our Lord. It can be as simple as telling them about the hope we have in Christ, what it means, and has meant to us. It can be as simple as inviting them to hear the Word of God in Church, or read an online sermon post. May the Lord of all comfort and grace grant us the spiritual eyes to see Him, and through the power of the Holy Spirit, respond to the need of others around us to know the Saviour of the world. Amen. The Benediction – The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious unto you. The Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen. “In Peace and Joy I Now Depart” A Hymn by Martin Luther LSB 938 In peace and joy I now depart Since God so wills it. Serene and confident my heart; Stillness fills it. For the Lord has promised me That death is but a slumber. Christ Jesus brought this gift to me, My faithful Saviour, Whom You have made my eyes to see By Your favour. Now I know He is my life, My friend when I am dying. You sent the people of the earth Their great salvation; Your invitation summons forth Every nation By Your holy, precious Word, In every place resounding. Christ is the hope and saving light Of those in blindness; He guides and comforts those in night By His kindness. For Your people Israel In Him find joy and glory.