See the Glory of Your Infant Lord!

1st Sunday after Christmas, 12/31/23 Luke 2:22-40 See the Glory of Your Infant Lord! I. In his obedience II. In his suffering III. In his redemption When you think of the glorious events in the Bible, what comes to mind? Perhaps the parting of the Red Sea or the fall of the walls of Jericho. Perhaps you were impressed by the glory of the Lord filling the Temple in today’s First Reading just minutes ago. Perhaps it’s Daniel’s friends being saved from death in the fiery furnace or Daniel being saved from death in the lions’ den. A week ago, we relived the glorious event of the angels appearing to the shepherds and announcing the birth of Jesus. In a few weeks, we’ll relive the glorious event of Jesus’ transfiguration and then in a few months his glorious resurrection from the dead. Perhaps other examples came to your mind. My point in having you recall them is that the Bible often portrays the glory of the Lord. What are the glorious events in your life? Perhaps it was your graduation, or your wedding, or the birth of your child or children. And I agree with you. Those are glorious moments in your life. But how about your journey to church this morning? How about entering this house of worship to join your fellow sisters and brothers in Christ to hear God’s word and receive the Lord’s Supper? It’s not likely that’s one of them. We just don’t attach glory to our efforts to make it to worship. But if it was an impressively glorious event for the glory of the Lord in the form of a cloud to fill the Temple at its dedication, then wasn’t it even more glorious when the Son of God in human flesh and blood made his way, albeit in the arms of one of his parents, into the Temple for the very first time? Instead of simply a representation of the glory of the Lord interrupting the work of the priests, you had the God-man Jesus in that Temple, the very one to whom the millions of Old Testament sacrifices pointed. But it’s likely you didn’t see it. Instead, you probably focused on the unusual reception that Jesus received by Simeon and Anna. And perhaps that’s the reason you might have missed the glory that was on display. I know I have often done the same thing. So, let’s not miss God’s glory again, because our eternal life is wrapped up in what was said and done here on this fortieth day of Jesus’ life on this earth. See the glory of your infant Lord! As you do so, may the Holy Spirit impress you with what that glory means for you. I. As I just mentioned, this event took place when Jesus reached the fortieth day of his life. At forty days old, infants don’t do much but sleep and eat. We might think that Jesus wouldn’t have done anything more than that on this day. But we’d be wrong. More than once the opening verses of this text describe what was happening as being in accordance with the Law of Moses. Did you catch that? Maybe not, but it’s impressive. There were actually two things going on here, two reasons why Joseph and Mary made the trip to church, to the Temple, that day. First, the Law of Moses from the Lord demanded that every mother go through a rite of purification after giving birth. In the case of giving birth to a baby boy, that occurred on the fortieth day after birth. The required sacrifice was a lamb and a dove or a pigeon. If the parental couple was too poor to afford a lamb, two doves or two pigeons were required. Mary and Joseph had two pigeons in hand that day to sacrifice to the Lord. Second, the Law of Moses from the Lord required that the parental couple pay five shekels for the redemption of their firstborn son. Why? Because about 1400 years before Christ, the Lord had spared every firstborn Jewish male from the plague of death in Egypt. Essentially, each one of them belonged to the Lord in a special way. So, his parents had to redeem him, or buy him back, from the Lord for five shekels. On this day in the life of Jesus, Joseph and Mary carried out two required duties in order to comply fully with God’s law. But in their compliance, we see our Savior’s compliance as well. Yes, Joseph and Mary were the ones complying outwardly, but Jesus was complying in a passive way. In order to be our Savior from sin, Jesus had to obey the Lord every moment of his life. In order to be our Savior, Jesus had to fulfill the law of the Lord in every point. Here in the life of Jesus, two important points of the law were met and fulfilled. Jesus did so in the place of—as the Substitute of—every sinner in history. In reality, on this day, even though he was only forty days old, Jesus was carrying out his work as your Savior from sin. See the glory of the infant Lord! See it in his obedience. II. As I mentioned earlier, most often when we read or hear this text from Luke 2, our thoughts center on the other two people that met Jesus on this day. The one was Simeon and his was an amazing story. Luke tells us that “he was waiting for the consolation of Israel.” Do you realize how amazing that was? While the Jewish misconceptions about who the Messiah would be and what he would do abounded and later Jesus would often be forced to confront them, here was a believer who knew and understood what the Messiah was all about—consolation, in other words, salvation. And he had received an amazing promise. Again, Luke tells us, “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.” Was there another person on the face of the earth who had received this same promise? I doubt it. How amazing that the Holy Spirit did so for Simeon! But even more amazing is what Simeon, under the influence of the Holy Spirit foretold about this infant Jesus. First, he would cause the rising and falling of many in Israel. Every Jewish person was looking forward to his coming to this earth. That he would cause the rising of many Jewish people was expected. But the falling? How so? We New Testament Christians know all too well. We know how the majority of his own people rejected him to the point of crucifying him. And that’s what Simeon meant when he shared this foreboding prophecy with Mary, “And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” As his mother, Mary would be traumatized by the crucifixion of Jesus more than anyone else. Those of you who are mothers, can you imagine her horror? But in that horror lies God’s glory. Who else would send his own Son into the world to a people who would despise him, so that he could be crucified and suffer literal hell for those same people and an entire world of sinners who deserved damnation rather than salvation? God’s glory is not seen in giving us what we have earned or deserved. It’s seen in giving us his grace and mercy which save us. See the glory of your infant Lord! See it in his suffering. III. Simeon wasn’t the only person to meet Jesus on this fortieth day of his life; Anna was, too. She’s just as mysterious to us as Simeon was. Luke tells us that she was a widow for a very long time, making her quite aged, and also that she was a prophetess. Just what does that mean? Most likely, it means that her fellow Jewish people recognized that she had a keen understanding of the word of God—the Old Testament—and was obviously adept at explaining it to others and helping them apply it to themselves. Bottom line, she helped others understand what the Bible said chiefly about the promised Messiah. And she backed up her words with her life. Her fellow Jews knew where they could find her every day—in the Temple. Luke states that her life was marked by worship day and night in the Temple, fasting and praying. She lived every day serving her Lord. So, imagine her delight when she saw and then heard what was going on with these new parents and their Child. It’s likely that Jesus wasn’t the only infant being brought to the Temple that day to observe Jewish religious regulations. Anna likely heard what was said by other people about other infants. But what she heard about this infant amazed her. And she believed what she heard and gave evidence of her faith in that she “gave thanks to God.” But her joy over her faith in Jesus as the promised Savior didn’t remain bottled up inside her. It welled up and overflowed. Listen again to how that happened, “She…spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.” I’m sure there were countless Jewish people at this time who were looking forward to the arrival of the Messiah. Anna told them about Jesus. Here is the one who would redeem God’s people to be his own for time and eternity. We know that work of redemption cost Jesus his life. He paid his holy precious blood and his innocent sufferings and death to redeem us and bring us into the kingdom of God by faith in him. That’s the glorious work that Jesus had come to this earth to carry out for us. See the glory of your infant Lord! See it in his redemption. So, the 40-day-old Jesus is brought into the Temple for the first time in his life. Is that simply a biblical, historical factoid, or does it have some implications for you, and, if so, what are they? Let me help you answer that. Has a sin you committed ever made a mess of things in your life and the lives of others? And are you prone to beating yourself over it? Have you ever been the victim of someone’s sinful action and felt ashamed? Have you repeatedly heard that Jesus lived and died to remove your guilt, but you just can’t seem to shake guilt’s shackles? Does it cause you sleeplessness? Do you find yourself driven to do something out of compulsion rather than out of thankful love and joy? By now I think I’ve included every one of us, including myself. So, what should we do about it? Immerse yourself in the truths of this account of the fortieth day of Jesus’ life. Already as an infant he’s revealing his glory, not so that he looks good before others, but so that you are forgiven, free of guilt, and holy in the eyes of God. It’s all right here. He perfectly obeyed his Father for every time we don’t. He came here to offer himself as your sacrifice for sin. He entered the Temple that day to be declared your Redeemer, the One who makes you his own so that he can bless you forever. That’s Jesus’ glory. And his glory becomes yours by faith in him. See the glory of your infant Lord! See it and be filled with your glorious Savior’s comfort and joy! Amen.