Christmas offers an opportunity to
reflect upon important parts of life – family and faith. On those, I hang
today’s blog. Three Bs – baby, body and beauty. The baby Jesus beheld by Simeon;
the body of Christ we receive; and the beauty we behold.
First, the Baby Jesus beheld by Simeon.
… Grandparents and parents frame pictures of their grandchildren and children. Similarly,
in our Gospel, Luke framed pictures of Baby Jesus. Luke framed Jesus around the
faithfulness of his parents who fulfilled the commands of the Torah as they
brought him to the temple.[ii] As He entered, two Old
Testament saints, waiting in the temple for the Messiah to arrive, greeted him.
Joseph and Mary fulfilled the Torah by
bringing Jesus to his true home. Being poor or of humble state, they sacrificed
two pigeons because they could not afford a lamb; however, no lamb was necessary,
because at 40 days, Jesus himself was the lamb brought to the temple.
Although Luke did not indicate Simeon’s
age, he portrayed him like the other Old Testament saints in the infancy
narrative – Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary and Joseph. Like them, Simeon, a
righteous member of Israel, received and announced the consolation of Israel.
There are two parts to Simeon’s words.
He began by intoning a canticle that sounded like the Old Testament, but was filled
with New Testament themes announcing the presence of God’s salvation in Jesus. The
Holy Spirit inspired his song about the messiah for whom he was waiting.
His canticle echoed Zechariah’s
Benedictus, but he directed it at Baby Jesus and not Baby John. His song was a
beautiful example of the immediate response to the inauguration of God’s
consolation and redemption in the Christ Child. Simeon is now set free to
depart in peace according to the Lord’s word for Jesus freed him – as he did
others – through his presence in the world.
God opened Simeon’s eyes to the
salvation cloaked in the 40-day-old Jesus, still wrapped in infant’s clothing. His
opened eyes referred not to physical vision, but an understanding of Jesus’
work. Throughout his gospel, Luke wove the metaphor of closed and opened eyes
for the motifs of minds closed or opened to the preaching of a crucified and
resurrected Jesus.
Luke used the eyes as the means of
illumination, and ended his gospel by telling us that his disciples walked in
the light straight into the Book of Acts. Conversely, he ended Acts with Paul
reciting Isaiah’s prophecy. “This people’s heart has grown dull, and
with their ears they can barely hear, and their eyes they have closed.”[iii]
Simeon’s eyes were opened to salvation,
a salvation that is a light of revelation to all nations, but as he blessed the
parents, he sounded a somber note when he said to Mary, “This child is why many people in
Israel will be condemned and others will be saved. He will be a sign that will
expose the thoughts of those who reject him. And a sword will pierce your heart.”[iv]
Simeon’s words coupled to the angels’
message to shepherds – “a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths lying in
a manger”[v]
– are dual signs of humility and poverty. That perfect image of humility and
poverty, an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes, foreshadowed Jesus’
crucifixion, the ultimate manifestation of humility and poverty. The world
rejected Christ because he did not meet human expectations.
Jesus echoed Simeon’s words to the
scribes and Pharisees in his final parable. “‘The stone that the builders
rejected has become the cornerstone.’ Everyone who falls on that stone will be
broken to pieces, and when it falls on anyone, it will crush him.”
Jesus’ word passed through Israel like a
sword, fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy that said, “He made my mouth like a sharp
sword,”[vi]and
he compelled people to reveal their secret thoughts.
Every participant in Jesus’ life,
including his mother, experienced sharp pain because of his teaching and death.
Simeon’s announcement shocked readers who did not expect Jesus to lead people
to conflict and upheaval and reveal their hearts.
Because of sin, people were – and are – scandalized
and crushed by Jesus’ words and death, but through his death, his Father
displayed the ultimate sign of revelation, the Resurrection.
Luke summarized the Law and Gospel in a
brief song sung by Simeon. You now know why Simeon sung his canticle. Now, we
explore why we sing it. We move from the baby Jesus beheld by Simeon to the
Body of Christ we receive.
In our Christian tradition, after we
receive the Body of Christ, we sing Simeon’s Canticle. Have you ever wondered why
we sing Simeon’s Canticle, also known as the Nunc Dimittis? Nunc Dimittis comes from the Latin of the Vulgate Bible,
which reads: “Nunc dimittis servum tuum, Domine, secundum verbum tuum, in pace.”
Because Simeon’s canticle implies fulfillment, peace and rest, the church
viewed it as appropriate for the ending of the day. Since the 4th century,
the church used it in evening worship services – Compline, Vespers and Evensong.[vii]
Thomas Jefferson used the canticle in
official correspondence. Novelists and poets T. H. White, T. S. Eliot, Joseph
Brodsky, Ezra Pound and John LeCarre employed it in their works.[viii]
Within the context of our Lutheran
liturgy, it appears we take Simeon’s words out of context. After all, what does
his experience have to do with ours? How can Holy Communion compare to Simeon's
unique honor of holding the infant Jesus in his arms during the child's first
visit to the temple?
Of course, we would love to have been in
the temple and shared in the experience with Simeon. We would give anything to
have been the first – along with the shepherds – to see the infant Jesus, or to
be with the Magi as they offered him their gifts. However, as Luther
insightfully taught, we do not
find Christ in those places.
Through the events of his incarnation,
birth, crucifixion and resurrection, our Lord accomplished our salvation; but the
benefits of his saving work – forgiveness, life and salvation – are distributed
to us through Word and Sacrament, his means of grace. We cannot go back to
stand with Simeon, but the good news is that we do not have to. Christ is
present here.
So when, following our reception of the
Lord's Supper, we sing Simeon's canticle, nothing could be more appropriate. Our
eyes saw his salvation, and better yet, we tasted and saw that the Lord is
good. So, what could be better than holding the infant Jesus in our arms? How
about eating and drinking his body and blood given for the forgiveness of our
sins? This truly is heaven on earth, because here we have Jesus and all his
benefits.[ix]
We have Jesus and all his benefits
because we believe and receive. That is the beauty of pure Christianity as
expressed in the Lutheran tradition. We believe what we receive – Word and
Sacrament. That in itself is pure beauty. Hence, my third point, the beauty we
behold.
We define beauty as the combined
qualities in a person or thing that gives pleasure to the senses or pleasurably
exalts the mind or spirit.[x] What pleases us? The literature
of Shakespeare or Luther, sculptures of Michelangelo or Rodin, glasswork of Chiluly
or the Cathedral of Chartres, music of Beethoven or Chopin, mom’s apple pie or
dad’s grilled steak. The list is endless.
Then, there is nature. We are pleased to
gaze at stars in the midnight blue or puffy clouds, to smell freshly cut grass
or ocean’s breeze, to hear children playing or words of forgiveness, and to
taste the fruit of the vine. In the words of Poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, “The
world is charged with the grandeur of God.”
As I said earlier, the beauty of
Christmas is that it shifts our senses to the important parts of life – family
and faith. Unfortunately, for some, Christmas is the fourth quarter of the
calendar year – a period to calculate whether retail business can survive
another year. For others, it is just another day. My brother, a self-employed handy
man, told me on Christmas Day some guy called him to repair his washer. For
many, Christmas is just a busy season to shop, bake and party – void of the
reason Christians observe Advent, the Incarnation and Epiphany.
For me, Christmas is a marvelous time to
meditate on God’s beauty; and an essential function of beauty is to give
humanity a healthy shock! Whether beauty appears in talent, nature or an act of
love – an infant cradled to its mother’s bosom or a dying man slumped in the
arms of a Mother Teresa – it shocks us back to what is important in life and
creates an ineffable moment we experience but cannot sometimes name. That is
why we recall the Spirit-filled moment of a Simeon. In the moment and presence
of true beauty, he responded, as we would love to respond.
The beauty of the first Christmas – the
beauty of the first encounter with God incarnate – is enough of a healthy shock
for a lifetime, and it leaves the shocked struggling for utterance. God entered
our world as a human being, and in our world, God has places where he can hide
and reveal himself.[xi]
In the beauty of art and nature and
human relationships, God hides and reveals himself. In the people God put in
your life, God hides and reveals himself. Where love and mercy are withheld,
God hides. Where love and mercy are communicated, God appears.
In the Baby Jesus and in the Body of
Christ, love and mercy are communicated. In the means of grace, given to you
through Word and Sacrament, love and mercy are communicated.
When you communicate love and mercy to
the people God put in your life, He is present. In that moment, when
relationships are reconciled, like Simeon, you too can cry your own Nunc Dimittis to God for the beauty of
His presence has set you free.
And so, I close with a request. … God
gave you this Christmas to realize the blessing of forgiveness that comes to us
through his means of grace. The Baby Jesus, the Body of Christ and a beautiful
moment reflect God’s love, God’s mercy.
God gave you Christmas so that your eyes
may be opened and you may be set free from any sin that binds you. If you have
the benefit of family for Christmas, take a moment and embrace each person in
your arms, and if there is an opportunity to offer forgiveness, please do. I
guarantee you that when you offer another family member love and mercy, the
peace of God that surpasses all understanding, will keep your heart and mind in
Christ Jesus.[xii]
Amen. …
[i] Psalm 122
[ii]
Arthur A. Just, Luke 1:1-9:50. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House (1996),
114ff.
[iii]
Acts 28:27
[iv]
Luke 2:34-35 (GOD'S WORD® Translation)
[v]
Luke 2:12
[vi]
Isaiah 49:2
[vii] http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/422490/Nunc-Dimittis
[viii]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nunc_dimittis
[ix] http://www.lcms.org/page.aspx?pid=1116#nuncdimittis.
See also Fred L. Precht, Lutheran Worship: History and Practice. St. Louis:
Concordia Publishing House (1993).
[x] http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beauty
[xi]
Rohr, 169
[xii]
Philippians 4:7
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