This Child Is Set For The Fall And Rising Again Of Many
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Note: This sermon is highly indebted to Rev. Donavon Riley and Dr. Norman Nagel. It has been reformatted, edited, added to, and adapted by Pr. Richard for Zion Lutheran Church of Gwinner, ND.
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Note: This sermon is highly indebted to Rev. Donavon Riley and Dr. Norman Nagel. It has been reformatted, edited, added to, and adapted by Pr. Richard for Zion Lutheran Church of Gwinner, ND.
__________________________________
Text: Luke 2:21-40
Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ. Amen.
On
this first Sunday after Christmas, we hear the remarkable words of Simeon,
words that point us forward to what this Christ-child will bring about. We hear,
“Behold, this child is set
for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which will be
spoken against ... that [the] thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”[1]
Did
you hear this?
Listen
again, “This child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel.”
Hmm,
this doesn’t sound very Christmasy, does it?
What kind of Christmas gift does this?
What kind of warm holiday gift brings about the falling and rising of
people? Does this not sound a bit too
controversial for Christmas? Are not
Christmas gifts meant to keep on giving and not cause falling and rising? Are not Christmas gifts supposed to bring
warm fuzzies rather than provocation? Is not Christmas meant to bring people
together and not to divide?
Believe
it or not, this idea of rising and falling is actually very much in line with
our Christmas Season. This is so,
because since Christmas Day and all this past week the Church has observed the
days of St. Stephen, St. John, and the Feast of the Holy Innocents. All these
people were martyrs. That’s right all of these people were put to death for
Jesus’ sake. How shocked we are by Simeon’s words of ‘falling and rising’
depends on what we traditionally have thought about Christmas. Otherwise
stated, there are a great many deaths at the birth of Jesus, who is “the life
of the world.”
Looking
more specifically to today’s Gospel reading, Simeon says that Jesus is a sign
and in relation to Him people will be drawn out to either receive or reject God—to
rise or fall. What this means is that there is most certainly an impasse with
the Lord, which will result in two and only two options: rising or falling,
receiving or rejecting.
This
Advent and Christmas Season we’ve heard the many Christmas stories: Luke’s Gospel sing the praise of Mary’s son,
the Son of God; Gabriel told Mary she would have a son; Elizabeth greeted Mary
as mother of her Lord; Zechariah blessed
God for fulfilling His promises, and for giving him his own son; John the
Baptizer. The Baptizer would “go before the face of the Lord to prepare his
way.” (Luke 1:76); the angels proclaimed the birth of “a Savior which is Christ
the Lord.” (Luke 2:11); the shepherds hustled into Bethlehem because they
received the angel’s words and embraced the baby in the manger as the Savior.
All of this is to show that God deals with us all in this way to reduce us to
the point at which we are nothing but receivers—receivers of Christ and His gifts.
What
this means is that we are not required to pull ourselves up to a place that makes
us worthy of God’s attention. No
climbing, no huffing and puffing, and no polishing necessary. On the other hand,
there is also no point so low that we can fall out of his sight and reach. That’s right, no ascending is necessary to
receive and no point is too low to receive.
But
what about those who reject, those who fall?
Indeed, people are lost by refusing His invitation to pick them up.
Their pride is insulted by the idea of being a receiver. They do not want to be
giveable to. Rather, they insist on ways
of being dealt with that improves their self-esteem. They contend, “Help me up,
but don’t do everything for me, for I am not a beggar, but I am capable of doing
some of it by myself.” Yes, people want
a god who will serve their purposes, a god who will meet their specifications
and their criteria. They want a god who is not too close, but not too far away;
just close enough that they know He’s there. However, it does not work that way
with Jesus. He can’t be used that way,
but inevitably brings about the rising and falling of people. This is what
happens when He gets too close, for He indeed gets as close to you and me as our
next breath.
For
Mary and Simeon, Jesus was a sign for their falling and rising. For many others
in Israel, He was a sign only for falling. In their response to Jesus the
religious big shots showed what they were. Their hearts were revealed. Jesus
did not meet their specifications and the religious elite of the day certainly
were not going to be reduced to receivers. From their perspective, they had no
use for what they perceived as an unremarkable, weak, Beggar-Savior. They
wanted someone useful. Someone who would advance: their social hope, their political
agenda, and their religious endeavors… But for these advancement one needs
power.
Mary’s
baby had power, but the power was hidden in what seemed a contradiction. Jesus
wins victories not by coercive power but by redeeming love that is made
complete in weakness. His greatest victory was hidden under what seemed a
contradiction. The Savior of the Universe rides on a donkey. The King of the
world has a cross for a throne. Many in Israel spoke against that sign and
fell. Many still do. They don’t pay attention to the sign. God always hides Himself
in what appears to us to be a contradiction.
So
this leads us to the here and now. How
does God deal with us today? Dear
friends, when God is with us, when God deals with us, it is judgment and
salvation. It is falling and rising.
Permit
me to explain.
When
God deals with you, like it or not, you are shown for what you are. When God
deals with you, your hearts, thoughts, words, and deeds are revealed. The Lord’s cross destroys the illusion that you
can do something apart from God thus making God less than almighty. Furthermore, the Lord’s cross exposes sin by saying,
“look how awful all your reckless living is that the Holy Son of God must
suffer so for your sins.” The person and
message of Jesus confronts and reveals that we need to be saved from the unholy
trinity of “me, myself, and I.” This is
indeed a stumbling block. Otherwise
stated, when the Holy Spirit through the Word draws near to you, the curtains
are pulled back, the lights are turned on, and we see that we can do nothing,
nor contribute anything towards salvation.
Dear
friends, if you cling to what you imagine must be true, if you cling to your
demands and what God must produce for you, you are undone and remain under
judgment. But when you are shown what you are and come clean in repentance you
receive the gifts that raises you up. These gifts - faith, forgiveness, life,
salvation - come to us by way of a sign: an infant in Simeon’s arms, the man
dying on the cross, the bread and wine for you.
Indeed, we fall in
repentance. We are raised by forgiveness. We receive Christ’s body and the
blood hidden under the unremarkable sign of bread and wine. The sign that holds
and gives Christ’s body and his blood just as He says; whether you believe it
or not, whether you fall or rise or only fall. God’s messengers declared that
Mary’s baby is God hidden in flesh and blood. Christ’s own words declare that He
is hidden in the bread and wine.
Simeon
received the baby-Savior that brought him his death and his salvation. You too receive
the Savior in your hands when you receive the Lord in-with-and-under the bread
and the wine, bread and wine that bring you your death and your salvation. As
it goes with Simeon, it goes with us. The
thoughts of all hearts and minds are drawn out into the open when Jesus shows
up. Jesus collides with you, which is the death to: your self-esteem, your
religious endeavors, and your spiritual resume. It is death to your specifying
who God must be to you. Take comfort
though, the one that draws near to you is also the cause of your rising. Baptized
Saints, you are with Christ, together with Him in the falling and rising. As it
goes with Him so it goes with you.
You
who have ears, hear your rising,
Salvation is done! No more huffing and puffing. No more pulling yourself up by your boot
straps. No more trying to make atonement
by your own work. All is done in Jesus. In Jesus you have salvation.
As
Christ the crucified draws near to you—you who are beaten up from sin and you
who are in despair from your own failures of sin—hear your rising,
You are forgiven my dear
ragamuffin. Jesus came for sinners like
you. He is the great physician. He came to grant you forgiveness, to crucify
you and to raise you up as anew! The old
is atoned for, newness of Jesus is here.
Come unto me!
All
this we rejoice in as we join with Simeon’s rejoicing. We rejoice in this Savior in whom we have our
falling and rising. Our strength and preservation. Our departure and our
salvation. All of him with us, togethered, falling, and rising, rising never to
fall again.
May
the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus. Amen.
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[1] Luke 2:34-35
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