Sermon Tone Analysis

We begin with Luke 2 verses 15-34, but our main verses will be 21-24.

Pray:

This morning we continue in Luke: We are in the midst of chapter 2. Thus far, we have studied the why of this letter, the encounter of Zechariah with the Angel Gabriel, and the announcement that he would have a son named John, who would be the one to prepare the way for the Christ.

We studied Mary’s encounter with that same angel, Gabriel, and her announcement.

We observed Mary go to visit Elizabeth and how the baby John leapt in the womb when Mary came in, and Mary gave her Magnificat, her song of praise to magnify the Lord.

We learned of John’s birth, and the excitement surrounding it, and the Prophecy of Zechariah when his tongue was set free after his time of silence.

Then we celebrated the birth of Jesus together, and last Sunday, Christmas Day, we considered the shepherds and angels.

This week, we are going to examine what Mary and Joseph did out of a religious obligation, in order to keep the law of Moses, as I mentioned, 21-24.

Before i get there, however, I want to go back for just a moment to the end of the portion we looked at Christmas Day.

Luke2.20

There a lesson resides for those among us who have lamented that Christmas is over.

The decorations are coming down, in the stores, the Christmas displays have quickly been replaced with Valentine’s Day merchandise, the lights will come down soon, the Carols will stop playing.

So many people get this sad feeling about Christmas being over.

Yet, for the Christian, this is a time when, rather than be depressed at the loss of the holiday season, we can rejoice that the baby we celebrated has gone on to finish his work, and because He has finished his work, we can continue to celebrate.

The Shepherds did not say, as they returned to their flocks, “Well, too bad Christmas is over.

We won’t be seeing those angels again.

That little baby is going to grow up and won’t be so cute in a few years.

No, the Shepherds did not lament, but they were glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen.

So may I challenge you a bit and say that if you are feeling a bit blue about Christmas being over with, perhaps there is a contentment issue in your heart that requires examination, because if you be in Christ, the rejoicing has only just begun!

Whatever longing you have in your heart, whether it be for more fellowship, more joy, more peace, more of Jesus, if you are one of His, then you can have the confidence that all of his promises will surely come true!

In Him, we will ultimately and eternally find perfect fellowship, with God and Christ, and with our fellow creatures who share in our inheritance.

We look forward to finding perfect joy, perfect peace, and eternal bliss because He will keep His promises to those he has called His own.

So do not despair that the holiday is over!

There is no need to cling to Christmas, as wonderful as it is.

But keep the joy of Christmas with you throughout the year, just as Scrooge after his repentance.

But now we must move forward in our text to the preaching of these verses, which carry within them some superb lessons for us to apply in our lives.

Big Idea: Obedient People Strive to Obey

The humble are exalted

As we consider these four verses, we are learning from the examples of Mary and Joseph, who did not discontinue their faithfulness to God after the birth of Jesus, but continued to honor God in the keeping of his statutes as well.

What do we find in these parents keeping the Law?

We find that they keep it not only from obedience, but also in response to His great gift.

We find that they desired to please God

We find that they would glorify God.

To help us understand the background of what is happening here, let us read one of the shorter chapters of Leviticus12

The first of the commands they kept was the circumcision of Jesus.

We find the history of the circumcision and the command for it in the Pentateuch, that is, the books of Law, or the first five books in the Bible.

God gave the instruction first to Abraham: Gen17.12

It was reaffirmed in Leviticus, which we have read already.

It was commanded on the 8th day.

So high was the importance of the 8th day that Jesus mentioned how circumcision would be done on the Sabbath if the Sabbath fell on the 8th day: John7.22-23

The context for that is Jesus being challenged for healing a man on the Sabbath, which some of the religious people thought was work, and therefore violated the Sabbath command not to work.

Jesus more or less is saying there are situations where the Sabbath is broken without violating the spirit of it.

The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath, Jesus said.

Circumcision was a sign of devotion to God.

For Paul, he noted that it was one of those things that the Jewish people considered when they evaluated devotion to God.

In his listing of his own credentials, he included his circumcision: Phil3.5

As he was circumcised in obedience to the law, Jesus was named according to the command of God given through his messenger Gabriel.

Matt1.21

Just as John was named in accordance with the message from God, so was his cousin, Jesus.

The other command they obeyed was the command to present their first born to the Lord, and to make a sacrifice for him.

Now, it may seem odd that there would need to be a sacrifice for atonement for Mary, since her baby was of the Holy Spirit, yet it was important to keep the law in every respect.

Remember why, In response to the great gift of God, that they might please him, that they might glorify Him.

Jesus did many things that may seem to have been ok to skip over, since indeed he was God.

Surely not all the requirements for mere mortals applies to Him.

Yet Mary and Joseph made the sacrifice as required, it showed their faithfulness, just as Jesus, not needing forgiveness of sins, was baptized by John.

This sacrifice, as we read, took place 33 days after the circumcision.

This was because of the laws of impurity, during childbirth there is blood loss, and also this can continue for some time after.

But this was also a mercy to the young mother.

Being considered ceremonially unclean during this time, she would not be allowed to prepare food or to travel, and would be limited in having too much contact with others.

I’m sure if you ask any mother, they would agree, being free of household chores for the first 6 weeks would be a good thing, and not being required to travel to the temple until then would also help to improve the chances that the journey there would be safe for mother and baby, since by then, the feeding routine would be established.

I mentioned in D6 last week, and to the youth group the week before that, that this passage tells us that most nativity scenes are wrong, since they usually show the wise men visiting with their gifts at the same time as the shepherds.

But since we have now established with what care that Mary and Joseph have taken to obey the Law, most certainly they would not go with the sacrifice of a poor family if they had just received the very expensive gifts of Frankincense, myrr, and gold.

It would be a dangerous thing indeed to mock God if one were rich and yet pretended to be poor, simply to save a little on the sacrifice.

So logically, if the wise men had arrived before the sacrifice, they would have made the sacrifice of a lamb, not the turtledoves, which were reserved for the mother who could not afford a lamb.

And so it is from yet another angle that we are reminded of Mary’s poverty.

Really, God has chosen many times those who had no standing in the world to do great things in His kingdom.

And it seems that Mary was still poor as an older woman, since at the cross, Jesus commanded John to take Mary as if she were his own mother.

Certainly if Mary had a great retirement account set up, Jesus would not have needed to tell John to care for her.

The lesson, then, that we learn from Mary and Joseph, and that they set us an example of, is obedience to God.

We actually know very little about these two, even though they have a central role in the story.

The bible only tells us of Mary, that she was a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph.

We have already said she was probably between 12-14 years old.

At the very oldest, one scholar put it at 16.

Other than this, we know nothing else about Mary other than she was a relative of Elizabeth and was from a small village.

We know even less about Joseph.

We receive no description of him at all.

His occupation is given.

He was said to be a craftsman or tradesmen.

Most bible translations translate the word to carpenter, but it is possible he did some other trade.

We don’t know how tall he was, how old he was.

We know he also must have been poor, else he certainly would have bought the lamb for Mary’s sacrifice.

Joseph, unlike Mary, is not mentioned at the crucifixion accounts, so it is possible that he died before Jesus had grown up.

What scripture does not say we cannot know for certain.

Some think he may have been much older than Mary.

It is feasible, in light of the culture of the time, that he was much older than her.

On the other hand, much like today, couples were normally within 6 years of age of each other.

We do know he was at least 20, since this would have been the minimum age at which he would have been required to appear for himself at the census.

Any younger, and his father would still be covering for him in that case.

Obedient people strive to obey, and the humble are exalted.

Mary herself made note of this in the Magnificat, which we studied recently: Luke1.52

Mary and Joseph were drawn into this story by the Master storyteller who had, before the beginning, decided this course of human events.

They had no special characteristics that we know of, only that God in his good pleasure chose them for this task, and in choosing them for this task, he enabled them to have the required strength, humility, and trust in God to do their part.

As I studied this passage, I wrote down this question?

Why?

Why were they concerned with keeping the law?

Were they particularly devout before these things happened?

Were they given some sort of regeneration by the Holy Spirit that empowered them to keep this law?

We cannot know beyond what scripture tells us.

But scripture does tell us that God calls those he is pleased to use for his glory, and he saves those he chooses to save.

So Mary and Joseph obeyed the angel regarding the birth of Jesus, obeyed the law regarding the circumcision, obeyed the angel in naming him, obeyed the law in making the baby dedication and sacrifice.