What Child is This? (2)
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Introduction
Introduction
William Chatterton Dix is most famous for a Christmas hymn that he wrote and put to the tune of Greensleeves. It opens with the question, “What Child is this, who, laid to rest, on Mary’s lap is sleeping?” In the chorus he answers the question. “This! This is Christ the King, whom shepherds guard and angels sing!” When Jesus was a man, he gathered his disciples around him and asked a similar question, “Who do people say that I am?” And they gave their various responses. But then he asked, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter answered as Dix did, “You are the Christ! The Son of the living God.”
I am loving going through Luke. Luke is not only a master-historian, he is a master story-teller. We are not even finished with chapter two and Luke has weaved in and out of his story hints of who Jesus was and what Jesus will do. Remember, this gospel account was written to a man named Theophilus so that he could have certainty of the things he’d been taught. He’d heard much of this before, but Luke went back to research and make sure what was heard was the truth. He wanted to help answer the question, “What child is this?” What man is Jesus?” And he presents Theophilus and us with a marvelous account of his life.
So the marvelous account started at his conception were we see Jesus first being mentioned to Mary in verse 31. Notice in the account that Jesus is called by name, but then describe as great and Son of the Most High, heir of King David, Ruler over the house of Jacob, holy—the Son of God. Then Elizabeth cries out that he is her Lord while still in the womb. Zechariah would later give his Benedictus and call him the horn of salvation and proclaim what he would do for the people of Israel. Of course there was the angel declaring to the shepherds that born this day in the city of David was the Savior, Christ the Lord. Time and again, in subtle and not so subtle ways, Luke points out who this Jesus is and what he would do. It’s as if, first he’s going to tell us, then he’s going to show us.
In this passage there are nine revelations about who Jesus is. Nine! It is these nine revelations that we are looking at this morning. There’s no way I could deal with all of these in an exhaustive manner, but by the end of the sermon, I hope you will notice Luke’s emphasis that this Jesus was no ordinary baby.
Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law,
he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”
And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him.
And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed
(and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin,
and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.
And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.
The Consolation of Israel, The Redemption of Jerusalem
The Consolation of Israel, The Redemption of Jerusalem
What Child is this? He is the Consolation of Israel and the Redemption of Jerusalem. As I said last week, we have a parallelism. That just means that these are two different ways of saying the same thing. When I got married to Katie, I learned a new idiom, “A horse a piece.” When I asked what it meant, I realized it means the same thing as “Six of one, half-dozen of the other.” These are two ways of saying the same thing: i.e. “it doesn’t really matter.” So we see in verse 25 that Simeon waited for the Consolation of Israel and in verse 38 that Anna (and others) waited for the Redemption of Jerusalem, we are referring to the same concept: they both were waiting for God’s promise of the Messiah.
Note that Luke opens and closes this section with these images. He opens with Simeon waiting for the Consolation of Israel and closes with Anna waiting for the Redemption of Jerusalem. It’s what scholars call an inclusio, which just means opening and closing a section with the same or very similar concept.
If we think about it for a moment, we can see why the Messiah would be called the Consolation (or Comforter) of Israel. We only need to think of Israel’s past. They were in bondage for 400 years. They wandered through the wilderness for another 40 years because of stubborn and rebellious hearts. They finally got into the Promised Land, having to wage war to take possession of it. They were continuously under attack from Philistines, Midianites, and others. They finally became a kingdom but were disjointed under Saul, united under David, largest under Solomon and split under Rehoboam. Both the northern and southern kingdoms strayed from God and both fell to foreign invaders. When they finally returned, they came back with a fraction of the people they had and the temple built under Zerubabbel was nothing compared to the temple Solomon built. Malachi was their last prophet and no one had heard from God in 400 years. God’s silence while in Egypt 400 years. God’s silence after exile 400 years. The people were distressed and in darkness. Suddenly the Consolation of Israel comes.
It is easy to see the Redemption of Jerusalem needed—the place of worship. The capital of the nation. The place which led in the corruption of all Israel—of all God’s people. Even at that moment that had a corrupt Edomite for a king. Annas and the previous chief priests had sold their souls for power, turning the temple into a den of thieves rather than a house of prayer. The people longed for comfort and redemption. And God had promised to give it.
Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord’s hand double for all her sins.
Incidentally, the “double” in verse 2, does not indicate an injustice with God that he doubly punishes our offences, but that in his punishment there is double meaning. There is both the physical aspect and the spiritual aspect. Both had been taken care of and it was time to send comfort (consolation) and redemption.
Salvation: Light and Glory
Salvation: Light and Glory
What Child is this? The Consolation of Israel and the Redemption of Jerusalem, but also Salvation, Light, and Glory. When Simeon saw the Consolation that he had long-awaited, he broke out into praise:
he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”
Notice in verse 30, Simeon proclaims that he has seen God’s salvation with his own eyes—in other words, this baby Jesus is the personification of salvation. Back in Zechariah’s Benedictus, he called Jesus the horn of salvation. Here Simeon calls him the personification of salvation. According to Dr. Stein, Luke speaks of Jesus and Savior and of salvation more than any other Gospel writer. Between Luke and Acts, those words are used fourteen times. Matthew and Mark never use them at all. John used Savior once and salvation once. Luke so desires for Theophilus and we as his readers to understand who Jesus is. He is our Savior, our Deliverer. Like Moses who delivered Israel from enslavement after 400 years, Jesus was here to deliver his people from spiritual darkness.
And I say, “his people,” rather than just Israel because of how Simeon qualified the idea of salvation. This salvation personified was a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to Israel.
Paul would bring up this same concept to the Athenians when preaching at Mar’s Hill.
The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent,
That word for overlooked doesn’t mean that God just winked his eyes at their ignorance and sins. It means that he simply paid no attention to it. Why? He was dealing with Israel. But now that salvation has come, it’s time to bring a light of revelation to the Gentiles and so God is calling everyone everywhere to repent, with the implication that they would believe. Paul wrote to the Colossians,
To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
The Gentiles finally know the riches of the glory of this mystery. What mystery? That Christ is in you, that Christ can indwell you by his Holy Spirit. He is the hope of glory. This glory to his people Israel is now revealed and shared with the people of the world, the Gentiles. Salvation is of the house of Israel and shared with the nations of the world. And so,
Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands—
remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.
For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace,
and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near.
For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father.
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,
built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone,
in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.
In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
One Destined
One Destined
So we’ve seen five depictions of Jesus so far: Consolation of Israel, Redemption of Jerusalem, Salvation, Light, and Glory. But really, What Child is this anyway? Simeon goes on to tell us. Mary and Joseph are stunned by Simeon’s depictions of Jesus so far. How’d he know all of this about Jesus? Certainly, from the Holy Spirit, but they probably didn’t know that, at least not at first. So as they stand there marveling,
And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed
(and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
Jesus was one who was appointed, one destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel. Commentators disagree exactly what this means. Does it mean that Jesus will bring humility and repentance (fall) and then salvation (rising) of many in Israel or does it mean that those who are powerful he will bring down and those who are of humble estate he will rise? I don’t think we can understand Simeon’s prophecy correctly without remembering what has already been said about God’s plan in Mary’s Magnificat. The fact that Simeon speaks of Jesus’s revealing of the hearts points us back to Luke 1:51
He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;
he has brought down the mighty from their thrones and exalted those of humble estate;
he has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty.
So there is this bringing down of the proud and this exalting of the humble. This is God’s Modus Operandi; it’s how he always has worked and always will. As James wrote,
But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
So Jesus is one who reveals the hearts and brings the proud down while lifting the humble up. And in this, Jesus would be a sign to God. His whole ministry would be one big sign pointing a finger to the Father. After all Jesus told his disciples as such,
Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”
Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
The problem was that the sign of Jesus was rejected. It was opposed by many. The Pharisees and Sadduccees, scribes and lawyers, along with the Herodians all sought to contradict what Jesus taught and the sign Jesus brought, to the point they killed him. What pain that must have been for this new mother to hear! Until now nothing had been mentioned about opposition. Everyone looked forward to the Messiah. Surely, it seemed, everyone would be happy with his arrival. But no one was ready to receive what Jesus would reveal. He would go against their preconceived notions of a conquering Messiah who would be a physical deliverer from Rome. They could not see a Suffering Servant who would willing lay down his life for the people who trusted in him.
For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Human
Human
But what child is this? He is everything Luke has said thus far, but we also see that he is in fact human. I think Christians often forget this aspect of Jesus. We don’t deny his humanity, but we discount his humanity. I remember Max Lucado recounting how one person in his congregation scolded him when he suggested Jesus may have had pimples as a teenager. I love Rich Mullins old song Boy Like Me/Man Like You, where he asks Jesus questions about his humanity. “Well did you grow up hungry? Did you grow up fast? Did the little girls giggle when you walked past? Did you wonder what it was that made them laugh?” You see, we like to think that Jesus was all knowing and all wise from his mother’s womb, but Luke tells us something different.
And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.
Back in the rough and tumble town of Nazareth, Jesus grew up and became strong. That’s fine. We get it. He was a baby. Of course, he had to grow up into a man. Of course, he had to get stronger. Every child must do that. But then we read that he was “filled with wisdom.” That word, “filled” is a present passive participle. The present participle, more than any other type of participle has a sense of time. The present tense has the imperfect aspect, which means it was an ongoing act in the time-frame of the main verb. What’s the main verb? There’s actually two: growing and becoming strong. So the verse could be translated like this:
“And the child grew and was becoming strong, while being filled with wisdom.” The “while” denotes the time. The “being filled”denotes its ongoing process. The fact that it is passive and not active means that he was not the one who was exuding the wisdom, but that he was the one receiving the wisdom. So Jesus was not just growing in stature and in strength, but also in wisdom. Which takes me back to Rich Mullins’ song, “And did they tell you stories about the saints of old—stories about their faith? They say stories like that make a boy grow bold; stories like that make a man walk straight.” But it was more than just hearing the stories; certainly they gave him insight and wisdom and boldness. But God the Father was giving to Jesus day in and day out wisdom.
How do we know that? Two ways. First there is no object stated as to who is doing the action. I’ve mentioned it before, but I will mention it again. Often in the Bible, when a passive tense is used without telling who is doing the action, it is the “understood God” who is doing it; much like we have the “understood you,” in English, they had the “understood God.” But secondly, it is the next sentence. “The favor of God was upon him.” That’s the ninth description in today’s passage.
He was God’s favored. That’s the same word we often see translated as “grace.” However, we understand grace (and rightly so) as unmerited favor. Jesus received such grace, but not in the same sense as us. We could never merit favor with God because of our sin. Jesus, being perfect had no need to merit God’s favor. Yet God favored him as his One and Only Son.
Conclusion
Conclusion
As we finish this passage, we have seen nine descriptions of Jesus: He was
The Consolation of Israel
The Redemption of Jerusalem
Salvation
Light to the Gentiles
Glory to Israel
The Destined One
A Sign to the Father
Human
Favored
Do you remember why Luke wrote his gospel account? It was so that Theophilus would know for certain the truth of what he’d been taught. Part of Luke’s strategy was to show him that Jesus was born to be the Savior of the World. This was not something that was thrust upon him. It wasn’t something that his followers made up after he had died. These nine descriptions are added to the first 12 that we’ve already seen in past weeks! That’s 19 names and descriptions that Luke has informed us about that were given to Jesus when he was just over a month old.
Do you see what all these descriptions mean for you and me and anyone who has put their faith in Jesus? It means he is our comforter in dark times, the one who purchased our pardon, our deliverer from the imprisonment of sin. He is the one who brings us into the fold—into a place of belonging, making us a part of the family of God, he is the one who exalts us if we are humble and points us again and again to the Father dispelling the lie that Satan tells us about a harsh God who is not for us, but is really against us. He is like us in every respect and has been tempted in every way as we are tempted and yet without sin. He is the favored one of God, in whom the Father is well-pleased and who brings us into a place of sonship so that God bestows his favor upon us and is well-pleased with us too. This was what Luke wanted Theophilus to know. This was what God wants us to know. This is who Jesus is, not just to his disciples, not just to Luke, not just to Theophilus, but to all lovers of God in Christ.
None of this happens without Jesus. None of this happens if you do not entrust your whole being to him. If you have not put your trust in Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection, there is no comfort for you. There is no purchasing of pardon and deliverance from sin. There is no family of God to which you belong. There is only a rejection of the proud as you have not humbled yourself acknowledging your need for saving. There is no favor of God in your life and no mercy for you as of yet. Not until you come to your senses and reject your own self-trusting ways and submit to Jesus’s lordship. Will you do that now?
At the end of Dix’s chorus in What Child is This, we sing the right response to the discovery of who Jesus is. “Haste! Haste to bring him laud!” Will you humble yourself and receive him as your Lord, your Consolation, your Redeemer and give him the praise he is due?