Christmas 1 The Sunday of Jesus’ Presentation January 1, 2017
First Sunday after Christmas
Luke 2:22-40
January 1, 2017
“Aged Wisdom on New Year’s”
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Happy New Year! We don’t often get to have church on New Year’s Day, so this is a treat today. We start 2017 off in the right place. It’s also eight days after Christmas, which means today is the day we celebrate Jesus’ circumcision and His naming. Eight days after a male was born, then He would be circumcised and named. Jesus, of course, given the name Jesus, as God had directed Joseph and Mary. His name means “the Lord saves”.
So, New Year’s Day. When we begin a brand new year, we’ll usually do two things. We’ll usually look back and look forward. First, we think about 2016, the year before, and we consider how the year went. Was it a good year? A disappointing year? A hard or sad year? So what would you say about last year? How was it for you? Did you get everything done you hoped? Did things go the way you had planned? Will you remember it as a tough year?
Then you look forward to this new year, 2017. What are your plans for the coming year? What do you hope to accomplish? What do you hope to change? What resolutions are on your mind? What goals? What are you praying for? All of this is good and helpful. We need to always be looking back and looking forward.
But there’s also a danger on a New Year’s Day when we’re doing this stuff of looking back and looking forward. The danger is when we start thinking that our lives must be this way or that way and we must get x, y, and z done in the next year. And we do this a lot. We think 2017 must go the way we want it to go. We think our lives must go the way we want the to go. And we think we must get certain things accomplished. In 2017 and in our lifetimes. Our “bucket lists”, if you will. But there’s a real danger here in getting so wrapped up in OUR plans. The real danger I’m talking about here is forgetting Jesus. When we believe in Jesus, then 2017 can go however God wants it to go. And it will be okay no matter what.
Just consider for a moment, right now, that 2017 may very well not go the way you have planned. Just consider for a moment, that this week may not go as you have planned. Just consider for a moment, that 2017 may bring a whole bunch of challenges you never even thought about. And then say, “That’s perfectly okay. Because I have Jesus.”
If you can do this, then you know a bit what Simeon was talking about in the Gospel reading today when he saw the baby Jesus and held Jesus in his arms. He said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace.” His bucket list was complete. He could die in peace. All because of one thing—Jesus. He had seen Jesus his Savior and he believed in Him. And because of that one thing—his salvation in Jesus—everything else was just fine.
Simeon had been waiting for this day. God has specifically told him that he would see the Messiah before he died. Why did God choose this one man, Simeon, for this? We don’t know exactly. But what we do know—is that God wanted you and me to hear his witness. God wanted us to hear his words, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace.” Because those aren’t just Simeon’s words, those are our words.
We have the same Savior Jesus as Simeon had. That means for us too—we are at peace. We can die today at peace if God so wills it. We don’t have to fret about what all we haven’t gotten done that we think we should have. We don’t need a year to get our bucket list done or to fulfill all our resolutions. We have Jesus. He is all we need. That means we can depart in peace and at peace.
Now Simeon actually held the baby Jesus in his arms. Jesus was about 40 days old so He was still really small. At 40 days after birth, then Jesus was supposed to be brought to the Temple to be presented to the Lord and Mary also was to offer the sacrifice of two doves or pigeons for her purification. These were the ceremonial laws at that time. So they do it. And Simeon gets to hold this 40 day old baby in his arms and say, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace.”
We, however, don’t get to hold the baby Jesus Himself in our arms. Instead, we get His Word to hold in our ears and in our hearts and we get to receive His body and blood into our bodies under the bread and wine. We’ll do that here in a little bit. And then we’ll sing the very same words that Simeon did, “Lord, now you let your servant depart in peace.” For our eyes have seen our salvation. And all is well.
See, when you receive Christ’s body and blood here at His altar, then you’re just like Simeon. You can die in peace. All of your sins are all forgiven. All of them. 2016 is all forgiven. And there’s nothing more that you have to do. All is well. You can go in perfect peace. Just like Simeon. 2017 is all in the Lord’s hands. Let come what will come. We are ready. We have Jesus.
So we can make whatever resolutions and goals that we want for 2017. That’s all fine and good. But our ultimate resolution is always just one thing—believing in our Savior Jesus. Nothing in 2017 will separate us from His love. And as long as we have Him, then we can always be at peace.
Now when we have Jesus, then we also have His Holy Spirit. And as you look forward into 2017, the best gift God can give you is this Holy Spirit. The Spirit of Jesus our Savior. Our first reading today, Isaiah 11, talks about this Spirit of Jesus. Have you ever heard the term “the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit”? That comes from here, Isaiah 11. There are seven gifts listed of the Spirit that was given to Jesus. Now these are different from the seven virtues. Different from the “fruits of the Spirit” which are in Galatians (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, and so forth). No, these are the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit.
So Isaiah says, “And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.” Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Might, Knowledge, Fear of the Lord, and the seventh is a little up in the air but usually is listed at Piety or Reverence because of the phrase “His delight is in the fear of the Lord”.
Jesus, your Savior, has all these gifts perfectly. He has perfect wisdom and perfect understanding. He is perfectly mighty and perfectly fears the Lord. So, in other words, when God gives Jesus to us—then He is also giving us the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit. He is giving us perfect wisdom and understanding and counsel and might.
This perfect wisdom and understanding of Jesus makes us see the coming year in the right way. We have the right view of 2017 and the right view of our lives. Every day this year we will live by grace. It’s not in our control. Every day is a gift from God. And we understand that. And we believe in Him and trust Him—that’s wisdom. Even as we might make different resolutions for the year, we trust that God will determine our days and God will give us what He knows to be best. We also have His counsel and might—His strength. When we are weak, He is always strong. And His strength will be made known all through 2017 in our weaknesses.
So what has God said to us on this New Year’s Day? First, that we have peace like Simeon no matter what happens in 2017 because we have Jesus. Second, that with Jesus we have the gifts of the Spirit such as wisdom and understanding. And finally, one more thing from the Epistle today—Galatians chapter 4. Paul makes a small note about time that is especially significant as we mark time today by starting a new year. He says that Jesus came at the “fullness of time”.
We should always remember that God doesn’t judge time like we do. We see time in a line, from point A to point B. Day after day, year after year. So the line goes from 2016 to 2017 today and just keeps on going down the line. But God doesn’t see time like we do. God is timeless. So Luther said that God sees all time in one big heap—not in a long line. Adam and Eve all the way to you and me—we’re all part of God’s one time. The one big heap of humanity.
And Jesus then—is the fullness of time. He’s the top of the heap, so to say. All time is centered in Him. This is very important for us to remember. All of your days and years are all lived in the one Jesus Christ. God doesn’t necessarily see your life as this long line from when you’re a baby to where you are now. He sees just you. He sees you in the fullness of time—which is Jesus. So 2016 or 2017—God’s isn’t all that concerned about that. Certainly He cares about you and your time. But what’s most important is Jesus. He’s the fullness of time. He is what makes all your time full.
So we start our year 2017 in the fullness of time—in Jesus. We’re at peace in Him even if the Lord takes us today. And in Him we have the gifts of the Spirit for 2017—wisdom, understanding, and so forth. In Jesus’ name. Amen.