Departing in Peace: A Meditation on Luke 2, for the 1st Sunday after Christmas

For many of us, the major festivities of Christmas are over.  The stress and hurry and rush of preparation is finally resolved in messes not quite cleaned up, and perhaps a bit of relaxation that we’ve made it through another year.  That sentiment will likely peak in a few day, when much of the world will herald in the new year, wishing each other well, concocting plans and resolutions, probably a little tipsy from the free flowing libations.

But in this traditional time of Christmas (what previous generations have called Christmastide,) we have a few more days to celebrate the Incarnation of Jesus our Savior, and learn from the Scriptures that speak to us of this great and wonderful mystery.  This Sunday, we return to the presentation of Jesus in the Temple, and the messages of two prophets:  Simeon and Anna.

Mary and Joseph, according to the Law of Moses, took their new son to the Temple after the period of cleansing was complete.  This was based in the command of God that every male born into the world—especially a first born male—was consecrated to His service, and the only way for that young man to return to his family was for the parents to offer the appropriate sacrifice for his redemption.  This was not a particularly high price, and very few people dropped their sons off on the Temple doorsteps, refusing to buy them back from God.  This law of God was instituted, not to torment the people or secure more food for the priests, but rather to point to the sacrifice God was going to make of His Only Begotten Son.  As Mary and Joseph presented Jesus in the Temple that day, this ancient Law of Moses found its fulfillment.

While Mary and Joseph intended to redeem their son from Temple service, God had other plans.  This Son was not going to be redeemed, but rather be offered for the redemption of all mankind.  On the surface, Jesus came home with His mother and father, but in reality, Jesus was continuing to fulfill the Law and Promises He had spoken through the prophets so many centuries earlier.  Jesus had come to be the Savior, not only of Israel, but of the whole fallen world.  To make this point clear, the Holy Spirit spoke through Simeon:

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace,

according to thy word:

For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast

prepared before the face of all people; A light to

lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.

And Joseph and his mother marvelled at those things

which were spoken of him. And Simeon blessed

them, and said unto Mary his mother,

 Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel;

and for a sign which shall be spoken against;

(Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,)

that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.

Simeon, having been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before the coming of the Savior, and having been moved to enter the Temple during the time of Jesus’ presentation, sings this song of thankfulness knowing that he can rest assured in the Lord’s promise.  He has beheld—and held in his own hands—the Redeemer of the World, the very Word of God made flesh.  Finally at rest in the fulfilled Word of God, he finds himself at rest in the promise.  For Simeon there is no fear of death, because he knows that the Word of the Lord, His Gospel promise of redemption through His Son, is stronger than death.  At this end of his many years, he sings joyously to the God of his salvation, and proclaims that blessed Gospel to all will hear it; even to the Child’s mother and stepfather.

The Church sings the Song of Simeon near the end of the Eucharistic Liturgy, after everyone has received the Body and Blood of Jesus given by Him for the forgiveness of their sins.  The promise of Jesus fulfilled once again, the people sing back to God and one another the joyous song of Redemption completed.  We are a people who sing with Simeon, whether we be young or old, rich or poor, healthy or dying, knowing that regardless of the passing things of this world, the Promise of God’s salvation in Jesus Christ is fulfilled in Him.  We no longer fear death, or torture, or persecution; we no longer are slaves to wealth, or comfort, or pleasure; we are born again of Water and Spirit, Absolved of our sins, and fed on the true Bread from Heaven which is Jesus our Savior.  We live because He lives, and we are blessed because He has blessed our going out and our coming in, this day and forevermore.  We are people in the world, but not of the world, because our Savior has redeemed us from this world, so that we might bear witness of His salvation to all who will hear.  Like Simeon and Anna, moved by the Holy Spirit, we bear the Gospel of Salvation to everyone, for Jesus has been sent to save the whole world.

This is how the Christian departs in peace, be it from the Sunday service, from personal reflection and reading of Holy Scripture, from our daily encounters with people both great and small, from trials and temptations, from prosperity and plenty, and even from this world into which we were born.  We depart in peace, according to the Word of the Lord, which speaks peace, forgiveness, life, and salvation to all who will repent and believe His Gospel.  Amen.

Behold the Handmaid of the Lord: Advent Meditation on Luke 1

St. Luke begins his Gospel by noting the coming of two very peculiar people.  The first is John the Baptist, who will become the last of the Old Covenant prophets preparing the way of the Lord.  The second is our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Luke gathers together the eye witness testimony of the Apostles and key participants in the life of Jesus, so that he can weave together an accurate history of the events.  It is here in chapter one that we hear of the angel Gabriel greeting the Virgin Mary as “highly favored, the Lord is with thee:  blessed art thou among women.”   We read of Mary’s troubled response at the angel’s declaration that she will bring forth the Son of God, wondering how it might be, since she was and remained a virgin.  And after Gabriel tells her how God shall accomplish this by the power of His Holy Spirit, we hear Mary’s wonderful response, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.”

In our day, and in many days before ours, people have struggled to understand Mary’s situation and her response.  Was this a simple peasant girl who had no intuition of what was about to occur, or a young woman dedicated to God from her earliest youth (as the dubious and non-canonical “Gospel of James” contends?”)  How was she preserved by God so that she could bring forth the Christ Child, when no sinful human being would be worthy of such a task?  Being betrothed to Joseph, and knowing the penalty of death for an adulterous affair, how could she be so calm at the angel’s annunciation?  Knowing the pain and suffering that would lay before her, how is it that she could respond to the angel with a heart and words of faith, when the whole history of mankind up until then (and since then, as well) has been a response of selfish rejection?

Our problem with Mary is much more a reflection of ourselves, than it is of her.  We see the Biblical text with eyes of incredulity, because we are naturally given to unbelief.  We see the dark recesses of our own soul, and scoff at what the Scriptures say so simply.  We know that we are not capable of responding to God or His holy angel the way Mary did, and so we try to find ways to avoid the implications.  We try to either cast Mary in our own miserable image, or to make of her a peculiar deity, both of which help us avoid the deeper truth she points to.

But, the Scriptures are clear in what they say.  Mary was indeed blessed among women—and as she sings with her cousin Elizabeth, all generations shall call her blessed for what God our Savior has accomplished in her.  She indeed is a lowly handmaiden, but God has highly exalted her to be the Mother of God.  He has fulfilled His promise to Abraham, and seated His Only Begotten Son upon the throne of His servant David, so that His Kingdom shall have no end.  The Lord has cast down the wise and mighty, and lifted up the lowly.  It is God who has lifted up the Blessed Virgin Mary by His grace, giving her the faith to receive from Him the salvation not only of her own soul, but the Savior of the whole world.  Mary is made great not because of her own worthiness or merit, but by the unsurpassable grace of Almighty God.

This is what we learn from the example given to us in Mary.  Though she be the most elevated of all the saints, having the singular glory of being the Ark which gave birth to the Son of God, called blessed by every generation of the faithful for nearly 2000 years, apart from Christ her Savior, she could do nothing.  She, like us, has no hope or power or prestige apart from the grace and mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.  She, like us, lives by grace through faith in Christ alone.

In the face of all that would tempt Mary to betray the Lord and reject Him, how does she find the will to say yes to Him, where the first Eve said no?  She finds that strength in the same Word of God that comes to us, and calls us into the wonderful fellowship of Jesus.  It is the Word that comes to us and creates faith where there was once unbelief, and gives grace where once there was only judgment.  It is the Word that stoops down from the highest heaven, so that He may lift up the lowly and the broken.  It is the Word, eternally begotten of the Father before all ages, and yet in the fullness of time, born of the Blessed Virgin, who comes to give you life in eternal abundance.  It is the Word which shows you the loving heart of your God, calling unto you, that you might repent and believe the Gospel of Salvation.  It is the Word which has called and sealed all the saints of God from the beginning of the world unto its end, and which calls you into this blessed and holy fellowship.  It is the Word which will give to you a heart and lips to sing with blessed Mary:

My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit

hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.  For he hath

regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold,

from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.

For he that is mighty hath done to me great things;

and holy is his name. And his mercy is on them

that fear him from generation to generation. He hath

shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in

the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the

mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.

He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the

rich he hath sent empty away. 

He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;

As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.

Amen.

The Word Became Flesh: An Advent Meditation on John 1

When it comes to the doctrine of the Incarnation, few texts in Holy Scripture compare to the inspired words of St. John.  Since John was the longest living of the Apostles, he lived to see the degenerate forces of the Gnostics trying to undermine fundamental doctrines of Jesus, as well as apostates and heretics denying either His deity or His humanity.  John witnessed what was being done to the Apostolic witness of his sainted brothers, and wrote his Gospel and his Epistles to reinforce the truth of Jesus.  At the very beginning of this effort, John pens the first chapter of his Gospel.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was

with God, and the Word was God. The same was in

the beginning with God. All things were made by

him; and without him was not any thing made that was

made. In him was life; and the life was the light of

men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the

darkness comprehended it not.

There was a man sent from God, whose name was

John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of

the Light, that all men through him might believe.

He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. 

That was the true Light, which lighteth every

man that cometh into the world. He was in the

world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew

him not. He came unto his own, and his own

received him not. But as many as received him, to

them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to

them that believe on his name: Which were born, not

of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man,

but of God.

And the Word was made flesh, and

dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of

the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

St. John makes several things clear.  First, that Jesus is the same God through whom the universe was made—He is not a creature, but the Creator, one with the Father and the Spirit.  Secondly, that Jesus is fully human, born of the Virgin Mary, full of grace and truth, and like us in every way except for sin.  These two truths are the central confessions of the doctrine of the Incarnation, which John sums up perfectly as he says, “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.”  In this very simple confession, the infinite mystery of Immanuel – God With Us—is brought forth in the person of Jesus Christ.

We might ask today, what the significance of such a confession is.  Plenty of nuts today claim to be gods, and plenty of other nuts claim there is no god at all.  The world keeps turning, day by day, century by century, while people either ignore or deny the Incarnation of Jesus.  Even to Christians, what difference does it make whether John’s confession is true, or that we share it?  Why does it matter that we affirm both the humanity and the deity of Christ, united in the one person of Jesus, who is Himself perfectly united to the other persons of the Holy Trinity?

The implications couldn’t be more serious, because they lay at the foundation of what the Church calls the Doctrine of Justification:  that we are saved by grace through faith in Christ alone, and specifically through Jesus’ Vicarious Atonement for the sins of the whole world.  If Jesus was not fully human, He couldn’t suffer and die for human beings.  If Jesus was not fully God, He could not pay an eternal debt on behalf of all mankind.  Only if Jesus was fully human, receiving His full human nature from His mother Mary, and fully divine, receiving His full divine nature from God the Father, could Jesus accomplish the salvation of the world upon the Cross.  Without His humanity, Jesus’ death is nothing but an irrelevant divine show; without His deity, Jesus’ death is just another human tragedy.  But with full humanity and deity united in His one person, Jesus’ death and resurrection accomplish what no one else could do:  salvation by grace to all who repent and believe.

We meditate upon the doctrine of the Incarnation this time of year, because it shows to us the loving heart of our saving God.  There in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, our God comes down from eternity and bursts into time, so that He may seek and save the lost.  There, in the tabernacle of Mary’s body, the Lord of Glory comes to dwell among His people, so that He might take their sins upon Himself, and be the ransom for their redemption.  There, in the humble handmaiden of the Lord who becomes the Second Eve by her assent to the divine will, the Lord our God becomes for us the Second Adam—and where death came through our first parents, life and forgiveness come to us through Jesus Christ.  Here the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us, preaching to us the Gospel of salvation, of God and man reconciled, giving unto all who will believe in Him the power to become the children of God.  Here, God comes to save us all, so that we might be born not merely of flesh and blood, but by His Holy Spirit unto life everlasting.

Come, see, hear, and receive the Word made Flesh—He comes to save you.  Amen.

Longsuffering vs. Slackness: An Advent Meditation on 2nd Peter 3

While the epistle lesson for this week comes from 2^nd Peter chapter three, it is helpful to read all of St. Peter’s short letter together.  It has a definite emphasis on what the people of God should be doing and focused on, as they await the coming of their Savior.  Chapters one and two highlight the distinctions between the faithful and the unfaithful, as both wait for the coming of the Lord—the one for salvation, and the other for judgment.  Peter points out how the faithful will suffer with afflictions born of living in a world dominated by sin and rebellion, and living in a church that is infiltrated by heretics, false teachers, and covetous men who will make merchandise of the people.  There is nowhere the Christian can hide from all this conflict and turmoil.  We have only one world in which we are given to live; only one holy, catholic, and apostolic Church which is the Body of Christ into which we are grafted; only one body and soul we are given to struggle both by and within.  The raging war of good versus evil that dominates the world and the church, also surges in the heart of every Christian, where we live out our reality of being both sinner and saint.

Many people have despaired at this truth.  The Christian that tries to flee the world in order to escape the war of good versus evil, has no other world to which he may flee.  If he tries to escape into the cloisters of the Church, he will find no monastery so remote, nor halls so hallowed, that the war does not still rage.  If he flees the Church to find solitude as a hermit in the wilderness, he cannot escape the battle within his own being.  The People of God are a Church at War in this world, surrounded by the horrors, casualties, and sorrows of battle.  There are enemies we can clearly see, and they are terrifying—whether we see them in the halls of government, as leaders of the Church, or rioting in our neighborhoods.  There are the enemies we know are there, but cannot see—the wolves in sheep’s clothing, who pretend to be supporters of civil society or of the Church, but inwardly seek only to destroy and to devour those they can deceive.  There is the enemy inside ourselves, which we often refuse to see—the voice of our passions and our lusts, which war against the Spirit given to us by grace through faith in Jesus Christ.  Each of these enemies, with demonic zeal, do great harm and devastation when left uncontested, ultimately seeking to sever people from the saving grace of God.  Nations fall to tyrants and butchers.  Communities burn and are looted.  Children are stolen and enslaved.  Prisoners are tortured and murdered.  Churches fall into apostasy.  People are led into damnable heresies, and enslaved by cultic masters.  The faithful are fleeced of their money and their comfort, as their shepherds serve themselves and their appetites.  Individuals yield to their darker nature, leave the faith of Christ, and pursue the ways of the devil.  It is a world at war from its height to its depth—a war we cannot by our own power win, or flee.  It is a horrible and real war, with real and tragic calamities.

In the darkness, sadness, and misery of this war, our God speaks His Word of hope.  He promises that He will both win and end this war, from the heights of heaven to the depths of the individual human heart.  He will come in all His glory, to finish what He began so many millennia ago in the Garden, and what He has begun in everyone whom He has grafted into Himself by the Blood of His Son.  He has promised us that the Vicarious Atonement of His Son for the sins of world is our salvation from sin, death, hell, and the devil, and that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.  He has promised to end the war, by sending judgment upon those who refuse His grace, separating the evil into the eternal prison of hell built for the devil and his unholy angels, so that His faithful people might shine forth with the glory He intended for them from before the foundation of the world.  He has promised to give us faith to believe and cling to Him by the working of His Spirit through His Word, and repentance by that same Word so that our sins may be forgiven and we may resist the temptations of the evil one.  He has promised to save His people, and given them the sacramental signs of His covenant so that they might never forget His promises.

But for us, still stuck in this war, we are often tempted to doubt the promises of our God.  We are tempted to think that God is slacking off on his promises, delaying them, and may never actually fulfill them.  We are tempted to think that God is as unsteady, unfaithful, and undependable as we are.  In our pain and our suffering of this war we cannot escape, we are tempted to doubt God our Savior.

St. Peter braces us, takes our eyes away from our pain, and puts our attention back on Jesus.  He is not slack or unfaithful.  On the contrary, He is longsuffering, desiring all to be saved.  He waited for millennia, so that He could save you, and He will wait as long as His divine love compels Him, to save everyone who will repent and believe His Gospel.  The fleeting pains and suffering of this life, are nothing compared to the eternity of wonders prepared for His people, and won through His Cross.  He is coming, and He will save His people.  His promises are more sure than the whole of creation, and He will accomplish what He has promised.  Take heart, and fight the good fight of faith—for He has already won your war, and your victory is sure in Him.  Amen.