"A Christmas Embrace"
Luke 2:25-38 . . . . 12/23/98
Each year at Christmas time there are people who dread the season. There is something about the singing, the joyful celebrations, the decorations and the exchange of gifts that paints a stark contrast to the way some people really feel. For some, Christmas makes them feel alone, deserted and empty. Statistics say there are more suicide attempts at Christmas than at any other time of the year. Talk about irony. The event that celebrates the one who came to bring life is also the event that provokes many to choose death.
Most of us have little idea how desperate some people feel at this time of the year. But at the same time most of us do know how valuable a well timed embrace can be. There are times in our lives when all of us could use a hug. People who struggle at Christmas are facing one of those times. Someone has suggested that a hug is a good gift to give.
Now, I know some of you are ready to get up and start hugging everybody . . . others of you are horrified at the thought people are going to come up and "invading your space". Relax . . . . I'm not going to turn this into a hug-fest. You do need to be alert to those who might benefit from a sincere expression of love. But that's really not what I'm driving at. I want to introduce you to two older people who embraced a baby. And in embracing this baby they received an embrace from God.
These two people, Simeon and Anna, made some important discoveries.
They Discovered Evidence of God's Faithfulness
Simeon was a godly man. He loved the Lord and He longed for the promised Messiah. Somehow, in some way, God told him that he would see that Messiah. And one day he was prompted by God's Spirit to go to the temple. I'm not sure how he knew what he knew but when he saw Jesus, he knew that this was the one God had promised. For years Simeon had believed the promise even though He saw nothing. Now, Simeon saw with his own eyes God's faithfulness.
The story is a little different but there are similarities with Anna.
We read nothing about Anna having advance warning. She had no special message to go to the temple. But when she saw Jesus, she knew He was the one she had been waiting and praying for.
What these two people had in common was their confidence in God's promise. They knew the Scriptures. They knew what God had said. They knew about the one who was coming to redeem Israel. Granted they also knew that the promises had been made hundreds of years before. They knew that Israel was currently under Roman domination. They knew that many felt God had abandoned them. But they remained faithful. They trusted God in spite of the appearances. In the temple that day they saw that their faith was rightly placed. God was faithful!
Is there a more important message for our day? We live in a day when people feel God is distant and detached. In that emptiness they posit all kinds of strange things. They even go so far as to suggest that WE are God. (I don't know how that gives anyone a sense of comfort.) Look at our times
One of the messages Christmas needs to speak to us today is this: God Keeps His Promises! We dare not trust appearances. We must not get discouraged. God is faithful!
Think of some of His great promises to You and Me
This Christmas understand that the coming of Christ was the fulfillment of God's promise. He did not forget His promise then. He does not forget now.
You may feel alone . . . but you are not
You may feel things are hopeless . . . but God is at work
You may feel things are out of control . . . but God still reigns
Embrace the one who is true to His Word!
They Discovered the Peace They Had Been Looking For
Notice something else about this encounter. Simeon says to the Lord, "Now dismiss your servant in peace". In other words, now I am ready to die. Now I have found what I have been looking and waiting for. Simeon and Anna both knew that there was more to life than what they had seen and known. There was a part of them that yearned for the eternal. They lived their life with the sense that there was a piece missing. When they met Christ, the pieces became a whole. This is another great message for today. What the world is looking for is Jesus.
We live in a world that is certainly looking for something. Consider,
People are searching. They know there is more to life than what they are experiencing.
At the risk of showing myself to be less "handy" than you already think I am, let me share a true story. When I was living in Michigan I had a car problem. So, I bought a book. Near as I could tell, I needed a new "head gasket". I went to the store and bought this thin cork gasket that goes right under the valve cover of an engine. It looked pretty easy. I took off the valve cover, removed the old gasket and replaced it with the new one. I refastened the valve cover and was prepared to be really really proud of myself.
I went to start the car and the engine "turned over" but never kept going. I stared at the engine (like I knew what I was looking for . . . but after all, I lived in an apartment building and you never know who is looking out the window!) I dabbled and muttered for a couple of hours until dark and went inside.
The next morning I got up and tried again (you never know, maybe it just needed a good night's sleep). Since I still was unsuccessful I called a guy who was a mechanic in the church. He came over and spotted the problem almost immediately. He stared at the engine and asked, "did you put all the bolts back that were holding down the valve cover? I confessed I did end up with two "extra" ones. He then explained that there was no way for the engine to get the vaccum that it needed because I left these bolts out. Naturally, he was right. As soon as we replaced the two bolts the car ran again.
Many people live their life like I fix cars. They try to put the pieces together but they don't all fit. The result is that life doesn't run correctly. Others know they need some spiritual dimension but they are using the wrong parts. The manufacturer (God) has supplied what we need (Christ) at a cost we can afford (free) but we choose to use cheap substitutes (man-made religions). When we do this we should not be surprised when things don't work the way they should and when they substitutes prove to be faulty.
Simeon and Anna found the real thing. They found the one they had been looking for all their lives. They found Jesus. And even though it has been 2000 years, He is the one you have been looking for too.
But you can't find Him until you embrace Him. Like Simeon and Anna, you must reach out and take Christ to yourself. You can't look at Him from a distance, you must make contact. We must open our arms and our lives and allow Christ to take center stage. It's not enough to have good feelings about Jesus. I'm sure most of you have good feelings about Jesus or you wouldn't be here. What IS necessary is the risk of faith. You must dare to trust Him with your life. You must dare to to rest on what He has done for you. Only then will you know His embrace and discover the piece (peace) that has been missing in your life.
They Discovered Healing for Their Pain
Listen to Anna's story,
Do you hear the pain in these words? She was a woman who had been married for seven years before her husband died. There is no mention of children. In fact, since Anna spent all her time at the temple it leads me to believe that she was childless.
In the Jewish world this was a great tragedy. A Jewish woman found her greatest worth in bringing children into the world. But Anna's husband died before they had a family. We don't know how old Anna was when her husband died (probably in her early to mid-twenties) but we do know that she was 84 now.
She had been alone for a long time. Many of us talk about how nice it would be to have some peace and quiet. But for some people the peace and quiet in their home is deafening. They long for the sounds of a spouse snoring on the chair, or children singing, or the joy of simple conversation. Loneliness can be very painful. And this is why Christmas is so hard for so many. At this time when families gather, those who have no families to gather with find the contrast more painful than normal.
Anna was a godly woman. But don't you wonder if every time she saw a young couple in the temple with their new child, there was a little pain in her soul? Not that she wanted to steal their joy . . . . but there may have been an ache that said, "Why, God? Why was I not given that joy?"
But on this day Anna does not resent the young couple. She is drawn to them. She embraces the child and in some strange way senses God's warm embrace. We are told that she gives thanks to God. Somehow Anna was able to see in this child the answer to her pain. In that one simple moment her life is changed. She no longer mourns . . . . she rejoices. She told everyone who would listen that this was the one they had been waiting for. A lonely, empty woman found healing for her pain. In the simple act of embracing that child she found the love of God.
There is no doubt that there are battered people in the congregation tonight. Some of you have endured great tragedy. Some are living life and wondering why God has deserted you. Some of you wonder if God is mad at you. To you I give simple counsel: embrace the baby who became the Savior!
As you come to Jesus you will not find the answer to all your questions. You will not even find an end to all your pain. Remember, Simeon had to tell Mary that a sword would pierce her soul (when she watched her son be crucified). What you will find is the one who loves you with an everlasting love. You will find the One who knows the end from the beginning. You will find God. In Christ you will find God's warm embrace. You will know that even though He may not explain the "why" He cares about your tears. As Steve Brown likes to say, "Christ bends low to catch your tears."
CONCLUSION
In all likelihood, some of you are here today more aware of your need to be hugged by God than you are concerned that christmas is a time to express your love for his Son. Perhaps you are really struggling. Maybe it's intense loneliness, depression, bitterness, abuse that dates way back, a recent divorce, the disclosure that your child is a practicing homosexual. Maybe it's a relapse into a self-destructive dependency from which you'd known a season of freedom. Whatever it is, all you know is that it is Christmas, and you can hardly wait for it to be over.
Why not admit what you're feeling to the Lord? He can handle it. Better yet, let him handle you. Let him embrace you. When you reach for the Christ child and hold that one-of-a-kind baby to your chest, something happens. God hugs you! He reminds you that the world is at times a swamp to live in. It's cold and hurtful, sinful and unfair. But in the same breath, he continues to say that is the very reason why he came into our world. Simeon's life wasn't easy. We know Anna's wasn't. Yours isn't. Mine isn't. But because of Christmas we don't have to splash through the swamp without help and without hope.
Do you remember what Simeon said to Mary and Joseph? God's Christmas Salvation would play to mixed reviews. Some would reach out and hold the baby. Others would push him away and go on with their lives. Some would reject god's embrace, and others would be delighted by it. After nearly two thousand years, the choice Simeon talked about is still the choice that confronts each of us.
This is the choice you have: will you embrace Him or will you walk on by? Will you rely on Him or continue to pretend you can find what you are looking for without any help? This is the essential question of Christmas: What will you do with the most significant gift you receive this Christmas? Will you leave it under the tree, unopened? Or will you open your arms and receive it with joy?
This is the main event. Now is the time to address the question. You may feel you have lots of time. But do you? And even if you do have lots of time . . . why what? What do you gain? Nothing. More time to look for answers. More time to toy with eternity. More time to push God away. More time to waste. Now is the best time to make your decision. Do it today. Make this Christmas the year you become acquainted wtih the guest of honor.
The Union Church of LaHarpe, IL
PO Box 493
LaHarpe, IL. 61450