-LOTR “Something happened that the ring did not intend, it was picked up by the most unlikely creature imaginable: a hobbit, Bilbo Baggins of the Shire.”

-Evil does not have absolute power, a normal, everyday, (we may even say) boring creature picked it up.

1. Complete Obedience (22-24)

-Painstaking attention to detail

-“They” went together. 

-Joseph went with her even though he didn’t need to offer a sacrifice. Joseph is the often-forgotten person in the nativity. As a kid doing the plays, you never wanted to be Joseph! The guy just stood there! But he is the unsung hero. His fiancé gets pregnant (doesn’t take much math to figure out what happened) but he gets a special visit from an angel, which he obeys!

-Luke has demonstrated the righteousness of Zechariah & Elizabeth, and Mary & Joseph

Ex 13:2 “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.”

Lev. 12:6-8 “And when the days of her purifying are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering,and he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her. Then she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. This is the law for her who bears a child, either male or female.And if she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtledoves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for a sin offering. And the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean.”

-Jesus was born in poverty

-Material wealth does not necessarily signify blessing from God, one of the biggest heresies of our modern day is the health & wealth prosperity “gospel”

-For a good critique, watch “American Gospel” documentary 

-God NEVER promises an easy, pain free life this side of eternity, in fact we’re guaranteed the opposite! We’ll also see this as a theme in Jesus’ life that will affect his mother in vs. 34. 

-Listened to an audiobook to Walking with God Through Pain & Suffering, Christianity alone offers an only conclusive worldview that makes sense out of suffering

-Christmas isn’t about presents, it’s about God being present with his people

-What’s fascinating about this story is that no offering is listed for Jesus. He was already purified, had nothing to be cleansed from, that’s why He can actually take the weight of sin upon Himself.

• Christ the Consolation (25-35)
  • Paraclete (25-28)

-Chapter 1 was basically all these unbelievably legit people that we should be amazed by (OF COURSE, the PRIEST gets his answer to prayer!). Chapter 2 is where we all would find ourselves in the story! We now see all the boring, normal people leading their boring, normal, everyday lives. First part is the shepherds out in the fields, this part is those who had been waiting for this Messiah

-Luke begins “Some random dude in Jerusalem…” does say he was “righteous and devout” so even random dudes can be faithful to God’s commands! That should give us hope! (“There’s nothing my God cannot do FOR YOU!”)

-Waiting for the consolation of Israel: consolation-comfort after difficulty, light at the end of the tunnel (Israel’s strength and consolation, hope of all the earth Thou Art – Come Thou Long Expected Jesus)

Isaiah 40:1 “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.”

Isaiah 49:13 “Sing for joy, O heavens, and exult, O earth; break forth, O mountains, into singing! For the Lord has comforted his people and will have compassion on his afflicted.”

-Also, Holy Spirit was upon him. Just like the eventual NT believers (i.e. us!) So we can be like Simeon! 

-Simeon had some top-secret info. He would see the Messiah, the Anointed One before he died (that’s the meaning of Christ). 

-Sidenote: “Keep the Xristos in X-Mas”

-The one that had been promised for centuries, first seen in Gen. 3 with the proto-eungelion is here!

-Imagine what this day would have been like. Minding his own business when he got an inkling to go to the temple. That inkling grew stronger and stronger until he finally gave in. Text doesn’t say how long ago he’d been promised to see the Messiah, but think of all the babies he’d seen come through those doors. “Hey, they look like a young family! Is that the one?” each time to be told Nope! Then finally, there he is!

-The hope of the entire nation was able to be held in his hands. So that’s exactly what he did, he lifted baby Jesus up in his arms. 

-Early church called him Theodoches the God receiver. He blessed God and said:

• Peace (29-32)

-Everything in history was leading up to this point, just like everything in Simeon’s life was leading up to this moment. God’s perfect plan to reconcile the broken cosmos was coming to fruition.

-And now that this moment was here, Simeon was content to die, to “depart in peace” That theme has popped up in almost all the songs we’ve looked at this month. This Prince of Peace would bring true, lasting peace to a world gone mad! And Simeon recognized and realized that, which allowed him to face even death with perfect peace. This peace is the promised peace “according to your word” 

Isaiah 9:6 “To us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

30 “For my eyes have seen your salvation”

-Jesus’ arrival begins a new era in human history where salvation can now be given! Simeon is playing on the name of our Savior here. 

-Jesus’ name was Yeshua, where we get Joshua, meaning “Yahweh saves” 

Matt. 1:21 “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

-Every time we so much as mention Jesus’ name, we’re reminding each other of the truth that God saves, even normal, boring people like us!

-Think of what that would have meant as Jesus was growing up! Every time his parents spoke his name, they would be reminded of the truth of the gospel!

-And this salvation is not just for the nation of Israel, this salvation would be worked out “in the presence of all peoples”

-Isaiah 52:10 “The Lord has bared his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations, and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God.”

-This is for both Jew and Gentile (thankfully) because Gentile includes most of us!

• Persecution (33-35)

-Mary and Joseph were (understandably) amazed, once again. This is not quite how they expected the day to go!

-After praising God, Simeon also blesses Mary and Joseph. 

-Jesus divides. Some will fall and some will accept him as the Lord and rise. 

-This is the antithesis of universalism, which has become a trendy idea in our culture once again. There isn’t multiple options to pursue human flourishing, there’s only 1 way, and it comes from believing in Jesus as the Christ!

-Opposition to Jesus is the norm in the human heart, we saw that all throughout Mark’s Gospel this past year, and we’ll see it next year as we walk through Revelation! 

-And those “out there” won’t be the only ones affected, Mary will too. She’ll see her firstborn son go through suffering, difficulty, persecution, and ultimately death. I don’t know of anyone who would wish that on any of their kids!

-“Hearts will be revealed.” There are only 2 ways to live, either For God or Against God. Jesus divides people against each other, against their own sinful flesh! But the amazing thing is, all we need to do to be saved is be like Simeon. Kent Hughes in his commentary said, “To receive salvation, all one has to do is to take Jesus in his or her arms as Lord.” (Hughes, 99)

-Have you received him? If you have received him, then we have the joy of having a peace-filled life. No longer afraid of what others think, because according to God we’re enough!

-And then we respond as Simeon does here, by blessing God and blessing others. You can summarize this by taking 1 step closer to God, and helping others take 1 step closer to God. Ask yourself each day: what can I do today to grow closer to God and help others grow closer to God? That’s how you can depart in peace too!