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Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Good morning, St. Paul Lutheran Church. It's a Sunday drive to church for February 2nd, Year of Our Lord, 20, 25, 40 days after Christmas. And I know that because today is the day of the purification of Mary and the presentation of our Lord. So this is one of those feasts of the incarnation that falls on the actual day.
[00:00:21] When you start with December 25th as the day that we celebrate the birth of our Lord. Then you can kind of work it out and get other days like January 1st, the day of the circumc and name of Jesus, or March 25, nine months before December 25, which is the Annunciation, when Gabriel came to announce the incarnation of our Lord Jesus in the womb of Mary. And then also today the purification of our Lord. The offer the sacrifice when the holy family went, according to the law, 40 days after the birth of Jesus into the temple to offer the sacrifices. And they offer the sacrifices of a turtle dove showing.
[00:01:00] Showing probably that they were not real wealthy and probably that the wise men hadn't been there yet, otherwise they could have got a more expensive sacrifice. Here's the prayer and then we'll think about the text. Almighty and ever living God, as your only begotten Son was this day presented in the temple in the substance of our flesh. Grant that we may be presented to you with pure and clean hearts through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
[00:01:35] Amen. We had a feast day last week, St. Titus. We have a feast day this week, presentation of Mary. And we have. I don't know if it's predictable, but you could probably guess the text. I mean you could guess the gospel text. It's going to be Luke 2. Luke 1 and 2 is where we have all these beautiful canticles and all of these details about how the Lord fulfilled the law. It's interesting that the only non Hebrew writer of any biblical books, which is Luke, it depends on who wrote Hebrews. Maybe we can sneak him in there. Maybe Job kind of could sneak in there too. But really Luke is the only gentile author of any scriptural books. He's the one who gives us all these painstaking details about how the Lord fulfilled all the laws of Moses, including his circumcision, including the 40 days requirement to go into the temple. And it's when he's in the temple that he meets Anna, the prophetess and also Simeon, who sings the Nunc Diminus, which will be the last word of our gospel text. I don't know if I mentioned this recently, but you know the transept in the sanctuary at St. Paul? So when you're sitting in the pews, you have the chapel on the right and the little transept with the piano where the bells play on the left. That transept has four stained glass windows that are all a reflection of the four canticles that are in the first two chapters of Luke. So there's these four songs that begin the Gospel of Luke. The Gloria Celsius with the angels sing, the Magnificat, which Mary sings, the Nunc Diminish, which Simeon sings, and one the Benedicamus, which Zechariah sings when he's. After he's muted for nine months. And then when John is born. And those. Those four canticles are represented in our stained glass window. So make. So make sure you go and. And you can try to guess which ones they are. Ah, that's the Mary one. It has the lily, and then that's the temple one. That's got to be the Nukenamenis. And then it has the turtle doves there. And then you can figure out the. The Gloria has the angels.
[00:03:45] The other one's the Benedictus. So you can sort it out. It's really great. But I think. I mean, those are four beautiful songs that we sing all the time in the liturgy. But I think the Nunc Dominus is the best. This is kind of getting the end at the beginning. But Lord, now you are letting your servant depart at peace. Depart in peace according to your word. Beautiful. But let's go back to the beginning. Our psalm is Psalm 84. Remember, when we're reading the Psalms, one of the questions that we want to ask is, what's the picture? What picture is the psalm painting? And the pictures that the Psalms paint are oftentimes drawn either from the battlefield or from the tabernacle. Those are the two main sources of the imagery of the Psalms. And this Psalm 84 is probably the chief from the Tabernacle and Temple Psalm. It's what it's about. Lord, how lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts.
[00:04:40] My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord. My heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. Even the sparrow finds a home and the swallow a nest for herself where she may lay her young at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Blessed are all those who dwell in your house Ever singing your praise. Beautiful. Talking about going into Zion, it really has the feel of one of the Psalms of ascent. Those come later, like Psalm 113, right around there, the psalms that the people would sing on pilgrimage up to Jerusalem. This has a real sense of those. But this is this great psalm of praise for those who.
[00:05:22] A great psalm of praise for the Lord who is pleased to dwell with us. And maybe that's the whole point of the Incarnation. And all these texts that talk about how Jesus is coming into his temple. The temple is the house of the Lord, but now it's no longer vacant. The Lord himself comes into his temple. In fact, that's the name of the hymn of the day in his temple. Now behold him. Now, the Old Testament is a foreshadowing of this. It takes us all the way back to the very first part of first Samuel. Remember how Samuel was born to his.
[00:06:01] To Hannah and Elkanah, and how Elkanah had two wives. Hannah was the one that he loved, but she didn't have any children. And she was praying there to Eli in the tabernacle. He thought she was drunk, but she was praying for a child. The Lord answered this desperate prayer. And after she promised that if the Lord did give her a child, that she would sanctify the child, offer the child to the Lord's service. And so Samuel was born, and now he's weaned. And so this is the story of Elkanah and Hannah going up to bring Samuel to his boarding school at the temple. And he'd then be the servant of Eli and he would really learn the Scriptures. And the Lord is going to call Samuel to be in some ways the last of the judges, the first of the prophets, the one who's going to anoint the kings, both King Saul and also King David. Samuel has this incredibly important role to play. And this is the story of Hannah bringing Samuel to the temple. You'll notice in the bulletin it says 970 BC that's the day, we think that or the year that first Samuel was written.
[00:07:16] That's the day that David died.
[00:07:19] And I can't remember who we think wrote Samuel, maybe from notes written by Samuel himself, but published by the prophet Nathan. I don't remember those details, but this story happens a lot earlier. The story of.
[00:07:32] Of Samuel being dropped off in the temple probably takes us to be somewhere between 1090-1070 BC and we get a little foreshadowing of Mary and Joseph bringing Jesus to the temple. The Epistle is one of my favorite of all texts. It's Hebrews, chapter 2, verses 14 to 18. It has this beautiful passage where it says, since therefore the Children share in flesh and blood. He himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver all those who, through fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery. Oh, man.
[00:08:16] I think I should someday write a hymn or a book or something on this verse. I love it so much. So the first part is, just like we have flesh and blood, that means we have this mortality, humanity, we are flesh and blood stuff. Well, Jesus partook of the same. That's the second great mystery of the Christian faith. That's the doctrine of the incarnation. That God has taken humanity unto himself so that he might dwell with us and not just live with us, but also die for us. So that he takes upon himself a body so that there's something to die and be crucified and laid in the tomb. It's amazing. And he does all that for a purpose. He does that to set us free from death and to destroy the devil. That's the purpose that it says here. It says, why did he share in flesh and blood? He himself likewise partook of the same things. That means Jesus has flesh and blood like you and I do, that through death. He might destroy the one who has the power of death so that he could die. But not just any normal death like we die, but that his death would have this great purpose of destroying the one who has the power of death. And we say, well, who's that? And the text tells us that is the devil, so that Jesus death is a death destroying death. And not only that, not only does it destroy death, it destroys the one who has the power of death.
[00:09:42] Well, we say, what is that power of death, the power of death that the devil has?
[00:09:49] Is this a coercive thing? Coercive power that we are coercible, that the devil can intimidate us by threatening death? It says it like this in verse 15. Deliver all those who, through fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery.
[00:10:13] Now, just to work that text backwards, this is saying that our fear of dying makes us slaves to the devil. And I think this verse is so. This is one of the verses that got me thinking about the prophets and how the prophets were so bold and so heroic. Sorry, the martyrs, how the martyrs were so bold and so heroic because they weren't afraid to die. And when they weren't afraid to die, it meant that there was nothing coercive that the devil could hold over their heads. You know, the old Roman proconsuls would line up the Christians and they'd say, hey, you have to say Lord Caesar and offer this incense. And then we won't kill you. But if you don't, then we will kill you. And a lot of times the Christians would say, well, I don't want to die. I'm afraid to die. So I'm going to offer this incense, I'm going to confess Lord Caesar, I'll go home and worship Jesus at home, but I'll also participate in the cult of the emperor and all this stuff. And. But when the gospel really got ahold of people and they knew, number one, you shall have no other gods. And number two, the Lord has rescued us from sin, death and the devil. And that the Lord brings us through death to life eternal. And that for all those who love the. Who wait for the appearing, who love the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, we have this eternal salvation for us to live as Christ, to die is gain.
[00:11:39] Death is just the portal to life immortal.
[00:11:44] Then we are not afraid.
[00:11:48] And so there is no coercibility for the Christian. I'm going to kill you. No.
[00:11:53] So what?
[00:11:55] I'm not going to do what you say. I'm not going to offer the incense to Caesar. I'm not going to say, lord Caesar, Christ is Lord and take they our life. Good strength, child and wife. Let these all be gone. They yet have nothing. 1 so that the Christian who's not afraid to die is set free from the devil's coercive power.
[00:12:18] That's what that's saying. So that through his death, the Lord Jesus destroyed the one who had the power of death, that is the devil, and delivers us who through fear of death, were subject to lifelong slavery. Now, this is maybe the point that that can't be missed is that the death of Jesus is the devil's destruction. We don't see it yet. And that was what was happening in Hebrews, chapter 2, verse 8. Remember where I was quoting Psalm 8 and it said he's put all things under his feet. But as of yet, we don't see all things under his feet. So the Lord has conquered the devil, he rules over him, and yet we don't see it. That'll be revealed on the last day. We see Jesus made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and honor by the resurrection. But we, we don't. We don't walk out the door.
[00:13:05] I was thinking about this the other day. How would it be if when you got up in the morning and you walked out the front door with your cup of coffee and you looked up into the sky. And instead of seeing the blue skies or the clouds or whatever, you could see into heaven and you could see Jesus sitting there on the throne, ruling all things for the sake of his people. Who.
[00:13:25] Can you imagine how the. You know, you walk out. Check. See, there's the Lamb seated on the throne. You go about your day. Jesus is in charge. How different would that be? But the Lord has hidden that, that we don't see it yet. So we walk by faith and not by sight. But one day we'll see it.
[00:13:42] Just because we don't see it doesn't mean it's not true. And that's the whole point.
[00:13:50] He himself. This is the end of this verse, Hebrews 2:18. He himself has suffered when tempted, he's able to help those who are being tempted.
[00:13:58] Beautiful.
[00:14:00] The Gospel lesson is Luke, chapter two.
[00:14:03] We mentioned it before. When the time came for the purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph brought Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. So this was a Old Testament provision that the oldest boy would be set apart for the Lord. But then the Lord decided, I'm going to take all the Levites and all the other tribes could have their oldest boys. So there's already a ransom that's happening. And then when a mom had given birth, she was considered ritually unclean. And so she would have to go and make sacrifices. Really, anytime there's shedding of blood, there's uncleanness and there's sacrifice to restore that cleanliness. And so the moms, 40 days after giving birth to the babies, would go and offer in the temple a sacrifice para turtle doves. Two young pigeons was the provision for the families that didn't have that much.
[00:14:58] And so Mary and Joseph go and they offer those a turtledove and two young pigeons. It's good for us to remember, just as a kind of keep in the back of the head, that sinful and unclean are two different things.
[00:15:12] So there would be things that would make you unclean that were not at all sinful. Like, for example, touching a dead body. If you were.
[00:15:21] In fact, the law required you, if you had a parent or a sibling or something who died, that the family would bury the dead. And so you would have to do that handling of the dead body. It wasn't sinful. In fact, it was a good work, but it would still make you unclean. So there was time out of the Temple. And then there was a sacrifice to restore that cleanliness. So clean versus unclean is different than sinful or righteous and good work. Something could be actually holy. Sorry, Something could be a good work and unclean.
[00:15:55] Burying your parents if they died or something like that. As an example. Giving birth to a child would make a mom unclean was a good work. It was commanded by God, be fruitful and multiply. So we just don't want to have those two categories on top of each other. Now, a lot of times, sinful things would also make you unclean, so that they're not totally separate, but they're not the same exact thing. So Mary was unclean by the. By the birth of Jesus. And so 40 days later, they go into the temple and they offer the sacrifices. A turtle dove, two young pigeons. So they were indicating their poverty, that they weren't at least very wealthy. And they see Simeon. This man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. 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. Amazing gift. The Lord says, you're going to live and not die until you see the promised Messiah. So he, in his old age, was like a clock.
[00:16:56] His life was a promise that the Lord had given.
[00:17:01] Who knows why this came to him? Who knows the background of Simeon? We don't know any of these things, but he'd been given this special gift. Now, I think it's good for us to remember because nor normally when we think about Jerusalem in the time of Jesus, we think about the Pharisees and the scribes, and we think about all these crooked politicians and wicked soldiers and things like this. But these first few chapters of Luke give us a beautiful glimpse into the pious side of Jerusalem. That there were those who were trusting the Scriptures, who were waiting for God's promises to be fulfilled, who were looking for the Messiah to come. And Simeon is one of them. And the Holy Spirit brought him to the temple. And when Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he sees him and he takes him up in his arms and he blesses him and sings. Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace.
[00:17:57] I think I've told you all before that when I remember that from the liturgy when I was growing up, and I thought it meant. All right, now it's time to go to Luby's or McDonald's or chicken. Go to Kentucky Fried Chicken. Now it's time the service is over. That departing in peace does not mean leaving the service. It means leaving this life here. Simeon has on his bucket list one thing to see the Christ. And he sees him and he says, that's it. That's all I need now. Time for heaven, Time for eternal life. Absolutely beautiful. I know. I like to sing the Nukeda Menace, especially when people are getting close to death. And I remember I told my elders one time, oh, there was. There was a couple of times when I was singing the Nukta Menis. And one time I was singing the Nukta Menace. And the dear saint to whom I was singing died in the middle of the Nukta Menis. And I thought, that's the way I want to go. It was so great. So I'd go, I'd tell the elders. Still I tell the elders, if someone's doing pretty bad, I'll say I sang the Nuktiminus. And I remember one time I went to visit one of my elders in the hospital, and I was singing the canticles of the liturgy, and I sang the Nukta Menace. And he said, oh, Pastor, I'm not ready for the nunkdominis yet.
[00:19:08] But we see, this is. It's actually the opposite. It's not like we see death coming. So we sing the nunkdominus. It's that we sing the nunkdominus and then we're not worried what comes after that? Life or death? No matter. Lord, let your servant depart in peace according to your word. My eyes have seen your salvation.
[00:19:27] We're ready. We're ready. The hymn of the day in his temple now behold him.
[00:19:33] I just had it open here. Here it is, I think, is one of these newer. It's kind of interesting, these newer hymns that were written for some of these special occasions. This is by Henry Pye. Yeah, look at that. Fifteen died in 1903 in his temple now behold him. See the long expected Lord Ancient prophets had foretold him God has now fulfilled his word now to praise him his redeemed shall break forth with one accord in the arms of her who bore him, Virgin pure, behold him lie While his aged saints adore him Ere in perfect faith they die Alleluia, alleluia. Lo the incarnate God most high, Beautiful Jesus, by your presentation when they blessed you weak and poor, make us see your great salvation Seal us with your promise sure and present us in your glory to your Father, cleansed and pure so that Jesus, who's now presented in the temple who needs no purification, who is the thing that makes everything else pure. By his well, by all these things, by his birth, by his circumcision, by his naming, by his presentation in the temple, by his visit to the temple when he's 12 years old, by his baptism, by all these things, he's fulfilling righteousness for us so that his perfect keeping of the law is given over to our name so that the Lord can accept us in his holy place. He's here on earth, presented in the temple, so that he can present us pure and holy in the Lord's house. That is a marvel.
[00:21:13] All right, there's Sunday. Drive home. Looking forward to seeing you a few minutes. Drive safe. God's peace be with.