Luke 2:22-35 - Our Divine Vocation

Luke 2:22-35

22 And when the days for their purification according to the law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what was said in the Law of the Lord, “A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”

25 And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 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. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, 28 then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said,

29 “Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace,
According to Your word;
30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation,
31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 A Light of revelation to the Gentiles,
And the glory of Your people Israel.”

33 And His father and mother were amazed at the things which were being said about Him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary His mother, “Behold, this Child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed— 35 and a sword will pierce even your own soul—to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

Message: Our divine vocation

Time: The Gospel according to Luke was probably the last Synoptic Gospel to be written, thus penned around 60 AD. The words salvation are in Luke, though not in Matthew and Mark. Luke, a gentile physician, wrote more than any other NT writer, writing primarily of redemptive history.

What the Lord is Saying: There is a continuous theme in the Old Testament that is carried forward in the New Testament because it is a theme that occurs in the lives of Jews and Jewish Christians. That theme is cleanliness versus being unclean. Many of the sacrifices that were set up in Leviticus were for the purpose of someone becoming clean again. The most common source of uncleanness was the stain of sin in a person's life. But there are other things as well. One of those things is a woman giving birth. After the birth, they were considered unclean for 7 days and then would have to stay home 33 days more, and then for having a girl these periods were doubled. And then they were to present in the temple an offering of purification: a burnt offering of a lamb a year old, and a young pigeon or turtle-dove as a sin offering. But if someone is poor then the lamb can be replaced with a young pigion or turtle-dove. This is what Mary brought for Jesus (v. 24).

And then there was Simeon, who we know nothing about, but that he was waiting for the Messiah, and the Holy Spirit came upon him, perhaps for a moment, rather than continually; but he was clearly a holy man. At some point in Simeon's life he had been told by the Spirit that he would not die before first seeing the Lord's Christ. It would make sense then that Simeon was very old.

Mary and Joseph bring the baby Jesus into the temple to carry out the custom of the Law in making and Simeon takes the baby in his arms to thank or praise God (v. 28).Simeon here recognizes that in this infant something special. God had told him through His spirit to wait for this baby, and this is indeed a special moment in the temple where Simeon, an older and wiser man sees that he can now depart from this world because he has seen the salvation of God's people, namely Jesus. Jesus is a light to the Gentiles and a glory to Israel. Thus, Jesus covers all people.

Joseph and Mary hear this, amazed once again. If anything this is also for their benefit, what Simeon has voiced, for them to hear that this baby is indeed different. There have already been so many signs of Him being different but these words from Simeon are the clearest.

Simeon speaks to Mary and Joseph with a prayer or a command and blesses them. They are blessed to have the honor of being related to this child and were entrusted to bring Him up. Jesus will be a savior of death to some (unbelievers) and a savior of life to still others (believers). But these words had to be hard to hear by Mary and Joseph that this baby would be rejected by many, would receive lashings and be opposed, but all of this is ordered by Providence as Jesus will reveal the actions of men. Jesus' suffering would hurt Jesus but also hurt Mary. But his suffering is necessary, as is our suffering.

Here we have the prophecy of Jesus and his life, by a man, Simeon that is really not mentioned anywhere else in Scripture and Luke records him. Jesus is set apart. He is indeed unique.

Promise: Suffering is a necessary part of life. The reality is suffering hurts and it is hard, but we remember it is necessary.

Prayer: Lord, I have seen that suffering is real. It does indeed hurt for it to occur in our lives. We have suffered for pain that our children experience or hurt that comes upon us from their actions. It is tough to be a parent, to experience all of the sacrifice and the things that we do to help make our kids great and then along the way, we hurt for them. It is a joy but it is also a difficult part of life. God, I thank you for what you do in our lives and for bringing us along in life the way that you have. Keep our eyes focused on You. Thank you for the prophecy of Jesus and that he is salvation for all people. We need You and we need You every hour.