Depart in Peace

 Jesu Juva

St. Luke 2:22-35                                            

February 2, 2025

The Presentation of Our Lord

 Dear saints of our Savior~

        Do you remember what you ate and drank forty days ago?  Do you remember what you wore forty days ago?  Do you remember who you were with—and where you were—forty days ago?  I suspect you do recall at least some of that information, because forty days ago was Christmas Day. 

        Forty days also happens to be exactly how old Jesus was when Mary and Joseph brought Him up to the temple in Jerusalem.  On this day—the fortieth day—the Holy Family went to the temple to do what every pious Jewish couple did with every firstborn son:  They presented Him to the Lord.  And they offered a sacrifice, because every firstborn male was holy to the Lord.  Firstborn sons had to be redeemed—had to be bought back, if you will—with the blood of sacrifice.  By bringing their little baby boy to the temple, Mary and Joseph were faithfully confessing that this little one belonged to God—even as they knew and believed at some level that this little one was God in human flesh.

        But as the poor family from Bethlehem made their way through the temple courts, someone was watching and rejoicing.  Simeon’s heart must have skipped a beat as the Holy Spirit revealed to him that this baby was the Messiah, the Christ.  Simeon had been told that he would not die until he had seen the Christ.  How surprised Mary must have been when Simeon took her baby in his arms and began praying:  Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy word, For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation!  His eyes had seen the Savior.  His hands had held the Savior.  And now, he was ready to depart in peace—ready not merely to depart from the temple and go home; but ready to depart this life—ready to die—in peace.

        You don’t hear that sentiment very often these days—people openly confessing and singing about the fact that, in Christ, they are ready to depart this life in peace.  It’s just not something you hear expressed—well, except for the fact that I hear all of you singing those words nearly every Sunday.  I hear you singing the song of Simeon, right after receiving the Lord’s Supper—singing with faith that you have seen and heard and tasted the Lord’s salvation, and that you are ready—ready to depart this life in peace, to live with Christ forever.

        Simeon went on to tell Mary that her Son was a “sign.”  In the Bible, a “sign” always tells us something about what God is doing and giving.  But at the same time, a sign is usually hidden under what appears to be its opposite.  At Christmas, the angel told the shepherds, “This shall be a sign unto you:  You will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.”  The sign was a poor newborn in an animals’ feeding trough; but what that sign revealed was quite the opposite: “a Savior, who is Christ, the Lord.”

        Simeon now says that Jesus Himself is a sign—that Jesus will bring about the “fall and rising of many.”  What does Simeon mean by this?  Well, look at how Jesus impacted Simeon’s life.  Look at the “fall and rising” Jesus caused Simeon.  When Simeon saw Jesus in the temple that day it was a sign—a sign with two messages for Simeon:  “Now you are going to die,” and “this is the Savior in whom you will live forever.”  Simeon’s death and Simeon’s salvation—his fall and his rising—were set in motion by the baby Jesus.  It was a sign.

Simeon also spoke specifically to Mary—about her fall and rising—about how a sword would one day pierce through her own soul.  If you think being the mother of Jesus was a glamorous role to have, think again.  Mary had to learn that she had a son; and yet, she did not have Him.  He really had her.  Or, think of it this way:  Everyone comes into this world with a mother.  And you will never be able to do more for your mother than she did for you.  But things were different for Mary and Jesus.  Jesus would do more for Mary than she could ever do for Him.  Mary can claim no honors or accolades for her mothering of Jesus.  In the end she could only lay claim to Jesus in the same way you and I do:  by believing in Him, and by receiving from Him.

Simeon’s words about a sword piercing Mary’s soul take us all the way to the cross.  Mary could fall no lower than to be awash in tears at the crucifixion of her Son.  It would not be an exaggeration to claim that she felt her Son’s wounds in the depths of her own soul.  Few things surpass the pain of a mother’s grief.  In my own limited life experience, I have witnessed it too many times. 

What Jesus brought both to Mary and to Simeon, he also brings to you—to all those He loves:  falling and rising, being humbled and being exalted.  Part of our fall—part of our being brought low and humbled—has to do with our sin.  This is why Jesus was born, after all.  This is why God sent His Son:  to save His people from their sins.  This is also why we die:  The wages of sin is death.

Simeon told Mary that part of Jesus’ saving work was that “thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”  When Jesus would come back to the temple, decades later, the thoughts of the Scribes and Pharisees would be revealed.  The thoughts of their hearts were exposed.  And in their hearts they rejected Jesus.  They had no use for a lowly, weak, beggarly Messiah. 

It’s also true that when God deals with us in Jesus, the thoughts of our hearts are revealed:  Our selfishness, our lust, our jealousies, our addictions and our idols, our refusals to forgive, the gossip and hatred we wield like a sword to pierce and hurt those who stand in our way.  That and so much more of our sin is not hidden; it is revealed and known by God.  If we cling to those sins and refuse to give them up, then there will only be a “fall” for us—falling and judgment.  Only falling; no rising.  But if the thoughts of our hearts are revealed, and we come clean in repentance—then we receive the gifts of salvation, and we are raised up.  We fall in repentance as the sword of God’s Law pierces our hearts; and then we are raised by forgiveness—raised to new life in Christ.

When it comes to Jesus, there is either faith or unbelief.  There’s no middle ground when it comes to the Lord’s Christ.  You can’t refashion Him or reinvent Him.  You can’t claim Him as Savior while ignoring His words and staying complacent and comfortable in your sinning.  You must receive Him as He is—the Savior of sinners—or you must reject Him in unbelief.

Jesus had His own fall and rising which He underwent for you—whatever the thoughts of your heart might be.  He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.  That death on the cross was a sign—a sign of God’s love for you—a sign that your sins have been dealt with and paid for—a sign that God is for you and not against you—that nothing can separate you from His love.  This Jesus is now risen from the dead.  He lives and reigns to work all things for your eternal good.  Jesus has been raised; and in Him you also will be raised.

If you believe that—then receive the Savior today as dear Simeon once did.  Simeon embraced the Savior who was a sign of both his death and of his salvation.  And you can embrace the Savior as you receive Him in the Lord’s Supper.  The very body and blood Simeon once held are here given to you under the signs of bread and wine.  And in this meal is your rising—as you are joined even more closely to Jesus—to share in His life which lasts forever.  And all this we confess every time we join to sing the song of Simeon:  Lord, now lettest thou Thy servant depart in peace. 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.