Luke 2:22–40

Christmas I Holy Innocents

²²And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord ²³(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, "Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord") ²⁴and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, "a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons." ²⁵Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. ²⁶And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. ²⁷And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, ²⁸he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, ²⁹"Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; ³⁰for my eyes have seen your salvation ³¹that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, ³²a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel." ³³And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. ³⁴And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, "Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed ³⁵(and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." ³⁶And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, ³⁷and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. ³⁸And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. ³⁹And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. ⁴⁰And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

It seems as if every aspect of our lives is filled with some sort of obligations that keeps us wondering how we are going to get them all accomplished. We can't escape all of the many duties, responsibilities, obligations that make up our lives. One of the hardest things to get across to our children is that there are some things in life that they must do even though they don't enjoy them or want to do them. Simple things like brushing your teeth or cleaning your room to hard things like getting up every day and going to school. How often parents hear the words, "I don't want to." Or "I don't feel like doing that today." Adults are not immune either. We have to do things like finding a job and going to work, paying taxes, paying bills, going shopping, cleaning the house, washing dishes and so forth.

It's no wonder that stores are filled with books on how to manage our lives. One such book is by Stephen Covey, entitled, "The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People." Reading this book one discovers not only how much has to be done, but how to divide each task into sub-tasks, and then keep on sub-dividing them in what seems an unending set of demands for our time and effort. While such a book might help us to become more organized, it does not free us from the commands, demands, and obligations that permeate every part of our lives. We somehow can't escape the long arm of the law of life that is reaching out to grab us.

There is the long arm of the law of the state: how can anybody keep all the obligations. We are obligated to pay taxes, to vote, to serve our country, to support the welfare of the country, to honor authorities, and to be involved in community and civic organizations and needs.

Then there is the long arm of vocation: how can anyone possibly keep track of and do all the things our vocations require of us. Our vocations require us to love our spouse, teach our children, obey and esteem our parents, not to mention the time and duties our jobs require.

The long arm of the law reaches into every aspect of our lives. But not just the laws of men, of the state, or of vocation, but the long arm of God's law. The commandments of God. How can anyone possibly attain all the demands of God's laws? How can we do all that he commands? He commands us not only to love our neighbors but even to love our enemies. His law even extends to our thoughts and words. We can't even despise our neighbor and just keep it to ourselves. In short, He commands us to be perfect; not just in our deeds and actions, but in our words and even our thoughts.

Not only is that impossible and no one here has fulfilled the command of God, but God's law does not just apply to what we do and think, but to what we are. He doesn't just say we should behave and speak and think perfectly, but we should BE perfect. But our very being is corrupted by sin. Original sin has corrupted our human nature. We are by nature sinful, regardless of what we do or think or say. When God requires us to be perfect, he is not talking about our behavior or words or thoughts. He is talking about what we are; our being. It is as if someone commanded an apple tree to be a peach tree. God is requiring us to be something different from what we are. We can no more be perfect, than an apple tree can turn itself into a peach tree.

Therefore, the long arm of God's law extends into every aspect of our lives because it is about who and what we are. But we have not and cannot obey God's law. And this disobedience merits death and eternal punishment. But, to fulfill God's laws would require us to be completely different people than what we are. We would have to be changed from inside. We would have to be born over as new people, a different kind of people; holy people instead of a corrupt people. We would need to have new hearts of love in place of our sinful hearts of self-love and self-centeredness. God's long arm of law slays us with its demands and threats.

But God's longer arm of grace reaches into our world. His longer arm of grace extended itself into the world that day when Jesus was born in a manger. For just like us, Jesus was born under the law. The long arm of God's law extended into his life as well, perhaps especially so, because he came as a man to represent all mankind. He lived his life in our world as our representative, hence he placed himself under the law of God as our representative. "4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law." Gal 4:4. In grace, Jesus came to live under the law in our place. He placed himself under the law, putting himself within reach of the long arm of the law, obligating himself to fulfill every demand of God's Law for us and in our place as our substitute.

That is why Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day according to the law God gave to Abraham. That is why when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph took Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord; because it was "written in the Law of the Lord," that every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. Every detail of the law was to be obeyed by Jesus. But what's more important, he obeyed it for us as our substitute.

The long arm of the law demanded Jesus' perfect duty to the Lord. His life belonged to the Lord. Jesus was presented in the temple as the one whose service will complete every demand of the law. You will notice a slight difference here from the Old Testament law about the firstborn males. All firstborn males, as it says in our text, shall be called holy to the Lord. But the house of Levi was given to the service of the Lord in place of the firstborn of all the others. The House of Levi were the redeemers who served God in place of the firstborn of the other tribes being put into service in the temple. They were the redeemers. The firstborn children of the others did not even have to be presented to God in the temple. They had been redeemed by Levi. Now the true redeemer had come, Jesus Christ. He was not redeemed by the tribe of Levi, rather he was the redeemer of all the world, so he was presented in the Temple to the Lord. He is the redeemer; our redeemer. It is he who redeemed us from the long arm of God's law with the even longer arm of God's grace.

So Jesus was born under the law to do what we could not do: "For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us."

Yes, this longer arm of God's grace consoles us. Our Lord's service brings peace and joy. Simeon rejoiced upon seeing the longer arm of grace, the Lord who fulfills every demand of the Law. When he saw the baby Jesus he exclaimed in joy, "Lord, let now your servant go in peace according to thy word, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation which thou hast prepared in the face of all people."

And Ana rejoiced at seeing the longer arm of God's grace and she "began to give thanks to God and speak of Jesus to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem."

This longer arm of God's grace redeems us. Our Lord's service fulfills what was demanded of us. Everything that was written about him in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms was fulfilled by Christ.

So when Mary and Joseph and Jesus had fulfilled everything according to the law of the Lord, they left the temple and returned into Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And Jesus continued to grow in stature and wisdom. For God did what we could not do in keeping the law, in order that the requirements of the law might be fulfilled in us.

Still, the longer arm of God's grace kept reaching out for our salvation. Once again our Lord appears in the temple at age 12, and then regularly in the temple and synagogue. We then continually see him extending the arm of grace with healing, loving others, having compassion and being merciful to all sinful people who repented and came to him for forgiveness. He healed the sick, cleansed the lepers, opened the eyes of the blind and the ears of the deaf, made the lame walk and raised the dead. He cast out demons, stilled the storm, calmed the winds and fed the thousands. The law that reaches into our lives says, "love our neighbor as yourselves." Jesus loved his neighbor as himself and he did it as our representative; our substitute. He did for us what our weak flesh could not do: He fulfilled the righteous requirement of the law! As by one man, Adam, all men sinned, so by the obedience of one man, Jesus Christ, many were made righteous. The long arm of the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, the longer arm of grace abounded all the more.

Then the long arm of grace extended outward to be crucified and then to rise. Those were the days when the sword would also pierce Mary's soul. God's right arm of grace and salvation hung there on that ugly cross, bearing the ugliness of our sin, that our ugly hearts might be made new filled with the beauty of God's grace. Then he rose from the dead in the fullness of his glory and ascended into heaven where he rules today on the throne of grace and continues to reach into our lives.

Here we stand today in the place where Simeon and Anna once stood; in the presence of God to hear and see our consolation and redemption. He the longer arm of grace has taken hold of us in our baptism and joined us to the cross of Jesus so that when he died, our sin died. We who have been baptized into Christ were baptized into his death and buried with him by baptism into death, in order that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.

The longer arm of grace reaches into our lives in the absolution of our sins as repentance and forgiveness of sins is proclaimed in the name of Jesus to all nations. Those blessed word, "I forgive you all your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit," are the most important words we will ever hear for these words are living words the bestow life, eternal life, to all who believe them.

And the longer arm of grace reaches into our lives in Holy Communion when we receive the very body of Christ offered up on a cross and the blood which he poured out for the forgiveness of our sins.

As Jesus was presented in the temple for the service of the Lord, so by the longer arm of grace we are presented for service to the Lord. The Holy Spirit gives us new birth and creates us new. So that as the long arm of God's law demands us to be what we are not, just like telling an apple tree to become a peach tree, the Holy Spirit transforms our death and corruption into life and holiness. Just as if an apple tree underwent some sort of gene therapy to turn it into a peach tree, so we are transformed into the children of God, with renewed hearts of love, restored to the image of God.

Whatever demands the law has placed upon us, the longer arm of God's grace in Christ has been proven stronger. We are more than conquerors over temptation, sin and death, because he who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.

Here's the escape: the only real escape from the long arm of the Law! Whenever and wherever we have been pushed by Law and fear and uncertainty, the longer arm of grace, Jesus Christ, reaches in.

Amen.