The night was over. Mary, Joseph had breathed again after their baby was born. All parents do. The pregnant Mom knows she is not in control. The baby is coming and almost all of the time it is all very natural.
Their baby is wrapped in "swaddling cloths", lying in a manger when the unlikeliest of visitors - Shepherds - come looking for him. They tell of angelic hosts who broke into the night sky telling them that the Savior, who is Christ the Lord is born. Mary and Joseph must have been shocked when they showed up that night.
Sometimes life happens to us, and around us, in rather remarkable - and yet - natural ways. AND then, the next day things go back to normal. It was that for Mary and Joseph also. The night after the birth, the days turned towards the seeming normal of life.
Luke 2:21-32
21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
It is 8 days later and as the law stipulated, his parents took him to the Priests where he was circumcised - the act that placed him in the covenant Jewish community, and they gave him the name him Jesus which means "Yahweh Saves"...it was the name the Angel told him God wanted him to be named.
All was normal. There actions here were the actions of every faithful Jewish parents to their new born sons. Jesus was the first born, so it was special to his parents because every first born male was not just circumcised, but "Presented to the Lord" (Exodus 13:2).
22 And 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”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”
The actions of Mary and Joseph are part of Jesus' perfectly obedient life - one in which he would perfectly obey all aspects of the Old Testament Law.
Joseph and Mary had come to Temple to fulfill the requirements of the Law. It was their duty, their responsibility, and their joy to do so. I cannot help but think that at that moment, while in the Temple, they must have thought that the events 8 days before on that night of his birth were remarkable, but now things were normal.
But, it was not all normal...nothing about Jesus would ever be normal. And so, as this all takes place in the temple, God moves a man, Simeon, to give witness to all that is happening.
25 Now 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.
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 do for him according to the custom of the Law,
28 he 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;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”
An old man, but faithful Jewish man who had been praying for the Messiah to come. As he waits that day in the Temple, praying his prayer he had prayed for decades, the Holy Spirit speaks into his soul. I can imagine Simeon in his prayers all of a sudden feeling something inside...and looking up and he hears inside - "look he is hear" - and he sees Mary and Joseph carrying their baby.
He is overwhelmed, but he knows, God has answered my prayers. He sees God's promise fulfilled in this little baby.
He says it, like I need to hear it everyday: "my eyes have seen your salvation..."
Peace
Their baby is wrapped in "swaddling cloths", lying in a manger when the unlikeliest of visitors - Shepherds - come looking for him. They tell of angelic hosts who broke into the night sky telling them that the Savior, who is Christ the Lord is born. Mary and Joseph must have been shocked when they showed up that night.
Sometimes life happens to us, and around us, in rather remarkable - and yet - natural ways. AND then, the next day things go back to normal. It was that for Mary and Joseph also. The night after the birth, the days turned towards the seeming normal of life.
Luke 2:21-32
21 And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
It is 8 days later and as the law stipulated, his parents took him to the Priests where he was circumcised - the act that placed him in the covenant Jewish community, and they gave him the name him Jesus which means "Yahweh Saves"...it was the name the Angel told him God wanted him to be named.
All was normal. There actions here were the actions of every faithful Jewish parents to their new born sons. Jesus was the first born, so it was special to his parents because every first born male was not just circumcised, but "Presented to the Lord" (Exodus 13:2).
22 And 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”) 24 and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.”
The actions of Mary and Joseph are part of Jesus' perfectly obedient life - one in which he would perfectly obey all aspects of the Old Testament Law.
Joseph and Mary had come to Temple to fulfill the requirements of the Law. It was their duty, their responsibility, and their joy to do so. I cannot help but think that at that moment, while in the Temple, they must have thought that the events 8 days before on that night of his birth were remarkable, but now things were normal.
But, it was not all normal...nothing about Jesus would ever be normal. And so, as this all takes place in the temple, God moves a man, Simeon, to give witness to all that is happening.
25 Now 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.
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 do for him according to the custom of the Law,
28 he 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;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”
An old man, but faithful Jewish man who had been praying for the Messiah to come. As he waits that day in the Temple, praying his prayer he had prayed for decades, the Holy Spirit speaks into his soul. I can imagine Simeon in his prayers all of a sudden feeling something inside...and looking up and he hears inside - "look he is hear" - and he sees Mary and Joseph carrying their baby.
He is overwhelmed, but he knows, God has answered my prayers. He sees God's promise fulfilled in this little baby.
He says it, like I need to hear it everyday: "my eyes have seen your salvation..."
Peace
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