My parents did not attend church when I was a child. A godly aunt and uncle asked my parents if I could attend church with them in 1951 when I was four. Fast forward to Christmas 2018 and I could probably count on one hand the number of times I have missed church. I entered pastoral ministry in 1970 while in seminary and have preached dozens of Christmas sermons. Each time I preach an Advent message I have to ask myself the same question, “Why did Jesus come to earth?” The ending story of our text tells of the paranoid parents finding Jesus in the temple sitting with the Bible scholars. You can almost hear the fear and frustration dripping from Mary’s question to the young adolescent Jesus, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you” (Luke 2:48).
Jesus used a tactic that he would use effectively throughout his ministry. He responded with a question of his own. “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49b).
Why did Jesus come to planet earth? Throughout the scriptural text we will ask that question often. It will become evident why Jesus came, Selon la volonte de Dieu, “according to God’s will.”
Our story begins eight days after the birth of Jesus. All the glamour and spectacular events had faded into normal life. The new parents were fulfilling the ritual activities of their religion. They took their son to the temple in Jerusalem to offer a sacrifice. Bruce Larson noted, “Mary and Joseph were proceeding with all the usual Jewish customs in connection with this most unusual infant.” (Communicator’s Commentary, Luke, page 55).
Two unique and godly people were in the temple worshiping, praising, reflecting, praying, watching, and anticipating to hear from God. On this day their long expectant wait was over. Separately, these two would receive a message from God about the baby they saw with their own eyes…God’s answer to their longing!
Simeon and Anna would come upon them and both would recognize the importance of this child for the future of all people…Jews and Gentiles. We know very little about Simeon or Anna.
Simeon, according to Luke’s gospel, was just, devout, waiting in prayerful expectancy of help for Israel’s spiritual good. One other important note, “and the Holy Spirit was on him” (Luke 2:25 Message Bible). He was a servant of God waiting for instruction and refused to leave his post until it happened!
Simeon was overwhelmed by the power of the Holy Spirit and he swooped the baby Jesus up into his arms then gave a prayer of thanksgiving to God for the child. In that moment of thanksgiving his search for the promised messiah had ended. He had now seen for himself the light of the world. Simeon prophesied that Mary’s heart would break because her son would be rejected. But the rejection would cause humanity to see with honest eyes what he had come to do!
The other character in our text is Anna and she is called a prophetess. She broke into an anthem of praise to God and talked about the freedom that would come to Jerusalem because of the child Jesus.
Why did Jesus come?
Jesus came to be the fulfillment of prophecy (Luke 2:26a).
The prophets were individuals called by God to reveal his purpose, will and/or action on the world’s history map. Their proclamation included the holy and divine word of God through either judgment or grace. John Walvoord wrote, “The fundamental purpose of prophecy is to give believers the necessary facts to plan wisely for future events that will eventually take place.”
The commissioned prophet declared apocalyptic events and prediction of the future, but never forgot that it was in the light of “word of the Lord” and was relevant to their present situation. Prophecy could take place in the immediate future or hundreds of years if not more later.
Wilfred Winget declared that the New Testament writers saw in the whole pattern of Old Testament history, as well as specific statements, God’s promise of the preparation for God’s climatic saving revelation in Jesus as the Christ revealed in his life, death, and resurrection.
Both Simeon and Anna were probably students of the prophets and anticipated the one who would come to deliver Israel out of its moral fog. I do not believe they were concerned with their peers’ concept of a warrior king opposing Roman domination, but rather the one who would oppose Satan, hell, evil and sin…the spiritual warrior king.
These two saints of God were prophets in their own rights as we will understand later on.
Jesus came to be the Messiah (Luke 2:26b).
The word “Messiah” is derived from the Hebrew word meshiach and means “anointed” or “the anointed.” The Greek term for “Messiah” is “Christos” and to us in English it is “Christ.” John Riley, (Beacon Dictionary of Theology, page 335), wrote that “On the early pages of the New Testament, ‘Christos’ occurs with the definite article, ‘the Christ’ “(as in Matthew 1616; Matthew 27:22; John 4;29; I John 2:22 and I John 5:1). These writers wanted us to know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Jesus was the “anointed one”…the only one who comes directly from heaven and God’s heartbeat.
Over the decades and centuries following the destruction and desecration of Judea in 586 BC, the populace of the Jews found their hopes and dreams centering upon an earthly Messiah who would restore them to independence. They desire the reestablishment of the monarch by a descendant of David. As you read the Old Testament prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, the future king would be the Messiah God.
God’s vision of his Messiah was different. His desire was to have a moral and spiritual Messiah. He would be the one who would punish sin, usher in righteousness, and bring peace over the hearts and lives of all people. The spiritual and earthly Jerusalem would be the epicenter of universal joy.
“The true and the living God saw his Messiah as the servant of humanity. His mission would be to spread the knowledge of the true God to the ends of the earth…not by imposing his will on others, but by uncomplaining endurance of contempt, injustice, suffering and death” (F.F. Bruce, New Testament History, p. 128). Who is this Messiah you may ask? It is the anointed Lord as the angels proclaimed to the lowly shepherds in Bethlehem! (Luke 2:11).
So what does that mean for us at Christmas time, 2018? Everything! This Messiah has come to be your God! Now. Today. He is God’s heartbeat who desires to live in you to bring your life together.
During World War II a bomb fell near Reims Cathedral and shattered their beautiful stain glass window into thousands of pieces. The entire village searched the area until all the pieces could be salvaged. After the war was over, skilled artisans put the window back to its original beauty as each separate piece was leaded into the perfect whole.
Frank Court commented about that window and its application to life when he said that “religion enables us to pick up life’s fragments and re-dream our dreams, relive our hopes, rethink our faith, until the light of God once again shines through the window of our life.”
That is why Jesus came…to be your personal Messiah!
Jesus came to bring salvation to our world (Luke 2:30-35).
When God first developed our world it was a “very good” world that Adam and Eve inherited. He made things with beauty, symmetry, and habitable for all. No sin darkened the horizon. In Genesis 3 everything changed with the temptation story and the ultimate weakening and then the fall from grace. This evil was the result of our parents’ disobedience to the known command of God. So that we are clear on the matter of sin, although God is the creator and sovereign ruler of all things in life, he is not the author of our sinfulness. When our parents doubted the word of God forbidding them to pick the fruit of the tree of righteousness — their purity collapsed. With that came the fear and dread of meeting God! It still occurs. Sin is current in our lives today. The problem of sin is that it is universal for the Gentiles (non-Jews) according to Luke 2:31-32a and for the Jews (Luke 2:32b).
We need a remedy that takes away our sin in order that we might be righteous before the holy God. We are powerless to save ourselves through good works or attempts to keep the Ten Commandments or the Mosaic Law. Honestly, the law only exposes our sin and our desperate need for salvation.
As Christians we firmly believe that salvation is offered through Jesus. Several years ago I saw a picture of the nativity scene. The manger showed the baby Jesus laying in the straw, but with the shadow of the cross over the crib.
Christmas and Easter are so intertwined as Jesus came as a baby to this earth with one goal…to die for our sins. His life and death would bring about a change in our destiny.
Christ’s sinless life would become our substitute for our guilty sinfulness.
Christ’s death involves the removal of our personal guilt.
Christ’s death would commute our sentences of spiritual death.
Christ’s death would allow us to be adopted into the family of God.
Christ’s death signals that once we have believed in Christ as our sacrifice for sin we can immediately experience new life in him.
Christ’s death is an ongoing process as our relationship continues in him.
Christ’s death is an eternal life with God. We have truly come to the at-one-ment with God through Christ!
Charles Swindoll told the story of a bazaar held in a village in India. People brought their wares to be sold and traded. One farmer brought a whole covey of quail. He had tied a string around one leg of each of the birds. The other end of the strings were tied around a ring which fit loosely over a central stick. He had taught the quail to walk in a circle. No one at the open air bazaar seemed interested. Toward the end of the day a devout Brahman came along who believed in the Hindu idea of respect for all life. He bought all of them. Then to the surprise of the farmer the Brahman said, “Let them go…set them free.”
With the shrug of the shoulder the farmer bent down and snipped the strings off the quail. They were free! What happened next was interesting. Instead of flying off into the sunset those birds simply continued marching around and around in a circle. Finally, the Brahman and the farmer chased them off into the air, but a little way down the road they landed and resumed their predictable march. Free, unfettered, released, yet they kept going in circles as if still tied together.
Swindoll’s last sentence was a warning to all of us. “Salvation cuts the strings of sin. It’s time to stop marching and start flying.” God through Christ has set us free to live…so live!
Jesus came to answer the world’s question about God (Luke 2:47-50).
Going from the scene of the presentation of the baby Jesus at the temple to the young Jesus again at the temple, we begin to see the development of the reason Jesus came. When questioned by his mother about why he had stayed in Jerusalem as they had pushed homeward he gives the answer: “Didn’t you know that I had to be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49).
What was the business that Jesus was discussing? He was listening to the teachers of Israel (the professors of the law) and asking pertinent questions. He was drawing them into conversation. The Bible says, “Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers” (Luke 2:47).
Christ’s business is to help you understand God. We can see the Father’s love, care, compassion, and heart through Christ. His entrance into the world put flesh on God.
A little boy said that Jesus is the best photograph of God.
Conclusion
Today, Christ wants to help you know God in all of his fullness! Your salvation, hope, and understanding is in the Christ who has come to give you life!
Amen.