Luke 2.22-40
This morning I would like us to focus on the words that Simeon praises God with.
It is known in church circles as the Nunc Dimittis: comes from the Latin meaning ‘Now let us depart’, but it doesn’t sound quite as impressive if the service leader says, let us sing the ‘Now let us depart’
It is a hymn that the people of God, for probably almost 2000 years, have said or sung daily in the evening of the day.
This morning I would like us to focus on the words that Simeon praises God with.
It is known in church circles as the Nunc Dimittis: comes from the Latin meaning ‘Now let us depart’, but it doesn’t sound quite as impressive if the service leader says, let us sing the ‘Now let us depart’
It is a hymn that the people of God, for probably almost 2000 years, have said or sung daily in the evening of the day.
Listen to audio of the sermon
Alexander Schmemann writes in a beautiful passage about the Nunc Dimittis:
“Simeon had been waiting all his life, and then at last the Christ child was given to him: he held the Life of the World in his arms. He stood for the whole world, in its expectation and longing, and the words he used to express his thanksgiving have become our own. He could recognise the Lord, because he had expected him; He took him into his arms, because it is natural to take someone you love into your arms; And then his life of waiting was fulfilled. He had beheld the one he had longed for. He had completed his purpose in life, and he was ready to die.” (For the Life of the World, p77)
I love that.
1. Simeon recognises Jesus because he expected him.
The Holy Spirit had told him that he would see the Lord’s Messiah (King, ruler).
“It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.” Luke 2:26
We don’t know how. Maybe it was a vision or dream. But he believed God that he would not die until he saw the Messiah.
And it meant that he expected someone; he was looking for the Messiah
I strongly doubt that any of us have had a vision telling us that we will see Jesus before we die.
I do know people who have seen him (Dorothy; Jenny)
But we have the word of God, the promise of God, that Jesus has come – that Simeon held him in his arms; and that one day Jesus will come again and reveal his kingdom – present now but hidden. And everyone will see it. ‘Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father’.
But we also have the promise that the Lord Jesus is near to us now. And that through his Holy Spirit he will come to us and meet with us now.
We don’t know where or when. We can’t control him. He is the ultimate free agent.
By his grace he comes to those who do not expect him. He came to Paul on the road to Damascus
And by his grace he will come to those who are looking for him, who are crying out for him.
You may have to wait many years. You may at times be tempted to give up. I remember a friend from university who was longing for an encounter with Jesus. He had had nothing and so, he told me, a couple of years later, he had given up his faith.
If I was talking with him now, I would point him to Anna and Simeon – who had to wait so many years for the promise
And if we are looking for him, then we will see him in many different ways: a person in need, someone who offers us support, in bread and wine at the communion table, as well as in the ‘spiritual experience’.
Some of you may know Tolstoy’s story of the old shoemaker.
He is told in a dream on Christmas eve that he will see Jesus. And so on Christmas day, he prepares a feast, and keeps looking out of his window for his special guest.
He doesn’t see Jesus, but he does see a street sweeper and gives him a hot drink; he sees a young mother with her baby and invites them in for something to eat and gives the baby a brand new pair of shoes; and at the end of the day, when Jesus had not come, he sees the beggars and he gives them the food.
He goes to bed deeply disappointed: Jesus, he said, you said you would come but you did not. But then he wakes up and knows that he is not alone in his room. And he cries out, ‘who are you?’
“Then another voice answered him. It was the voice from his dream -- the voice of Jesus.
"I was hungry and you fed me," he said. "I was naked and you clothed me. I was cold and you warmed me. I came to you today in everyone of those you helped and welcomed."
Then all was quiet and still. Only the sound of the big clock ticking. A great peace and happiness seemed to fill the room, overflowing Papa Panov's heart until he wanted to burst out singing and laughing and dancing with joy.”
Jesus will come to us, but we need to be expectant.
2. Simeon takes Jesus into his arms and looks into his face
Some of the icons of the presentation focus on this: the face to face encounter of the Son of God and Simeon. The Russian name for this festival is сретение and it means 'meeting'.
We speak a great deal about costly obedience to God and Christ, of following Jesus where we do not want to go, of experiencing opposition, of suffering for the gospel, of dying to ourselves. And that is true. It is all here, in the coming of Mary and Joseph to present Jesus in the temple, and in the words of Simeon to Mary
But the great emphasis in these verses is the encounter of Simeon and Anna with God, and their praise.
Anna, like Simeon, has been waiting for ‘the redemption of Jerusalem’. And she praises God. In many icons of the Presentation, she is shown pointing up
Simeon takes the baby Jesus in his arms and praises God.
As I wrote this, I heard a song. The title was ‘Sing out in praise, the joy of all the world has come.’
But that is exactly what this is all about.
This is the Son of God, the child who has come to bring salvation – to set us free from sin and death, to bring forgiveness of sins, a new start, a daily new start because we are always messing up, a new life, a new way of living.
This is the child who has come to bring in the Kingdom of God, ‘the redemption of Jerusalem’. The promised Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice and security and peace and abundance and harmony, of love and laughter and creativity and joy.
This child will be a light for revelation to the Gentiles: he will show us the love of God, the way of God. He will teach us the right way to live, and give us a reason to live and strength to live. He will answer the long-prayed prayer for justice, and for vindication. He will walk with us through the hard times. He will bring people together, will unite us so that we live in harmony, as part of one another, seeking to serve one another, to build the other up – because when they are built up, we are built up. He will help us to see, to really see – the God image, the beauty in each person, in each object. He will give us a purpose – not just for us but for all creation.
He defeats evil and the devil, sin and death and invites us to share in the life of the eternal. He gives us hope. He gives glory.
And this is the God who has become one of us, a human baby, who Simeon can hold in his arms, who he can look at face to face.
The eternal God who is so holy, so other, so set apart, that his name is not a name: ‘I am who I am’. And when Moses asked to see God, God said to him, ‘Nobody can see my face and live, but you will see my back as I pass by’. When Isaiah has a vision, not of the face of God but of the glory of God, he cries out ‘Woe is me for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’
Alexander Schmemann writes in a beautiful passage about the Nunc Dimittis:
“Simeon had been waiting all his life, and then at last the Christ child was given to him: he held the Life of the World in his arms. He stood for the whole world, in its expectation and longing, and the words he used to express his thanksgiving have become our own. He could recognise the Lord, because he had expected him; He took him into his arms, because it is natural to take someone you love into your arms; And then his life of waiting was fulfilled. He had beheld the one he had longed for. He had completed his purpose in life, and he was ready to die.” (For the Life of the World, p77)
I love that.
1. Simeon recognises Jesus because he expected him.
The Holy Spirit had told him that he would see the Lord’s Messiah (King, ruler).
“It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.” Luke 2:26
We don’t know how. Maybe it was a vision or dream. But he believed God that he would not die until he saw the Messiah.
And it meant that he expected someone; he was looking for the Messiah
I strongly doubt that any of us have had a vision telling us that we will see Jesus before we die.
I do know people who have seen him (Dorothy; Jenny)
But we have the word of God, the promise of God, that Jesus has come – that Simeon held him in his arms; and that one day Jesus will come again and reveal his kingdom – present now but hidden. And everyone will see it. ‘Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father’.
But we also have the promise that the Lord Jesus is near to us now. And that through his Holy Spirit he will come to us and meet with us now.
We don’t know where or when. We can’t control him. He is the ultimate free agent.
By his grace he comes to those who do not expect him. He came to Paul on the road to Damascus
And by his grace he will come to those who are looking for him, who are crying out for him.
You may have to wait many years. You may at times be tempted to give up. I remember a friend from university who was longing for an encounter with Jesus. He had had nothing and so, he told me, a couple of years later, he had given up his faith.
If I was talking with him now, I would point him to Anna and Simeon – who had to wait so many years for the promise
And if we are looking for him, then we will see him in many different ways: a person in need, someone who offers us support, in bread and wine at the communion table, as well as in the ‘spiritual experience’.
Some of you may know Tolstoy’s story of the old shoemaker.
He is told in a dream on Christmas eve that he will see Jesus. And so on Christmas day, he prepares a feast, and keeps looking out of his window for his special guest.
He doesn’t see Jesus, but he does see a street sweeper and gives him a hot drink; he sees a young mother with her baby and invites them in for something to eat and gives the baby a brand new pair of shoes; and at the end of the day, when Jesus had not come, he sees the beggars and he gives them the food.
He goes to bed deeply disappointed: Jesus, he said, you said you would come but you did not. But then he wakes up and knows that he is not alone in his room. And he cries out, ‘who are you?’
“Then another voice answered him. It was the voice from his dream -- the voice of Jesus.
"I was hungry and you fed me," he said. "I was naked and you clothed me. I was cold and you warmed me. I came to you today in everyone of those you helped and welcomed."
Then all was quiet and still. Only the sound of the big clock ticking. A great peace and happiness seemed to fill the room, overflowing Papa Panov's heart until he wanted to burst out singing and laughing and dancing with joy.”
Jesus will come to us, but we need to be expectant.
2. Simeon takes Jesus into his arms and looks into his face
Some of the icons of the presentation focus on this: the face to face encounter of the Son of God and Simeon. The Russian name for this festival is сретение and it means 'meeting'.
We speak a great deal about costly obedience to God and Christ, of following Jesus where we do not want to go, of experiencing opposition, of suffering for the gospel, of dying to ourselves. And that is true. It is all here, in the coming of Mary and Joseph to present Jesus in the temple, and in the words of Simeon to Mary
But the great emphasis in these verses is the encounter of Simeon and Anna with God, and their praise.
Anna, like Simeon, has been waiting for ‘the redemption of Jerusalem’. And she praises God. In many icons of the Presentation, she is shown pointing up
Simeon takes the baby Jesus in his arms and praises God.
As I wrote this, I heard a song. The title was ‘Sing out in praise, the joy of all the world has come.’
But that is exactly what this is all about.
This is the Son of God, the child who has come to bring salvation – to set us free from sin and death, to bring forgiveness of sins, a new start, a daily new start because we are always messing up, a new life, a new way of living.
This is the child who has come to bring in the Kingdom of God, ‘the redemption of Jerusalem’. The promised Kingdom of God, a kingdom of justice and security and peace and abundance and harmony, of love and laughter and creativity and joy.
This child will be a light for revelation to the Gentiles: he will show us the love of God, the way of God. He will teach us the right way to live, and give us a reason to live and strength to live. He will answer the long-prayed prayer for justice, and for vindication. He will walk with us through the hard times. He will bring people together, will unite us so that we live in harmony, as part of one another, seeking to serve one another, to build the other up – because when they are built up, we are built up. He will help us to see, to really see – the God image, the beauty in each person, in each object. He will give us a purpose – not just for us but for all creation.
He defeats evil and the devil, sin and death and invites us to share in the life of the eternal. He gives us hope. He gives glory.
And this is the God who has become one of us, a human baby, who Simeon can hold in his arms, who he can look at face to face.
The eternal God who is so holy, so other, so set apart, that his name is not a name: ‘I am who I am’. And when Moses asked to see God, God said to him, ‘Nobody can see my face and live, but you will see my back as I pass by’. When Isaiah has a vision, not of the face of God but of the glory of God, he cries out ‘Woe is me for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!’
And now God has come to us, not as fire in a burning bush, not as darkness, thunder and lightning, not even as an unseen voice that booms from the heavens – but as a human child. Simeon holds him in his arms and looks into his face. And he loves him and praises God.
3. Simeon’s life of waiting was fulfilled. He beheld the one he had longed for
The Nunc Dimittis is the hymn of the end
It is often used at the end of traditional funeral services as the coffin is taken out of the church
It is the hymn of the end of the day. It is said or sung at evening prayer daily.
It is very appropriate and very special.
Simeon sees Jesus; he knows that everything is going to be OK, that God’s word has been fulfilled, and he can die in peace.
“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word’ (v29)
Last week I was 60.
I think it is the human condition to feel much younger than our actual years. Our mental age rather lags behind our physical age! I feel 50, whatever that means. And I hope and pray that there will still be quite a few years of active work and service ahead of me.
But 60 is one of those milestones on the journey of life which, even if you feel much younger, as someone very kindly put it – I have become an ‘old codger’.
When you are younger you push the idea of death away, but as you grow older – you begin to have to face up to the reality of death.
Our society is not good at facing up to death. We do everything we can to avoid facing the reality of death. And of course the process of growing older or of dying is not always a good experience.
But, for the person who is looking for Jesus, death need hold no terrors.
Simeon has seen Jesus. He knows that Messiah has come, that God’s kingdom will come. He knows that everything will ultimately be OK.
So there is no fear. There is peace, there is hope, there is light and there is glory.
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