First Sunday after Christmas
Theme: ‘The deep, wide work of the Spirit’
Industrial
huge works in the west producing steel,
with the furnaces always blazing, day and night year after year,
out of that steel, the biggest ships the world had ever seen built on the
steam locomotives built for the empire, to pull trains in
and the power for all this ? from the great
Scottish coal field,
where the coal seams run right through central
in
Neil Oliver, in his TV history of
Deep seams and power.
There are deep seams running through the New Testament,
in various places we find them
coming to the surface, and these deep
seams where we find them, turn out to underlie the power that the New Testament
speaks of. We have such a deep seam of
power here in Luke’s gospel, where Luke tells us of, points us to the deep
working and power of the Holy Spirit.
And because this work is deep, we can follow it through Luke’s gospel,
and into the book of Acts, and further, if we wished.
But here’s the striking thing, though what the Holy Spirit does is deep
and of great power, yet, we first meet that work in the simplest, lowliest
things.
In the story of Simeon in the second chapter
of Luke.
There is an aura, a sense of patience and peace about this man Simeon. A good man, a man of great dignity, a man of long experience of God’s
goodness throughout his long years. The poet TS Eliot once wrote a poem
about him. Called A song for Simeon, here are a few
lines from it, with Simeon speaking:
Lord the Roman hyacinths are blooming in bowls and the winter sun creeps
by the snow hills, I have walked many years in this city kept faith and fast,
provided for the poor have given and taken honour and ease there never went any
rejected from my door...........
As we read of him in Luke’s gospel, we can see him climbing the long
stairs up to the
The
But in the midst of all this bustle and activity the Holy Spirit is
working. Not in all the
activity and business, but through this elderly man Simeon.
Simeon is a man upon whom the Spirit rests, says Luke, in verse 25. He has been
led by the Spirit to the
He takes the Messiah, in his arms
and praises the living God, blesses Mary and Joseph. And says, Lord, you may
let your servant go in peace, my life, as he says, is complete
! with my own eyes, I have seen your salvation.
He has experienced the depth of God’s love for him, the sudden bursting into
flower of God’s promise. He knows that God has been faithful, over all the long
years of watching and waiting ...........wondering each day - is this the day ? And now, all of that reaches its conclusion here, in
these moments. Wouldn’t he, wouldn’t you or I, feel, know the deepest
fulfilment in those moments ?
A man, led by the Spirit,
I wonder, can we pause here, just to think
about this.
Simeon and the Spirit
Peter tells us – that the prophets
of old, searched intently, and with the greatest care,
with the deepest longing, for
the day of Christ’s coming, as the Spirit of Christ led them, lifted their
gaze, strengthened their hope, to the day when the Lord would come, and all the
glories that would follow……….
Now, here, for Simeon, that is what is happening here.
The Spirit, in His great open ranging, global work,
has led Simeon, so that in the midst of all the throng and activity in the
we can be even more precise, the Holy Spirit here leads Simeon to
recognise in this 8 day old boy, Jesus, the Messiah, the Lord.
The New Testament declares that it is the Spirit, who in gentle
lowliness leads us, you and I to Jesus. Like Simeon, as we allow the Spirit to
lead us, to guide us, too, so we come to know Jesus, the Spirit reveals to us the meaning of
Jesus’ birth and life, the meaning of His Cross and resurrection, of His
ascending in to heaven, and His presence with us. All, all of this is ours
through the Spirit. For, the personal promise of Christ to us is this, the Spirit will lead
you into all the truth.
Simeon and old age
The church has always believed that Simeon was an older man.
And he was promised by the Lord that he would not reach the end of life
without seeing the Messiah. I wonder when that promise was given. Was it when
he was a young man ? brimming
with energy and enthusiasm, and looking forward eagerly each day, to see if
this was the day. Or was the promise given in his middle years, in the midst of
increasing difficulties and troubles, the promise given as a light to guide him ? Or was it but recently in his eighties, as he wondered
what the future now held, that suddenly the Lord spoke, touched his soul ? We don’t know. But we do know this, that on that day,
crossing the courts of the
So, the story here of Simeon shows us that there are great experiences
of faith,
and the gospel, in the later years of life...............
That faith increases in depth and knowledge as life unfolds. Our faith
in the living Lord Jesus, deep and rich, as Christ becomes all in all to us.
Faith refined in us through all the twists, turns and troubles of life. And our
hope is Simeon’s, that the best will be kept till
last. The Bible tells us of Abraham - who set out in old age - to do what ? to see new lands, new
things, to walk in faith in the promise of God.
The Bible tells us.........your young men will see visions
but, adds - Your old
men will dream dreams.
And remember those great words of Paul - though physically, he says, day
by day, we are
getting weaker, strength sometimes failing,
yet in the Spirit, he says, we are being renewed, day after day............
Whatever age we are, here is Christian hope indeed, that
God will still be working in us by His Spirit, to lead us deeper into the life
that Jesus Christ gives.
Simeon and vision of the
nations
Here, then, Simeon, in the
Time enough just to mark this............. one last thing.
Simeon’s words, with the child Jesus in his arms.........
“He will be,” says Simeon, “a light to reveal your will to the nations”
These, again, are words of the very greatest depth,
gospel seams that run deep.
This child “will be,” says Simeon, “a light to reveal your will to the nations”
For, you see, this is the very message of the prophet Isaiah about the servant of the Lord who would come: the Lord says of Him - I will put my Spirit on Him (42.1), my servant whom I uphold, my chosen one in whom I delight....He will be... a light for the nations (42.6).
The Spirit and the nations...............
All through the gospels, the work of Jesus and the work of the Spirit are inseparable,
Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism, revealed by the Spirit as the Son of God to Peter at Caesarea Philippi, and again at the Transfiguration and Jesus is the One who, as promised, will baptise with the Spirit. At the day of Pentecost, with the 12 apostles, the mother and brothers of Jesus, and 120 believers gathered, the Spirit of Jesus Christ comes and each believer is baptised in the Spirit sent by the ascended Lord Jesus Christ. Each believer, and all together are united to Jesus through the Spirit.
But then, the Book of Acts declares, there is a dramatic moment as the Spirit, like a great river behind a dam, building up and deepening, building up and deepening now bursts through and the good news of Jesus Christ floods out beyond Jerusalem, beyond Israel, and out among the nations of the world, out into the whole world, including us here this morning.
When Simeon, with the child, with Jesus in his arms,
says quietly, prays quietly,
Now, Lord, you have kept your promise,
and you may let your servant go in peace.
With my own eyes, I have seen your salvation.......
When Simeon, with the child, with Jesus in his arms,
says quietly, prays quietly,
Here, in this Child is a light to reveal your will to the
nations.......
It is us, you and me he is speaking of.........