Luke 2:21-38 - Homiletics

The circumcision and presentation in the temple.

I. THE CIRCUMCISION . With regard to the circumcision, observe:

1 . The Son of God is not only "made of a woman," he is " made under the Law ." He is entered into all the requirements and circumstances of the covenant "with Abraham and his seed." The apostle tells us why—"to redeem them that were under the Law." Christ took the bond under which Israel was bound, and became Israel's Surety for it. Now it is ended. There is a new form of righteousness in which the wall of partition between Jew and Gentile is removed. The apostle adds ( Galatians 4:6 ), "To redeem them that were under the Law, that we"— i.e. as many as have been baptized into Christ, Jew or Greek, bond or free—"might receive the adoption of sons." This adoption is now the standing through grace.

2 . The circumcision has its special place in the making of Jesus by God to us Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, Redemption . It is an evidence that the Son of God was sent "in the likeness of sinful flesh." Circumcision supposed its subject to be a sinner. It supposed that a condemnation rested on him as such. The Lord Jesus, God's beloved Son, therefore took the sinner's place, and in the drops of blood shed on the eighth day after birth served himself, as it were, the heir to the condemnation of sin. Of this condemnation he spoke when he bowed his head on the cross and said, "It is finished!"

3 . The circumcision has its special meaning with regard to the spiritual history of believers . See in this connection Colossians 2:10 , "You Christians"—thus we may paraphrase the sentence—"have, through your union with Christ, the reality of circumcision. When you gave yourselves to Christ, a work was done in you which was equal to the sharp and painful renunciation—the putting off—of the body of flesh, of that mind of the flesh with its affections and lusts which is enmity against God. It was through the repentance wrought in you that you became partakers of the remission of sins. When you were buried with Christ in baptism, your old, unbelieving self was circumcised to the Lord. You found the new position, the new life, that is complete in Christ. (For the manifold suggestiveness of the circumcision of the infant Jesus, read Keble's hymn in his 'Christian Year.')

II. THE PRESENTATION . The forty days of purification prescribed by the Law of Moses having been accomplished, Joseph and Mary bring the Babe to Jerusalem, to present him to the Lord. As Mary's Firstborn, he must be formally separated. And in the narrative of this separation we are reminded of the lowly condition of the parents. Not the lamb and the pigeon, but the two young pigeons allowed in cases of poverty, constitute the sacrifice, so low had he stooped whose place is the bosom of the Father. Look at the welcome prepared for Christ as he is borne in Mary's loving arms into his Father's temple.

1 . Think first of the man by whom the welcome is expressed . He is called simply "a man in Jerusalem." Not the priests. In connection with the infancy we trace three acts of adoration—that of the shepherds, that of Simeon and Anna, and that of the heathen Magi. In all there is no representation of the circles of authority; at least, there is no dwelling on the importance of those through whom the homage is shown. The tribute of the human heart is sufficient for the Son of man. Of this man we know nothing more than is told us by St. Luke. His name is Simeon. He is (verse 25) "righteous and devout, one of those who looked for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit is upon him." The character—all that is memorable—is summed up in the title he himself takes (verse 29), "Thy servant." For years he has been looking—a sharer in the expectation which had become earnest and eager among the pious. But he thinks and prays and hopes in a light that is peculiar to himself. Somehow—we are not told how—the intimation has been borne into his soul (verse 26) that "he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ." Is not the picture of this "watcher for the morning "a beautiful one? Do we not seem to see him, weary of the word-wranglings, the fightings over pin-points of ceremonial, which abounded, piercing through the hypocrisies with which the religious world was honeycombed; amid confusions becoming worse confounded, breathing the prayer, "O thou Hope of Israel, come quickly"? Is not this man an example to us? Is not this present time the watch-night to Christ's people? Are we watching as he watched—"not asleep in sin, but diligent in the Lord's service, and rejoicing in his praises"?

2 . Regard next the scene in which the welcome is given . The watcher is in the temple—there in the spirit of David's psalm, "That I may dwell in the courts of the. Lord, beholding the beauty of the Lord, and inquiring in his temple." He is there led by the Spirit. When "two unnoted worshippers" enter, his eye fixes on the two; faster beats the heart, "It is he; that child is he—the Lord's Christ." An incident that is indelibly photographed in the heart of Christendom is that in which the venerable seer takes the Babe in his arms, and lifts his eyes to heaven "in prayers that struggle with his tears."

3 . Observe the song , the familiar "Nunc dimittis." What sweetness, what beauty in this, the "swan-song" of the Christian Church as it has been called!

4 . Mark the prediction addressed to Mary .

5 . The sketch of Anna the prophetess is the concluding and consummating feature of the day . She, too, is an interesting person. A widow, after seven years of married life, and now "advanced in many days" (verse 36), at least four score and four. Devout, almost an inmate of the temple, and recognized as a prophetess. She, too, has her thanksgiving, as she comes in "at that very hour." But the notable circumstance in regard to her is that she is the first preacher of Christ in the city of the great King. "She speaks of him to all them that are looking for redemption." She is the pioneer of the great host of women that publish the tidings ( Psalms 68:11 , Revised Version). In this host may many who read or hear be included!