The child’s father and mother marvelled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
This passage really shifts gears.
Up until now, it’s been relatively cute and cuddly with a new born baby, angels and a big star in the sky. Sure, it wasn’t sunshine and rainbows, but it also wasn’t like this.
After Simeon prophesies that the baby, Jesus is the way to salvation, light and revelation, he suddenly inserts just how divisive Jesus will be as he grows up.
There is no middle ground with this Jesus man. You either rise with him or you fall. There’s no fence sitting, Simeon tells us.
Not only that, but there will also be those who continually speak against Jesus. They will belittle him, scoff at him, mock him and completely ignore him. Then they will kill him.
And why will they do this?
Because Jesus will expose them. And nobody wants that.
Jesus brings light and revelation into the darkness. Those who like their darkness do not want his lamp to show their filth.
And I understand it. I don’t want to think about just how much of a sinner I am. Nobody does. But we need to, if we are ever going to do business with our Heavenly Father, God.
Because we are all sinners. Jesus’ birth, life and ministry makes that clear. He is God’s rescue plan. If we didn’t need saving, God wouldn’t have made a way out.
But because we do need to escape from sin and death, there is a rescue plan.
The problem started all the way back in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve ignored God’s instructions and instead did want they wanted, tempted by a snake in the grass.
And there’s been nothing new under the sun ever since. Just mutton dressed up as lamb; a snake in the grass 2.0 style.
Plenty of people have a variety of ideas about what God is like and what he thinks about our ignoring Him. Some people think He doesn’t care or doesn’t have the power to care.
They couldn’t be further from the truth. God cares more than we might imagine about the way in which humanity has ignored Him.
In fact, God is angry with sin. God has a hot wrath which He will pour out on all those who refuse to acknowledge their sin and turn their lives around to living his way.
Truly living his way. Not just posturing or pretence, because God sees through that. But by soft hearts that lead to people truly changing their lives so that they become in line with God’s instructions for living.
That’s why God sent Jesus as a baby on the first Christmas. Because on the first Easter, Jesus would be the sacrifice that turned away God’s wrath from humanity.
Because the wrath must be dealt with and Jesus stood in our place.
If this all sound a little too theological and you’d prefer something a bit more creative, here’s a poem I wrote many years ago after meeting with a spiritual mentor and exploring this very idea: that God turns his wrath away from us and places it on Jesus instead.
Lessons with Penny
With the words, ‘Let there be light’
From the corners of eternity erupts creation.
With boundless imagination creatures are formed
Intricately moulded, and humanity itself-
The divine maker bestows his image
Upon those as lowly as us.
Yet his heart broke as those he loved turned him down
A love story gone wrong
A rejection, a refusal, a denial of the created order
The offer of life, a life together
Everything that you’d ever desire
But the words, ‘No thanks’ chucked back in his face.
Such was our debt that formed God’s anger
Which only by blood could be calmed
Jailed, locked in our sin
With no method for salvation
But due to love God took our form in his creation
And through death removed his own anger
A new life, a new offer,
A reworking of the old.
The same love story
Swirled out onto a new canvas
With the beauty of sorrow and the open arms of desire.
A love that never refuses those who seek it.
Yours with a painted canvas,
Alison
