That's What Makes You Beautiful

I had been posting sermon texts at my other blog, A Sower Went Out to Sow, which I created for a class back at The LTS. I had been planning on letting this blog, just fade away. But Sow & Sow has been uncooperative, so I have come back here. I'm going to repost what had been at Sow & Sow, and that may be the one to just fade away.

 

This is my sermon for February 3. We celebrated the Presentation of Our Lord (even tho that was 2/2) because it allowed us to hear almost all of the Nativity from Luke. So the focus of my message was from Luke 2:22-40.

While we were down in New Orleans for the National Youth Gathering, we got to hear a LOT of great music. Every night in the Superdome, where I understand there is a football game being played later today, a band of musicians set the tone for the evening. They rocked. They played of mix of contemporary Christian music, ranging from slower tempo worship songs to blasting our up tempo rocking praise anthems. We heard everything from “Jesus Loves Me,” played as a violin solo to rappers going so fast the words became a blur.

Each night, a group of dancers taught us new dance moves that were to be combined together, day after day, to become about a three minute dance routine. I think some of our kids got almost all of it down. I usually was lost after about 10 seconds. I remember there was fist pumping; I pray that there is no video. The song that the dance routine was for was by a British boy band called “One Direction,” and the song was called “What Makes You Beautiful.” The song is about a girl who does not realize that she is beautiful until the singer points it out to her in the words of the song.

When Mary, Joseph and the newborn Jesus come to the Temple complex in Jerusalem, they encounter a couple of people, Simeon and Anna. Both are described as holy people. Simeon is righteous and devout and the Holy Spirit rested on him. He had been told he would not die until he saw the Messiah. Anna was a widow and had been for probably over 60 years. She never left the Temple, but worshipped there with fasting and prayer day and night. These are faithful people. They have been waiting for God to do something great, something that will change their world. But I don’t know if they were expecting that change to come in the form of a baby.

It is forty days after Jesus’ birth, and by Jewish tradition, a new mother is considered to be unclean for that long. But now, Mary can present herself to the Temple, and for a sacrifice (the two pigeons) she can be declared clean. So the new family, Joseph, Mary and baby Jesus move on from Bethlehem to Jerusalem. While at the Temple, they also present Jesus in service to God, as all first-born males were to be presented or dedicated to God. From there, they will move back to Nazareth.

But the little family runs into Simeon. Simeon had been promised that he would see the Messiah before he died. He lived waiting for Israel to consoled, comforted, restored by God, and trusted the coming Messiah would do that. But Simeon, led by the Holy Spirit, realized when he saw the baby Jesus, that his thoughts were too small.

The Messiah wasn’t going to console Israel. The Messiah was going to console the WHOLE world. Salvation has been prepared in the presence of ALL people. ALL. People.

The people of ancient Israel knew God wanted to bring the entire world to salvation. They thought it would come through them. They would get God’s blessings and honor. Then the rest of the world would turn to them and say, “Hey, what’s going on the Israel? What do we have to do to get in on that?”

But when Simeon holds the baby, he realizes God’s plans are bigger than what Simeon and others were thinking. Much like the girl in the song, there is one idea. Israel thinks the Messiah is going to save them from Roman rule. The girl thinks that she is ordinary and not attractive. Both of them have to think bigger.

Simeon saw what only God can see,
He’ll understand that God wants us so desperately
Right now he’s looking at Christ and he can’t believe
They don’t know, no no, they don’t know he’s Our Savior,
No No, the babe’s the world Sav-av-io-or

Simeon makes two sets of blessings. The first is thanking God for allowing him to live long enough to see the Messiah. The second is directed toward Mary. Simeon tells her that her son will be responsible for the falling and rising of many in Israel, and that a sword will pierce her soul as well. In my opinion, it’s not the leveling predicted in the Magnificat and in his sermon we heard last week, but it is that those who fall into death will be raised eternally. But the rejection and suffering he will go through will break his mother’s heart.

Jesus will raise up the fallen like nobody else
Eternal life that he’ll give us makes us overwhelmed.
Mary’s heart will be broken, and it’s hard for her
That’s the sha-a-ame of being the Messiah.

Anna had been a widow for over 60 years. She had only been married for seven years. Since then, she was on her own. If she had a son, it would have been his responsibility to take care of her. Now, she lives at the Temple, day and night, fasting and praying. When she saw the infant Jesus, she spoke out to those who were waiting for Jerusalem to be redeemed. Like Simeon just before her, she told them that they were expecting too little of their God.

Jesus will light up the world like nobody else
The way that he’ll give us grace gets me overwhelmed
But he won’t save only us like you think, it’s hard to tell
They don’t know, no no, they don’t know he’ll save the world.

Just as the angels proclaimed to the shepherds that there was Good News of Great Joy for ALL the people, Simeon and Anna are proclaiming in what Israel thought was God’s dwelling place that God’s Chosen One was here to save THE WORLD. Jew and Gentile. Woman and man. A revelation to the Gentiles and bringing glory to Israel.

If everyone saw what they can see
We’d understand that he will save us so gracefully
Simeon and Anna are looking at him and can’t believe
We don’t know, no no, we don’t know he’s Our Savior.
No No, that the baby’s Our Savior.

Too often, we underestimate God and what God is capable of. Simeon and Anna should be a reminder to us all that God can do anything, and that’s what makes God beautiful.

 

 One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful