Christmas 1 - Luke 2:22-40

If you ever saw salvation, what would it look like? I suppose that would all depend on what you need salvation from.
In the weeks leading up to Christmas the weather conditions around the country left people in need of some sort of salvation or another. Ice storms in the north east left people without electricity for more than 2 weeks. Some were sleeping in shelters, others searched for warmth inside their cars, all were hoping for some sort of salvation from the cold. If your problem is downed power lines due to icy cold weather, salvation comes in the form of a work crew from the electric company.
And then there were those who were left stranded in airports, unable to fly out due to the severe weather conditions. Many had no where to go, they were simply stuck in the airport until the runway could be cleared enough to safely take off. Many were hoping to get out of the airport and get home to their families in time for Christmas. If you are stranded in an airport, I suppose salvation would come in the form of a Jet sitting on the runway fueled and ready for takeoff. It all depends on what you need to be saved from.
While many people need to be saved from many different sorts of things – the greatest need that we have and the biggest danger that we face is one that holds true across the board for every man, woman and child. The greatest thing that we need to be saved from - is sin. We need to be delivered from sin: both the sin that lives in the world around us and the sin that lives inside of us. If we are not delivered from this universal problem of sin it will most definitely be the death of us. The New Testament book of Hebrews even tells us that death is born from sin.
So if your biggest problem is sin, what does salvation look like? For Simeon, the Old Prophet who found Mary and Joseph in the temple, for Anna the prophetess who came after him, and for you and me, salvation looks like the little baby Jesus. An infant carried in the arms of a poor young first-time mother as she and her husband brought this baby to the temple for his purification. I guess it all depends on what you need to be saved from…
At the time of Jesus’ birth, lots of people were looking to be saved from lots of different things, most were looking for God to save them from political enemies. Simeon and Anna were looking for God to save them from sin. This little baby carried to the temple came for that distinct purpose.
You might think that it was strange for a prophet to look for a savior from sin at the temple. After all, the temple is the place for sinners. It is where sinners go to get right with God. You would hope that your savior is not also someone who himself needs saving. After all, a life guard who is drowning won’t do you much good, neither will it do you any good to discover that your surgeon was occupying the bed adjacent to yours in the hospital. You need a savior who can overcome your situation. So what was the savior doing at the temple?
Perhaps you did not realize that was what the temple was for – it was the place to go when you need to be saved. That is what church is for. It the place you go when you need to be saved. And what do we need saving from? Why SIN of course. What you and I need to be saved from – more than weather, more than the economy, more than taxes, more than cancer, more than homework or relationships or anything else – what we need to be saved from is sin because we need to be saved from death. So what was the savior doing at the temple?
The savior, Jesus, the newborn baby was wasting no time in getting starting on your salvation. He was starting as soon as possible. He started right away. As soon as the law that God gave for sinners commanded fulfillment, Jesus got started accomplishing it for you.
Jesus was a baby. He was a perfect baby –what you and I should have been but were not, and indeed are not. And Jesus was brought to the temple where God commanded all sinful babies should be brought. They should be carried here 8 days after they were born so that they could be purified. So that God could mark them for salvation from their sin. But Jesus had no sin. He was not there for himself. Jesus was there for us!
Not too different from what we have done here. Dustin Blair brought his two children, Dillon and Jade here before the altar of God so that he and his daughter and his son could be marked for God’s salvation. So that God could claim them back from the sin that they were born into. Jesus the sinless one, allowed himself to be treated as a sinner so that he could be the sacrifice for sinners.
Simeon knew that. He saw the baby wrapped up and swaddled the way any baby would be, but it was revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that this baby was different. That this baby was special. That this baby did not need to be brought to the temple but that he would come anyway so that he could be the salvation from sin that the world has needed since she first fell into sin.
Simeon walked up to that child, and Simeon the sinner who was there at the temple looking to be saved from his sin made his confession of Faith – Lord I can now die in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation. Some of you are going to make that confession in a few minutes. You will stand up in front of the Altar of God because you are sinners who need saving and you say that your eyes have seen the salvation that God has prepared for you.
The other night, in our Children’s Christmas program several of you may have noticed that as the Children sang their one of their songs, I was taking some items from the manger and placing them on the altar. You may not have noticed, and if you did notice it might have been hard to see what those things were. Those things were a Bible, a Baptismal shell, and a Communion Chalice and Patten – (the cup and the plate that holds the Lord’s Supper). Simeon saw God’s salvation and for him it looked like a baby boy. You and I also see God’s salvation and what we see is the salvation that baby boy has prepared for us. We see His Word. We see His baptism. We see His supper. And so we SEE His salvation.
That salvation has come to you.