A Sign Opposed

Welcome to the teaching ministry of Kungsvinger Lutheran Church. Kungsvinger is a beacon for the gospel of Jesus Christ and is located on the plains of northwestern Minnesota. We proclaim Christ and Him crucified for our sins and salvation by grace through faith alone.

And now, here's a message from Pastor Chris Roseberg. The Holy Gospel according to.

The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple

St. Luke, the second chapter. When the time came for the purification according to the law of Moses, Mary and Joseph brought Jesus up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord as it is written in the law of the Lord.

Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. And to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.

And this man was righteous and devout waiting for the consolation of Israel. And the Holy Spirit was upon him and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

And he came in the Spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, he took him up in his arms and he blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word.

For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples. A light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of your people Israel. And his father and mother marveled at what was said about him.

And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and the rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed. And a sword will pierce through your own soul also so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin and then as a widow until she was 84.

She did not depart from the temple worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Israel.

And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him.

This is the gospel of the Lord. In the name of Jesus. So, Christ is born. We've heard the angel proclaim the great news that unto you is born a Savior. But in today's gospel text there is, how do they put it in one of the Disney theme parks, there is an air of foreboding.

Ah, you'll note that that's part of what's going on here. And so to understand theologically what it is exactly that is going on in our gospel text, we look at our epistle text. This is kind of a good rule of thumb.

And that is that oftentimes the narrative doesn't give us the theology. Sometimes it hints at it. So when we have a historical narrative text, oftentimes we need to rely on clear passages, oftentimes found in the epistles that will lay out the theology of what's going on.

So here again our epistle text. When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem those who were under the law. And so when we talk about obedience to God's law, we make a careful distinction.

We recognize that Christ not only had to obey God's law actively, and he did, there are parts of God's law that you can only obey passively. And you'll note that he did. His parents did it for him. That's kind of the interesting thing.

If Mary and Joseph had not been people of faith, well then Christ would not have been able to fulfill the passive requirements of God's law. You'll note at this point in our narrative, we've fast forward a little bit, and Jesus is five and a half weeks old.

Now have you ever noticed that young parents, when they have an infant for the first time, they do this really obnoxious thing. And I did it too, my wife did it. We're over it. But they always refer to the age of their children in weeks.

I'd like to see you figure out how many weeks old your 12 year old is. How old's your baby? Oh, he's 16 weeks old. And you're going, and I don't do math, so it's like, just tell me how many, give me something a little bit that I can understand.

But you'll note that at five and a half weeks old, infants can only do several important activities. They can eat, they can fill diapers, and they can sleep. There's crying involved too, but I just sometimes wonder if it's right to think about Jesus as crying a lot as an infant.

I just don't see him colicky. You get what I'm saying. So for Jesus, we'll say that he eats, he fills diapers, and he sleeps. Rinse, wash, repeat. So there's not much that he's able to do except for those things.

So that being the case, the requirements of the law require that he be presented in the temple, and you'll note that in our narrative that the offering that was given by Mary and Joseph was the poverty offering that is allowed by the Mosaic Covenant.

And that's an important bit because we recognize through this that well, Mary and Joseph are far from rich. They are not people of means at all. In fact, they can't even afford a lamb. But when Christ is presented in the temple, we noted on Christmas Eve that it was as if the angels could not be quiet.

The Son of God has been born in Bethlehem, and we are steeped in sin and darkness, and so it's like the angels couldn't keep quiet, so they had to just let the information out of the bag and praise God in the process.

And now on the presentation of our Lord, we see that, well, the Holy Spirit can't keep quiet now. So he sends two prophets in. These are two of the last prophets of the Old Testament. You'll note that there's a 400-year silence in Scripture.

There were no prophets in Israel from the close of the prophet Malachi all the way up to Simeon and Anna. Kind of an interesting thing. The Holy Spirit is silent. And now that Christ, the Son of God, the promised one, the one prophesied in the prophets, has appeared, now two of the last prophets of the Old Testament.

The final, final one being John the Baptist. He's the last of the Old Testament prophets and the first of the evangelists. He kind of has one foot in each of the Old Testament and New Testament. But all that being said, it's the prophet Simeon we're going to focus a little bit more on today than Anna.

And you'll note that Simeon, he gives an amazing thing, a prophecy regarding Christ and an amazing blessing. And then there's this dark era foreboding word that he gives as well. And I would note that we're all familiar with the fact, especially if you've had children, that when you take an infant out in public, like it's time to do some grocery shopping and things like this, there are a lot of people who are complete strangers who want to see the baby.

This is a normal thing. And so many people, they come out of the woodwork and they will say, oh, what a cute little baby! How old is the baby? Oh, what a precious little thing! And I've got to admit that at that time, I was a little bit nervous.

But not for the reason that you would think. I was never really worried that somebody was going to take my infant child and run away. I wasn't worried about that. In fact, it was a little bit more practical.

Think of it this way. The transition from being a young single male to being a married man, big transition. Less than a year later, first child shows up. That is a huger transition because babies require a lot of work.

And here's the thing. Your life goes from being single, being able to do whatever you want, to now have to considering the needs and desires of your wife, to now you have, well, a child that can't keep things down.

Your life is filled 24 -7 with bodily fluids. And oftentimes, they don't smell very well. There's spewy rags. There's diapers. You get what I'm saying. And so I was always worried that when some stranger would come up and say, oh, let me see the baby.

My fear was that my infant child would spew all over them and I would have the glorious task of helping to clean up a perfect stranger because my child has left lunch on their clothes. And so whenever we had an encounter with a stranger, I was always thrilled when they got away without being harmed in any way, thinking, whew, dodged a bullet there.

So you get the idea. So this is the age that Christ is. But I'll say this. I've never heard anybody say anything even remotely approaching what we hear Simeon say of Jesus. So we'll pick up in chapter 2, verse 25.

Here's what it says. There was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon. This man was righteous and he was devout. Now, real quick, to be declared righteous by God, that only happens by faith. So we recognize that his devotion and his piety is due to the fact that he is a man of faith whose sins are forgiven.

He is one who has the same faith as Abraham. And his life then shows also in his pious devotion. That's the idea. The two go together. We have pious devotion without faith. That is works, righteousness, and self-righteousness.

And that is not the kind of righteousness that God recognizes or requires. So we'll note that by Scripture saying that he was righteous and devout, we can see his faith by his works. So he was waiting for the consolation of Israel.

And we'll note that we have something in common with Simeon. We are not presently waiting for the consolation of Israel. That was accomplished by Christ on the cross. Instead, we are waiting for the consummation of Israel.

The second advent of Christ in his glorious appearing. And for Christ to once and for all put an end to sin, death, the devil, and the reign and tyranny of the dragon. You get the idea here. So, the Holy Spirit was upon him, the text says, and it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.

So he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child to do for him according to the custom of the law, again note they are doing these things required. Christ is passively obeying the law here.

He took him up in his arms and he blessed God and he said, Now, Lord, you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all people, alike for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory of your people Israel.

Amazing words if you consider it here. He is saying that his own eyes have seen his salvation that this child is a light. He is the light of darkness and that this light will shine even for revelation to the Gentiles who are steeped in idolatry and in the darkness of sin and that he himself, this infant that looks just like every other five and a half week old infant is the actual glory of the people of Israel.

Nobody has ever said that of any of my infants. In fact, strangers usually say things like, Oh, look at what strong hands he has. He might grow up to be a boxer. There's no boxers in my family. I don't know what you're talking about.

Oh, look at those strong legs that he has. I bet he's going to play football. We don't let our kids play football. We want them to not get a neck injury. We're prone to accidents. They say things like this, but this is something totally different.

Over the top, if you would. One that we might want to consider the very sign here that is for us. And you know, these words are so vital. They get wrapped up into our liturgy, into the words of the Noctamitus that Jesus Christ, even though he is an infant, he is our very salvation.

And although we have not seen him with our eyes, we have seen him with the eyes of our faith which some Lutheran theologians like to say are firmly plugged into our ears. Your faith comes by hearing. Hearing by the word of Christ.

In other words, seeing is not believing. Hearing is believing. And so here the Holy Spirit has proclaimed who Christ is. But remember scripture says in order for something to be established it has to be established by the testimony of two or more witnesses.

That's where Anna will come in just a little bit later. So he is our salvation. He is the light and the darkness, even for the revelation of God to the Gentiles and the very glory of the people of Israel.

Christ the Sign Opposed and the Stumbling Stone

And now the prophecy takes a little bit of a darker turn. And so his father and his mother, they marveled at what was said about Jesus. And then Simeon blessed them and he said to Mary, his mother, behold this child is appointed for the fall and the rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed.

So much for glory to God in the highest and peace on earth, goodwill towards men. A sign that is to be opposed. And we're going to note here, we'll do a little bit of work on this, that here the prophet Simeon the Holy Spirit is having him highlight some of the more, well, stern warnings given regarding this child that are found in scripture.

For instance, in the prophet Isaiah, we are all familiar with those two prophecies. One in Isaiah 7 and one in Isaiah 9. One talking about the fact that the Messiah would be born of the virgin. The other that he would be, well, that unto us a child would be born and government would be upon his shoulders.

But in chapter 8, Isaiah gives us a prophecy that's between those two very famous Christmas prophecies. One that I think is being invoked here in this prophecy of Simeon. And here's what it says. Isaiah 8, verse 14.

He will become a sanctuary and a stone of a fence and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel. A trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it. And they shall fall and be broken and they shall be snared and taken.

What does that mean? We've all heard the phrase that Christ is the cornerstone that was rejected and that he is the one on which men would stumble. And here's where we have to pay careful attention to what other passages of scripture reveal regarding the fact that, well, that Christ is a sign that is a sign of offense and that will cause people to stumble.

Because what is lurking behind this? What is lurking behind this warning is kind of twofold, if you would. One is that you are going to be offended by the fact that God has sent us salvation starting off in a tiny little baby who needs one of those.

They're totally dependent. And what we really need is a hero. But then you'll note that Christ's life is not exemplified by comparing him to a warrior. He is not a man who wields a sword well. He does not know the best karate on planet earth.

He is not like the heroes that we exemplify and we glorify. He's the farthest thing from a Marvel comic hero. Instead, Christ wins and defeats evil by losing, by dying, by suffering in our place. It doesn't seem practical at all.

And everybody, when they're in the middle of an awful circumstance, oftentimes come up with solutions that they think will get them out of the problem that they are in. Well, have you ever noticed that all of the solutions presented to solve the problem of the world?

You know, because what's happening in the world? Well, we've got poverty. We have sickness. We have inequality among the economic classes. I'm speaking like a communist at the moment. And also, you'll note then that you have people of different races and colors who are not able to have access to the world's resources like other people in the Western nations.

And so there is discontent. There is disharmony. There is hatred. There is discord. And what is the solution oftentimes presented? Well, the socialists and the communists would say, what we need to do is blow apart all of these class distinctions and equally distribute the world's resources so that everybody can share equally.

How's that work out? It never works out well. It's a bad solution. And not only is that a bad solution because basically it's a breaking of the commandment, thou shall not steal, under the guise of governmental control.

It never works out that way because the solution is not inequality. The problem is not inequality. The problem is sin. These are all the different consequences of sin. And so over and again when we see people try to tinker and come up with their own solutions, oftentimes along with those solutions will come really horrific costs.

Well, in order to build this new society where everybody will live peacefully, prosperously, we've got to get rid of this one and anybody who's holding on to this one, we're just going to have to round them up and shoot them or gas them.

It never works out well, right? These are horrible solutions. And so what happens is when you think you can solve these problems, the solution you come up with, you're going to defend that solution jealously, idolatrously.

And as a result of that, when God presents his solution, which is that his son would leave the throne of God, humble himself and be found in the form of a slave, a servant, an infant, a child and that this is God's solution, you're going to basically say, this is nuts.

And you're going to reject it. But in so rejecting, you've proven a couple of things. Number one, and you'll see this in scripture, the text that I bring up next. In rejecting this solution, you have proven that you are not a person of faith.

You despise the word of God. And number two, you desire evil. That despite all of your claims to caring only about having a better world for everybody, what you're really trying to do is make a better world for yourself.

That's really what it boils down to. Here's our cross references for this, by the way. In the book of 1 Corinthians 10, we read and this is one of those passages that helps us recognize how the Old Testament that these are prototypes, types and shadows that we are to pay attention to that point us to Christ.

In 1 Corinthians 10 it says, I don't want you to be unaware, brothers, that our fathers were all under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ.

So here we see that, well, the crossing of the Red Sea, that's baptism that took place. And oh, by the way, that really happened. It's not some legend. And that the spiritual food that they ate, you know, the manna, what is it from heaven?

That's a type and shadow of the Lord's Supper. And that baptism here is also kind of referenced in the water that came from the split rock at Horeb. And it says in the text that the rock was Christ. And you sit there and go, how is that even possible?

How can Jesus be a rock? Well, that's what the text says. And so you'll note that there's a warning then associated with this concept of Christ being the rock, because whenever Christ is mentioned as a rock, there's always the offense then of the cross lurking just behind the illusion.

Nevertheless, with most of them, it says, God was not pleased and they were overthrown in the wilderness. And now these things took place as examples for us that we might not desire evil as they did. Do not be idolaters as some of them were, as it is written, the people sat down to eat and to drink and rose up and play.

We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did and 23 ,000 fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents or grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer.

You're kind of getting the picture here. So one of the ways in which, well, Christ is a rock of offense is due to the fact that we desire evil. And you sit there and go, but wait a second, Pastor, didn't we just confess our sins at the beginning of the service?

Yes, we did. And so we recognize then that when it comes to recognizing the desire for evil, it is best for us to not focus on the folks out there. It's best for us to focus on all the different ways in which each of us still to this day desire evil because we have a sinful nature.

And that sinful nature really is not keen on Christ, keen on God's solution, and really is going to help you stumble over Christ if you keep listening to it rather than to God and His Word. And this is a warning here for us.

And so we recognize then that we have this proclivity to water down, to justify, to make light of our own sinful desires. But you'll note that here our own sinful desires are brought up in very large detail here.

And the warning here is that Christ is the stumbling block for those who pursue and desire evil but have no faith and do not recognize that those desires in and of themselves are sinful that need to be forgiven.

The other text then in this regard is found in 1 Peter 2. And here in this section of Scripture, Peter writes to us under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

He says,.

And so here now Christ, the sign to be opposed is mentioned again. The stone that was rejected by men. You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood to offer sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

For it stands in Scripture, behold I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious. And here are the words that comfort us. Whoever believes in him will not be put to shame. That's you, me, anybody.

So the honor is for you who believe. But for those who do not believe the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone and a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense. And so here we see what is it that causes people to stumble?

Well the text says they stumble because they disobey the word as they were destined to do. And we would pay close attention then that there are many deceivers who have gone out into the world that would lead us to believe that God winks at or doesn't care about sin anymore.

That all of the commandments found in the Scriptures regarding idolatry, regarding sexual picadillos, at least that's how they describe them in order to dilute them. That all of these people claim that we're in a new era and that God is just love, love, love, love, love, love, love.

Well God truly is love. But you'll note that this Jesus Christ he took our sins upon himself in order to redeem us and to reconcile us to God so that we can be forgiven. To deny that sin is sin, to somehow pursue sin and disobey the word all under the pretense of being a Christian, well you have stumbled over the stumbling stone.

Because the stumbling stone says to you to renounce your sin, to repent of it and to be forgiven of it. This is why everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. But people who disobey the word, who pursue evil and try to justify it, they take the word of God, cast it behind them as if it doesn't matter today and go on and just give lip service to Christ but by doing so they have committed idolatry and they have pursued evil and they themselves have rejected the cornerstone.

Well that sounds very narrow. Indeed it is. Simeon's prophecy then continues. Behold this child is appointed for the fall and the rising of many in Israel, a sign that is opposed. And then he says to Mary and a sword will pierce you through your own soul also so that the thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.

I think this is a direct reference to the fact that Mary herself, the Holy Spirit warned her in advance that she would be at the foot of the cross while her son was bleeding and dying for her sins, for my sins, and for your sins.

And I think one of the most breathtakingly awful and beautiful pieces of artwork in Western civilization is called the Pieta. It is a depiction in marble of Mary holding the corpse of Christ at the foot of the cross.

And every time I see that piece of artwork I struggle. And I can hear again that hymn that we sang on Christmas Eve, nails, spears will pierce them through, the cross he bore for me, for you. Hail, hail the word made flesh, the babe, the son of Mary.

I can't help but hear it. And so here this is the warning for her because Mary, like you and I, she's a sinner. She needs to be redeemed. I know that Rome says that she was sinless when she conceived Christ.

But this is not what the scriptures teach. She died just like the rest of us. And that proves that she is a sinner. And she needed to be bled for and died for and she was given the privilege of watching the awful affair of what it costs to have your sins placed on Christ and for him to be the victim rather than you.

And so a sword definitely did pierce her through. She witnessed our salvation. She witnessed this babe of hers grow into a man and then she witnessed as the religious leaders of Israel refused to believe in him, slanderously accused him of blasphemy and then crucified him on the cross.

She witnessed it all. And yet that sword piercing her through, I'm sure, left her desire for sin to be well, no longer quite the same. And it should also do the same for us. And so note then Christ has bled and died for us.

And this is what our epistle text was getting at, talking about the passive obedience of Christ. Again, when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his son, born of the woman, born of the virgin Mary, under the law in order to redeem those who were under the law so that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Each and every one of us under the dominion of darkness, slaves to sin, death, and the devil, Christ has come and redeemed us, paid the purchase price to set us free from slavery to these things. And God has not just set us free, he has adopted us, written us into the will, and because of this he has sent the Holy Spirit into our hearts in the waters of baptism.

And that Holy Spirit within us cries to God, Abba, Father. In fact, Christ taught us to pray, our Father who art in heaven. And only those who have been forgiven and granted eternal life dare pray that God is their Father.

All of this given as a gift. And so Paul then writes, you are no longer a slave, but you are a son. And if you are a son, then you are an heir through God. But the text continues then in the gospel. The prophetess Anna is there.

This is a woman who is of the daughter of Phanuel. An interesting note of the tribe of Asher. Wait a second, huh? Asher? Wasn't that one of the ten tribes of Israel that got scraped out of the northern kingdom and dispersed off into the world?

Interesting that the tribe of Asher is mentioned here because technically she shouldn't be there. She, I think, prophetically points to the fact that God is gathering up the lost sheep, the dispersed sheep of Israel.

And she's kind of the first fruits of the ten tribes that have been lost in order to proclaim the grace, the mercy, the wonders of God. She was advanced in years. So she's an octogenarian, 84 years old from the time and she had only been married to her husband for seven years and she was a widow.

She did not depart from the temple worshipping and fasting with prayer day and night. She was a regular at church. Everybody knew her. She knew everybody. And so she was the one who was very well connected.

And coming up at that very hour having seen Christ, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of Him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. And she knew who they were. I've seen Him.

I've seen Him. You're waiting for the redemption of Israel. He's here. The Messiah is here. She's out proclaiming the wonders of God and they're sitting there scratching their head going, where? Where is He?

Is He wearing armor? What's He wearing? Diapers. He's wearing diapers. What? Right? But that's the point. This is established then by two witnesses. And it's Origen, the church father, who notes the fact that because both a male prophet and a female prophet here proclaim Christ when He's presented in the temple that that proves definitively that God has sent His Son for both men and women, all of us, to redeem us all from sin and to save us.

And so the text then continues and concludes, Christ kept the law perfectly for us, actively and passively. They then returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew, became strong, filled with wisdom.

And the favor of God was upon Him. And indeed it was because Christ never deviated from obeying the law. He was tempted in every way that you and I have been tempted and yet is without sin. And the favor of God remained upon Him.

And now that favor of God is granted to us by grace through faith because the Savior that we were not looking for, the solution that we could not even possibly imagine, the right one, was given to us by God in sending us a baby, an infant, who would grow, bleed, and die for us.

So that rather than receive the wrath of God by grace through faith because of God's grace, mercy, and love, we instead receive from God His favor as well. All because the stumbling stone has been born.

He will be rejected, but He has become the cornerstone. So do not be offended that God has sent you an infant. It's the infant that you need. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

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