Luke's Gospel and Simeon's Song Luke 2:25-35

Luke’s Gospel and Simeon’s Song Luke 2:25-35

Broadcast Dates: March 20 and 23, 2020 Steve DeWitt

We begin our Journey with Jesus today. I hope you have your Journey journals ready. We are also working on an online forum which would be an online discussion of the series and the readings to let you share what you are learning and how God is working in your life. So stay tuned for that.

Today as we launch, we are going to cover some introductory material and then spend the rest of our time on the song Simeon sang over the Christ child. Last weekend was a holiday and many people were gone. Our teaching last week was entitled Prequel. Jesus shows up here in Luke 1 as the Christ-child but he was prominent in the Old Testament as well. He will tell the two disciples on the road to Emmaus at the end of Luke that actually the whole Old Testament centered on Him. We asked last week, how? The unveiling of the second person of the trinity begins with a plural personal pronoun in Genesis 1, moves to a Satan head-crusher in Genesis 3, and goes from there to the Son of David, Messiah, High Priest, and all the rest. It would be very helpful to your summer with Jesus to listen to that message if you missed it.

That was the prequel; now we get into the essence of it. Bethel, are you ready?

Introduction to the Gospel of Luke

The reason we need the background of the letter is the same reason you need the background of any letter you read. To understand it there is so much to know. You have to know who wrote it. You might be like me - when I get a letter in the mail, I look immediately at the return address. Who is this from? If it’s from someone I know it’s kind of exciting; if it’s from NIPSCO, it’s not so exciting. But if it is a personal letter, when I open the letter, I am wondering, why did they write? Then I begin to read what they wrote. Who? Why? What? Who is writing and why they are writing influences how I interpret what they wrote. We’ll spend the summer on the “what” of Luke. So let’s get in our minds who wrote this and why he wrote it so that we can understand better what he wrote.

Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught. (Luke 1:1-4)

The author

Nowhere in the gospel does the author overtly identify himself by name. However, he does so subtly in volume 2. You didn’t know that there is 1 Luke and 2 Luke? This is important to realize. Those of you visiting this morning are probably thinking, Is this some kind of a cult? Let me show you, 2 Luke 1:1 (or its other name Acts 1:1):

In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the

1 apostles whom he had chosen. To them he presented himself alive after his suffering by many proofs, appearing to them during forty days and speaking about the kingdom of God. (Acts 1:1-3)

What’s repeated? Acts is written to the same guy as Luke and the same guy wrote both. That’s why I like calling it 1 Luke and 2 Luke but we’ll just call it Acts from now on. The author of Luke and Acts is pretty important if for no other reason, the sheer volume of Scripture he wrote. If you were to ask the average Christian, who wrote the most in the New Testament, they would probably answer “Paul.” Paul did write the most books (13) but there was another author who wrote more of the New Testament. Who? John? He wrote five books, but not even close. Peter? He wrote two and influenced the gospel of Mark, but he’s a lightweight in the volume category. The author who wrote more than any other is the person who wrote Luke and Acts. In fact, you could combine Peter and John and it still wouldn’t be more than the author of Luke. The gospel of Luke is the longest book in the New Testament. So whoever this guy is, he doesn’t get near the credit he deserves as the most prolific writer in the entire New Testament.

So who is he? Let’s look at a verse in 2 Luke… I mean Acts 16:10 (emphasis added) - And when Paul had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go on into Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them.

“We?” That’s first person. In other words, whoever wrote Acts was a traveling companion with Paul starting in Macedonia. The person who wrote Acts wrote Luke. So who could it be?

Paul lists his traveling companions in a few places; • Luke the beloved physician greets you, as does Demas. (Colossians 4:14) • Luke alone is with me. Get Mark and bring him with you, for he is very useful to me for ministry. (2 Timothy 4:11) • Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. (Philemon 23-24)

What is clear is that there was a guy named “Luke” who traveled with Paul. What do we learn about him? He was a physician. He was “beloved” by Paul and apparently others. Paul calls him a “fellow worker.” Just before Paul’s martyrdom in Rome, Luke is the only one with Paul. He was a dear friend to the end.

Church history helps us here because ever since the church father Origen, Dr. Luke has been identified as the author of both the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts. Dr. Luke was most likely a Gentile, the only Gentile author of any book in the Bible that we know of. This impacts much of his gospel. For example, his genealogy in chapter 3 goes back to Adam whereas Matthew writes to a Jewish audience and only goes back to Abraham. Luke avoids Jewish idioms and writes a Gentile-friendly gospel. Most importantly, he presents Jesus as the Savior of all people, not just the Jews. That’s an important truth when you are a Gentile.

As a doctor, he was an educated man. His Greek writing is of the highest quality. He was also an historian and says that he has carefully researched the life of Christ, to write what he calls “an orderly account.”

Why Luke penned his gospel

Luke states at the beginning that many had written accounts of Jesus’ life. How many of them do we still have? Four – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. At the time of Luke’s writing, probably only Mark had been written, maybe Matthew. We know this because Mark is clearly

2 one of Luke’s sources as much of Mark appears also in Luke. There is great debate as to how these accounts were written and who used what source to write their gospel.

Let me give you a “word to know.” Synoptic – syn means together and optic is where we get optical from, so synoptic means to view or see together. Matthew, Mark, and Luke are so similar that they are referred to as the synoptic gospels. John is totally unique in style and content and is not “synoptic.” So when we refer to the synoptic gospels, they are the first three, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. I’d like you to log that away.

Luke says that his purpose in writing is to give an “orderly account.” By this we must not read Luke or any of the gospels with our view of historical biography. The gospels are not written as chronologies or pictures per se, they are portraits of Christ. What is the difference? A picture tries to capture the way things look. A portrait seeks to communicate who the person is.

For example, a few years ago there was a well-known incident in England where the famous painter Lucian Freud did this portrait of Queen Elizabeth on the next page (portrait left; photo of Queen Elizabeth is on the right).

At the unveiling, Queen Elizabeth wasn’t very happy. She didn’t think it looked like her. Others weren’t either and one person said Freud should be locked up in the tower for this. However, they were missing the point. A point you might miss when you read Luke. The painter wasn’t trying to convey a photo, but a portrait of Queen Elizabeth. He was trying to bring the inner person out in a way that a photograph never could.

We often want to read back into the gospels our 21st century perspective of historicity. We want a chronological biography. However, this is a real problem when you’re dealing with someone as glorious as Jesus Christ. Here’s what John said about an attempt to write a day- by-day biography of Christ:

Now there are also many other things that Jesus did. Were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:25)

Did you get that? What we have is only a small portion of all that Christ did. Have you considered that in eternity we will learn so much more about His life? There is more we don’t know than what we do know. So how could a gospel writer decide what to include? Remember also that they were writing on scrolls which were limited in their length and

4 volume. The gospel writers had to select what they deemed the most important material and put it in an order that thematically portrayed Christ as they understood Him to be, and with the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, how God Himself wanted Christ portrayed. So the gospel writers will sometimes place events in different chronology. They will bring out different elements of the same event. Why? They are painting a theological portrait of Jesus. For example, in Luke’s portrait there are six of Jesus’ miracles and nineteen parables found only in Luke. Why? He was painting a portrait, not taking a picture.

Key verse and central theme – Luke 19:10

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

Luke is the gospel for sinners. Why did Jesus come? To seek and save the saved? No. Luke is going to say things like, It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. (Luke 6:31) Can you see why Dr. Luke would highlight that one? More than any other place in the Bible, Luke shows Jesus’ compassion for the down and out of society, including Gentiles, Samaritans, children, women in that culture, tax collectors and notorious sinners. He’s the one who tells about shepherds invited to the birthplace of Christ. He includes the parable of the prodigal son, the lost sheep that was found, and the radical thought that Jesus came for spiritually sick people because they are the ones who realize how much they need Him.

Is that us this morning? Are we excited to think that Jesus came to seek and save the lost? We can compare our joy to the Pharisees’ in Luke. They really weren’t too excited about that. You want to know why? They didn’t want to think of themselves as spiritually bankrupt and in need of any help. But the sinners in Luke, they loved the stories about the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son. When you’re a prodigal, a Father who runs to you is a transforming truth. Any Pharisees among us won’t be too excited about Luke. They will hate it! They want messages on rules. But sinners, you are going to love it!

Simeon’s Song

In our time remaining, I want to look at one story totally unique to Luke. We are deliberately not spending much time on the birth narrative as these are taught every Christmas and most Christians are quite familiar with them. However, less people realize a very special moment that occurred 40 days after the manger birth:

And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him 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 turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” (Luke 2:22-24)

This was according to the Law. Leviticus 12:1-4 require a time of ceremonial purification for a woman after giving birth. After the purification, a first-born son was required to be presented to the Lord and “redeemed” from temple service with a payment of five shekels, or if you were too poor, the sacrifice of two doves. Mary and Joseph are careful to fulfill the law’s requirements and make the five mile journey from Bethlehem to the Temple in Jerusalem for this ceremony.

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. (Luke 2:25-26)

We are introduced to this guy named Simeon. The text says he was a righteous and devout man. He wasn’t a priest. He wasn’t a Levite. He was what we might call today, a layman. Remember Luke as the gospel for the Everyman? Here’s your first example. The layman, Simeon.

What made this guy stand out was his passion for the “consolation of Israel” (v. 25). What’s that? The consolation of Israel was a Messianic title. Simeon would have loved last week’s message (at least I hope so) on the Messiah in the Old Testament. Remember? The whole Old Testament was pointing through prophecy and symbol to a coming Messiah and Redeemer. Simeon was one guy on Messiah-watch. Simeon was so excited he couldn’t wait for the Messiah to come. He would have had a hard time keeping his windows clean as his face was pressed to them all the time looking for the Messisah. Interestingly, the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he wouldn’t die before seeing Christ. I think this means he was probably an old man and a worthy role model for our older brothers and sisters here. Simeon was as passionate for Christ in his later years as he had ever been.

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 blessed God… (Luke 2:27-28)

Can you imagine this moment for old Simeon? After years of waiting, he is led into the temple courtyard knowing one of the children is the Messiah of Israel. Where is He? Is it Him? Him? Imagine his joy and trembling to suddenly stand before Mary and Joseph and to see a little baby in their arms. Simeon saw with prophetic and theological eyes. He knew who this child was. He took the Christ child in his arms. What would you do in a moment like this?

Simeon sang a song. Luke is the singing gospel. There are five hymns in the first two chapters: • Elisabeth responds with praise (1:42) • Mary’s Magnificat is a song of praise (1:46ff) • Zechariah breaks out in praise (1:67ff.) • The multitude of angels praise God (2:13ff.) • Simeon praises God (2:29ff.)

What is Simeon celebrating in his song?

“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 glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)

First of all, this child represented “salvation.” Where does salvation come from? Your salvation. Salvation is of God and this child represented God’s rescue of His people from their sins. It’s not my salvation; it’s not our salvation; salvation comes from God.

Second, Simeon says that the Christ child is a light for revelation to the Gentiles! He may have had to whisper this in the Jewish temple. Salvation to the Gentiles? Such a thing would be blasphemy in Israel, yet Simeon knew and Luke highlights that God’s love through Christ extends to all people, including you my friend.

Third, He says that the Christ is a light to the Gentiles and glory to your people Israel! Remember, salvation is the theme of this whole gospel and the song of Zechariah, and

6 Elizabeth, and Mary, and the angels and now the aged Simeon, they are all singing the same song: He has come! He has come! Salvation is here!

What a great way to start the gospel and a great way to start the series. A proper recognition always leads to a proper response. When you realize who this child is and all that was prophesied about Him and all that His coming means to a desperate and dying humanity, what could you possibly do but sing? Sing for joy.

As you know I just returned from some ministry in Romania. While I was there I watched video footage from 1989 when the revolution toppled the brutal dictator Nicolai Ceausescu. When the Romanians revolted around Christmas of 1989, they gathered in the giant square in Bucharest and they shouted and they sang. What did they sing? A song entitled, Wake up Romania! Here is the final stanza:

Priests, raise the cross, this Christian army's liberating The word is freedom, no less sacred is the end. We'd rather die in battle, in elevated glory Than live again enslaved on our ancestral land.

Freedom finds its voice in song and Simeon’s joy at the Messiah come found its expression in song.

I’d like us to begin this journey like Simeon - trembling with wonder and joy. Everything has changed. The Messiah has come; The One who came to seek and to save the lost.

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