The day after Christmas was usually a downer for me as a kid, with all the Christmas excitement (feasting, celebration, expectation) fading fast, it all felt so anti-climactic. But I felt worse for my Dad, whose birthday is the day after Christmas! (We almost moved it to July one year, but the logistics never came together.)

So I’m glad that at Bethany we continue to celebrate the season of Christmas that began on Christmas Eve (when Advent ended), and will go on for the 12 days of Christmas until we celebrate Epiphany (when the wise men came to worship Jesus).

At the same, time, for many people the holidays are not always happy times (family conflict, loneliness, loss). So however your holidays have been going so far, I’m glad that we’re together to worship today, still celebrating the birth of Jesus who meets us in our joys and in our difficulties.

Last Sunday we read the Magnificat, the song of joy that Mary sings after the angel Gabriel announces to her that she will give birth to the Messiah. It’s a song of “great reversal,” like Dan talked about…where everything in life gets turned upside down: those on the bottom rise to the top, those on the top fall to the bottom. Everything goes in the opposite direction of where we thought things would go.

Mary’s Magnificat song is an echo of Hannah (Samuel’s mother), and others in the Old Testament, who sing of this rising and falling when salvation comes. Even Jesus will echo the refrain in His teachings, “some are last who will be first, and some are first who will be last…” (Luke 13:30). In our passage today, it’s Simeon who will sing the song of reversal.

Reading: Luke 2.21-38

Let me describe this scene a little bit:

• When a male child was born, Jewish parents traditionally waited 7 days, then on the 8 th day the baby boy would be circumcised and named.
• 40 days after the birth, the parents would bring their son to the temple to be dedicated to the Lord. This was very important in the case of a woman’s first-born son, like Jesus, because in Jewish tradition, every first-born son belonged especially to God. This dedication scene happened in the outer courts of the temple, where women (like Mary and Anna) could enter.
• At this dedication, a specific animal offering was required to make atonement for sin…a lamb, a turtledove, and a pigeon. But if the parents “cannot afford a lamb,” 2 turtledoves or 2 pigeons would suffice (Leviticus 12). Mary and Joseph were poor, and so they just brought the birds for the sacrifice.
• In obedience to the message that Gabriel had given her, Mary had named her child Jesus. Jesus was a common name in the 1 st century…like Kyle or Doug or Bill, or like the name Jesus is in Hispanic countries today. Last summer in Honduras it was their presidential election as well as ours, and we laughed when we saw Jesus por presidente all over the place.
• Jesus, Jesus , the Greek name for Joshua, meant “God saves.” Jesus’ name was “Salvation.”

What is salvation? Salvation (simply put) is God with us, now and forever.

But I want to ask the question today: What does salvation look like when it comes to us – when you finally see it?

When Jesus was brought to the temple for dedication that day, at least three people saw what salvation looks like:

Simeon got to see salvation, finally.

Mary saw salvation, in a new way.

Anna, a widow at least 84-years-old, an eccentric temple-dweller – she got in on it, too.

What did salvation look like to these three: Simeon, Mary, and Anna?

Simeon was, I imagine, a bit of an institution around Jerusalem. Everyone knew about old Simeon, holy and fearful Simeon. He had everyone’s respect, and he had this wild claim: God had promised Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah with his own eyes. So Simeon spent the rest of his life looking for salvation, waiting for “the consolation of Israel.” Simeon knew about “Advent-waiting.”

On that day, Luke tells us, Simeon was “in the Spirit” (it had been a long time in Israel since anyone was “in the Spirit”), and so Simeon knew who the baby Jesus was when His parents brought Him into the temple.

Simeon held Jesus (just over 1 month old) in his old failing arms, and he praised God for making good on His promise – not just His promise to Simeon, but to the nation: the Savior had come to Israel!

But there is something new in Simeon’s song: even the Gentiles (non-Jewish people) would get in on this Salvation. The Messiah had come to His own people, the Jews (just like Simeon was expecting), but this Messiah would also be “a light of revelation to the Gentiles – to the nations, to all people”…the glory of Israel would soon shine out to every tribe and nation.

God had come to His people, and through them, God had come for all people. This is what salvation looked like to Simeon that day: salvation was getting wider.

Last summer, on the High School trip to Honduras, I saw salvation get wider: when I was younger, I had a narrower view of salvation; I thought that salvation was only about accepting Jesus as personal Lord and Savior…about knowing where you will go when you die. Salvation is about that, but God with us has much wider implications.

In Honduras last summer, I saw poor farmers begin to care for land that will one day belong to their own village. I saw them caring for land in a country where land is usually abused from over-production, where land is seldom given rest and proper stewardship.

And I saw that God’s salvation for the poor in Honduras did not end with their personal decisions to follow Jesus – salvation in Honduras also involved the land – land abused for decades by plantations owned by foreign corporations, land groaning with all of creation, longing for God’s salvation to bring healing from sin and destruction (Romans 8:18-25).

This land was now coming under the stewardship of a small village community, land that can now offer hope to a cycle of poverty that can seem endless. Salvation, for me, looks a lot wider after last summer; Salvation is still about accepting/following Jesus, but it involves the land, too…and the livelihood of the people who depend on it.

So Simeon saw salvation get wider, because salvation was now for the Gentiles. But Simeon saw something else that day, something not so obviously glorious. As Jesus’ proud parents stood by gleaming, amazed at the glory God had brought into their poor lives, Simeon turns aside to Mary (so that the others in the temple would not hear this) and he whispers to her:

“Look, Mary, this child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and he will be a sign of conflict, a sign that the secret thoughts from many hearts will be revealed – and a sword will pierce even your own soul.”

So what did salvation look like to Mary that day?

It looked different, I think, than what Mary had probably thought of for the past 10 months of pregnancy and new motherhood.

A sword to pierce her own soul: this was a term used for feeling deep, crushing pain and great sorrow. The angel Gabriel told Mary this she would bear the Son of God, the Savior, the holy Messiah. The angel did not say anything about pain or suffering, about rejection, or a violent death.

Now I’m sure it was difficult for Mary as a young teenage mother to suddenly be given the task 10 months ago of bearing the Messiah: Imagine having to tell people the story of a virgin conception – gaining Joseph’s trust, and her family’s approval. But Mary had what we all need to get through tough times: strong confirmation (the angel Gabriel’s message) and support of those around her: her cousin Elizabeth, her husband’s commitment – this is more support than many poor single moms have today.

When you think about it, for Mary, it had only been good news up until now…difficult news, but good news: you, Mary will bear the Messiah. And that good news would have gotten her through a lot of tough stuff.

But now, Simeon was telling Mary about a sword, a sword stabbing her through with pain. Her Son Jesus would show people for who they really were (no more secrets) – Jesus would drive a wedge between those who would follow Him (and receive Salvation) and those would not. Jesus will bring division and pain, Simeon was whispering quietly to Mary. Some would accept Him, many would reject Him. And a few of them, whether Mary knew it or not, would kill Him – this new mom would bury her own Son.

The rising and the falling…Mary had sung those words herself 10 months ago. “The Lord brings down rulers, the Lord exalts the humble.” The world would reverse, and turn upside-down. Mary knew that – but she didn’t know that her own heart would fall one day, as she would watch her Son get nailed to a Roman Cross, hanging to die.

This is what salvation looked like to Mary that day: salvation would include great suffering. Salvation would mean rising and falling – even for the mother of the Messiah. The consolation of Israel and the salvation of the Gentiles will come, but at a great price, and Mary will not be immune from the pain.

I grew up in the Church, and I’ve heard the Bible’s songs of reversal (rising and falling) my whole life. I’ve always known that those on the bottom somehow in God’s Kingdom get to be on top, and that those on the top will drop down to the bottom. I knew this.

But I always felt safe from these songs of reversal, because frankly, I’ve always lived comfortably in the upper-middle class. I wasn’t on the top, or the bottom. So I figured I would somehow stay where I was in the middle of God’s Kingdom, and watch as the mighty fell, and the poor and weak rose up, around me.

I’d rejoice that the exploiters would sink down, and I’d cheer as the underdogs who were exploited would rise up. I’d give them high-fives as they passed me on their way to the top! But I would stay safely near the middle…not much rising for me in God’s Kingdom, certainly not much falling.

But if Mary wasn’t safe from the rising and failing, if she wasn’t safe from the suffering and division that Salvation would include, than I’m not safe either. None of us are. Following in the way of Salvation includes suffering. We can’t stay safely in the middle.

But there is also hope in Simeon’s words to Mary: the word “rising” that Simeon whispers to Mary is literally the word for “resurrection.” No one was expecting Salvation to involve the death of the Savior, but no one was expecting Resurrection from the dead either. That would be a surprise.

And there is at least one more person in the temple that day who sees salvation, and this is a surprise too: What did salvation look like to Anna?

Anna was a widow, she was at least 84-years-old, probably with no consistent means of supporting herself, and she lived and worked in the temple’s public courts. Her work was to pray and fast, and she was held to be a prophet, speaking words of hope and challenge to the people (even though she was not allowed in the inner courts).

And when Simeon saw Jesus for who He really was, Anna saw Jesus too – and Anna told any who would listen: this child was the redemption of Israel! This old eccentric widow, penniless and living on the margins, she got to proclaim that salvation had come in Jesus.

This is what salvation looked like to Anna: salvation was an unexpected surprise. Salvation included poor old women who are likely to get ignored – they become Gospel preachers. Sometimes today we get surprised by who comes and preaches the Gospel.

Let me tell you who surprised me when I heard about him: Alice Cooper… Remember this guy? He was one of the original shock-rockers, he’s famous for wildly hedonistic horror-rock shows, sort of the Marilyn Manson of 30 years ago.

Sometime in the 1980’s Alice Cooper sobered up and became a Christian; he just recently began talking publicly about his conversion – usually in places like guitar magazines and heavy metal web-sites.

Alice Cooper has started a non-profit that ministers to inner-city kids, he coaches Little League, last year a Christian University granted him an honorary degree…and in his own way, Alice Cooper is preaching Salvation. Salvation includes the most unexpected people.

What is salvation?

Salvation is God with us, now and forever. But salvation is getting wider, and wider, and wider. And it may involve suffering that we don’t see coming – and even when we’ve been expecting salvation for a long time, salvation is all about what we don’t expect to happen. This is what Salvation looks like.