The Lutheran Hour
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"The Exit from Regret"
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Text: Luke 2:27-28
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A reading from Luke 2: “And Simeon 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, Simeon took the Child up in his arms and 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 glory to Your people, Israel.’ And His father and his 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 rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.’
“And there was a prophetess, Anna, 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 Jerusalem.”
This is the Word of the Lord in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The sort of hoopla that is draped all over professional sports teams as they are introduced before big games is nothing like how Jesus Christ made His first entrance into this world 2,000 years ago. No razzle dazzle of trumpets, big drums, and smoke machines. With understated grandeur, the Son of God enters this world as the One and only One, whoever was who forever is and who always will be the only One in whom the divine and human natures are united personally with each other. Yet despite His once-in-forever credentials, Jesus enters the stage of human history without any fuss or fanfare. Born into a particular family tree with a specific genealogy, He arrives on the eastern end of the Mediterranean sea with a birth that to the naked eye looked obstetrically and gynecologically ordinary—but to the eyes of faith, eyes like Simeon’s and Anna’s, eyes like ours when the Spirit gives us eyes to see and a heart to believe, then this birth itself becomes the cradle in which we are born again. This Son of God and Son of Mary enters our world so that we can enter His eternity and exit the trap of sin and death from which we otherwise could never stand a chance to escape.
Humorously. I can admit that sometimes it seems like there’s no escaping from a visit to some of my beloved family members, especially on the Jamaican side of my family. When you attempt to leave from a visit, no matter how short or how long you’ve been there, it’s like a scene from a sitcom. First, it requires strategy, cultural intelligence, planning ahead. For example, if I know I need to depart at 8 p.m., I begin the process two hours in advance of dropping hints because I don’t know about your family, but you cannot just walk out on mine. I suppose it’s a mix of fear and love, but one must ask for permission usually from the eldest family member who then predictably begs you to stay, and it goes back and forth. The guilt: “You never come to visit and when you do, you always leave so quickly.” And then the bribing: “How about another round of your favorite dessert,” and then the memories, kind of like pulling rank: “I remember when you were born,” and then the tears upon tears: “Where does the time go?”
Saint Augustine once taught that holy Scripture provides us with a narrative of the past, a prophecy of the future, and a description of the present. In this text from Luke 2, we see all three literary forms at work: narrative, prophecy, and description, as well as all three kinds of time: past, future, and present. The Spirit moved in times past actually with us in mind in order to prepare for you and me within the everyday tick tock of the present day, an unending future that cannot ever run out of time. Sisters and brothers, no matter what your time zone, Zip code, area code, or genetic code, whether you are entering life or exiting it, we all share this in common. We are all restless inhabitants of time, time that keeps moving unstoppably under our feet, making us all pilgrims who enter and exit at some point along the road of life.
Do you remember when you were beginning your journey in hope with a routine entrance as ancient as civilization, yet because it was yours and yours alone, it felt as fresh as a brand new sea breeze on a sandy dry desert day: graduating from school, starting a new job, beginning a marriage, having children. Inevitably, in life, we all walk through long wind-swept valleys, weeping with disappointment, hearts breaking as broken promises break relationships; despair rises to meet you on the path; diseases may overtake us. Sometimes we find healing as the healer finds us, but then we inevitably must take our exits, downsizing, retiring, losing a loved one. Finally ourselves, exhaling our own last breath. But time does not stop. No, not even with death. And God’s story cannot ever end. People of faith possess the platinum promise that come what may, come hell or high water along the path of life, we yet rise to new heights, and we have so much to look forward to. We are yet to gasp in astonishment at the resurrection, the Second Coming of Christ, the fullness of the gift of baptismal peace that will bless us and keep us in the love of the Trinity forever. Oh, how I long for that sort of peace, that holy shalom, that captivated Simeon in our reading, that trouble transcending peace coming from the One who is both the source of every entrance and the end point for every exit, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is both the Word and the speaker of the benedictory good word of peace: a word that will not break what it promises. It delivers peace that the world cannot give, but neither can the world take it away from us. This peace silences all wars and rumors of war, whether they are the brutish battles these days that roar in the birthplace of Jesus or the inner warfare that infects us with anger or envy or lust. And one more thing, did you know that the pilgrimage to that peace has an entrance with your name inscribed on it? Wherever you are, God can find you. However damned you feel like you are, God can save you. However deep your wound of regret God can heal you.
Let’s look at God’s peace narrative of the past, prophecy of the future, and description of the present. It begins here in our text with a small family from a small town with a small baby, so much of life is anchored in family, isn’t it? Since I lost my own father who exited this world through death in 2016, I have paid more attention to Joseph, the guardian of Jesus. He took on the role of dad providing for and protecting Jesus, and the narrative tells us in Luke 2:40 that the Child grew and became strong. I think we too often put Joseph in the shadows. We don’t pay enough attention to the fact that Jesus grew and became strong and was raised in a family. The plan of salvation was embedded in a family, a family which kept the faith, which honored the promises of God. Even though these parents were definitely caught off guard, yet they trusted what the narrative says in Psalm 111, that the works of God’s hands are faithful and just. They trusted that God would carry out His plan with faithfulness and uprightness, even though they had no clue what was next or specifically what God was up to in their lives. They leaned on one another as a family and they leaned on God to lead their journey.
We who live 2,000 years later, enjoy looking back at the Christmas story as if it were quaint nostalgia. But this family was on the edge of their seats living it live in the anxieties of real time. As a family they showed up at the temple. You could say they went to church together. Maybe that’s a good resolution for 2024. They went to temple as thousands of other families had done for hundreds of years. They kept their cultural custom. They followed their religious tradition. They honored the God of their foremothers and forefathers before them. They came to present the child at the temple and the mother for purification. All of this seemed ordinary, but neither the father nor the mother, nor especially the Child Jesus was anything like ordinary. His death was certainly not ordinary, and would become the sword that Simeon prophesied that would pierce his mother’s soul.
In fact, in my tradition, she, Mary, is called the most blessed virgin and the mother of God. As St. Paul puts it, “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son” to enter our weaponized world from which no one will exit alive, in order to redeem those living under the pressure of regret, those tied to a tyranny of unresolved situations. Yes, the new year can bring to mind old regrets. It’s not easy to find exits from calcified regrets. Paths to forgiveness don’t come easily in this life of regrets. Oh my, the things we’ve said and done that cannot be unsaid or undone any more than you can un-crack an egg or un-shoot a gun or un-commit a sin or un-disrespect the image of God in yourself or un-ring a bell or un-tell someone to go jump in the lake of fire.
I’m not a big fan of country music, but Toby Keith croons it about right. “I wish I didn’t know. Now what I didn’t know then. I wish I could start this whole thing over again.” And there is one place we can start again. It’s a place called grace, where Jesus enters. Regrets exit when the One who is the door becomes your door. Trust this: that the One who is the way desires to become your way through whatever is getting in the way of your relationship with God. When Jesus shows up, the prophecy of Isaiah becomes a present promise. The Lord will cause righteousness and praise to sprout up. You can enter your new year centered in praise despite the gloomy doomsday forecasts of negative naysayers with their catastrophic politics, despite the pessimistic media prognosticators who specialize in fear mongering and dividing us up from one another.
Sixty-one winters ago in the month and year of my birth, January 1963, Martin Franzmann published a compelling essay, titled, “The New Year and All Things.” He wrote, “Good times and good things will not save the church, and they will not save us. Bad things and bad times will not destroy us or the church. The Lamb that was slain alone can save, and the wrath of the Lamb alone can destroy us. There will be no rocks thick enough, no holes in the hills deep enough to shield us from that wrath of the Lamb and from Him that sitteth upon the throne. That Lamb, of course, is Jesus who takes away the sin of the world. And I believe that He will come again. He will enter the world again to be our Judge. And whenever Jesus enters the world, your world, my world, everything changes. What in the world are you waiting for, Simeon? Oh, Simeon knew and we know exactly the One who was the joy of Simeon’s deep desire.
Listen again to Martin Franzman. “It was the worst of times. It was the best of times. It always is.” Any fairly clever theologian or fairly clever historian can always make a pretty good case for both. The great art that we must learn, and it is the obvious one which we always forget, the indispensable art, the queen of all arts, is to learn to sing in good times and in bad times, and in times that are both good and bad. Simeon knew that art. No matter what the bad news, no matter what calamity they predict, the only thing Simeon saw that mattered was Jesus. And even though Simeon was already in the temple, now that he saw Jesus, he was fully ready to enter into God’s gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise, ready to give thanks to God and bless His Name, ready to praise God in this life and in the next. The Child Jesus made His entrance, which made Simeon ready to make his exit. For a lifetime, he had waited for this moment to see the consolation of Israel, the light of the Gentiles, the inheritance of the nations, the glory of God’s people, the epitome of God’s promise, the fulfillment of God’s covenant. Yes, Jesus Christ was the answer to Simeon’s prayer, and He is the answer to ours as well. Jesus is the reason to shout with the psalmist, “Holy and awesome is God’s Name!” Jesus is the reason to sing with Isaiah, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord!” Jesus is the reason to give thanks with the prophetess Anna who waited until she was 84 years old, fasting and praying for Jesus to come.
I don’t know what you’ve been waiting for or what you’re waiting for today, but I do know that as you believe Jesus will enter your life with love. You are a dwelling place of God and the same Holy Spirit who spoke fail-proof promises to Simeon intoxicates us with joy as well, so that we can magnify the Lord with Simeon. No matter what age or stage or phase of life we find ourselves in, we’ve never accumulated so many years not to see this Jesus in a brand new way, not to praise God with a new song, not to worship the Holy Trinity with new energy. And because of what Jesus has already accomplished, as sure as you hear these words, you can be totally confident that God is at work in you through the power of the Spirit, renewing your mind today, restoring your soul today, raising up your spirit today, lifting up your heart today, forgiving your sin today, healing last year’s regrets today, and one day He will renew you perfectly with a glorified body. Like Simeon we have so much to look forward to. In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Reflections for December 31, 2023
Title: The Exit from RegretMark Eischer: You are listening to The Lutheran Hour. For FREE online resources, on-demand audio, and more, go to lutheranhour.org. Now here is Lutheran Hour Speaker, Dr. Mike Zeigler.
Mike Zeigler: Thank you, Mark. And this New Year’s Eve, I am getting to visit with Mr. Jeff Craig-Meyer, who serves as president of U.S. Ministries with Lutheran Hour Ministries. Welcome and happy New Year, Jeff.
Jeff Craig-Meyer: Yeah, Happy New Year. Thank you, Michael, for having me.
Mike Zeigler: So you and I are both part of this larger team that does outreach with the Good News of Jesus around the world, but we are called to focus in our field here in the United States with the Lutheran Hour as one example. You’re charged to oversee all of U.S. ministries. Looking forward to 2024, what’s something that energizes you about that mission?
Jeff Craig-Meyer: If anything? It’s really continuing to build upon the great work that has transpired so far, not just within the last ten years, but frankly, within the last 106 years of the history of this organization dating back to 1917. One area specifically for us that we are so good at and have been for a long time is the development of spiritual growth resources and programs. So everything from The Lutheran Hour to our Daily Devotions that people can subscribe to for free.
Another area of focus for us is through our digital ministry called Thred, where we want to be able to lift people up, Christians first and foremost in digital spaces, such that they can build relationships and have conversations with those who might have questions about Jesus might have fallen away from the Lord, have no faith life at all, and not be in a position where we’re attempting to tell them specifically what they should be doing or not doing, but just be there in that space to build relationship and to build trust and hopefully over time win them over to Christ. In that regard, Tony Cook often uses the phrase, “Gain a hearing for the Gospel.”
The third area of emphasis for me, and this is one that we’ve talked about for a long time, it actually goes back to ten years ago when I came to the organization. We did a lot of focus group studies and conversations with individual donors, just other constituents. And as we came to them to talk about what the future vision of our organization might be, when the time came for us to ask, “What do you think about all of this—as a donor, as a constituent?” the response every time was “That’s wonderful. You got me. I’m hooked. What are you going to do for my children and my grandchildren? What are you going to do for my kids and my grandkids?” It’s been a recurring rallying cry I think for us as an organization—the realization that this generation, that we’re in the midst of the generations to come, they are leaving the church. And so with that, we have started to up a number of new children’s resources. Number one, first and foremost is Gospel Adventures. We’ve been doing that particular program now for at least I’d say six or seven years in a wonderful partnership with Group Publishing. In addition to that, we’ve added a podcast radio show called The Gospel Adventure Show.
Mike Zeigler: Thinking about someone who’s brand new to The Lutheran Hour, just maybe started listening today, what’s one or two things you would want this listener to remember about who we are and what we do?
Jeff Craig-Meyer: I sure hope and pray that they would come back the next week and the week after that. In fact, if anything, they should consider prospectively going to lhm.org. That’s our website, and identifying previous episodes of The Lutheran Hour that they might want to listen into as well. We make all of this content available, again, free and easily accessible through multiple digital means, whether it be on a podcast, you can listen to it right there on the website. And so that would probably be the first and foremost thing is come back, continue to tune in to this very, very, I think, enriching experience that you, Mike, and others provide in terms of understanding the love of Christ in one’s life, exploring the Bible, utilizing storytelling opportunities by which people can actually have an empathetic conversation and discussion with you. It’s not just a sermon.
Mike Zeigler: Thank you for joining us today in this New Year’s Eve and for bringing your energy and love for the Lord and His people to this mission.
Jeff Craig-Meyer: And so, this being the last day of the calendar year, this is an opportunity for people to give back to the ministries of their particular choice that they want to support. I hope as you listen to this today, you might consider making a contribution to Lutheran Hour Ministries. The easiest way to consider doing that is by going to our website, that’s lhm.org/give. Thank you for all those who give and support us already, and thank you for those who might consider that gift in the future, too.
Music Selections for this program:
“A Mighty Fortress” arranged by Chris Bergmann. Used by permission.
“Let All Together Praise Our God” From The Concordia Organist (© 2009 Concordia Publishing House) Used by permission.