Introduction
Today we are going to continue our preaching series, All I Need to Know I Learned at Christmas, as we discuss those basic concepts that you and I need to understand as believers that we can find in the Christmas story of Christ coming to earth. Two weeks ago we looked at that unabashed, child-like joy that God has for us and that we would be wise to rekindle in ourselves. Last week we took a journey through the eyes of those Judean shepherds to see how the birth of Christ offers us a peace that passes all understanding and helps us understand the “now what” of our lives. Today we are going to look at the hope that is ours because of the birth of Jesus.
We Can All Give Hope
The school system in a large city had a program to help children keep up with their school work during stays in the city's hospitals. One day a teacher who was assigned to the program received a routine call asking her to visit a particular child. She took the child's name and room number and talked briefly with the child's regular class teacher. "We're studying nouns and adverbs in his class now," the regular teacher said, "and I'd be grateful if you could help him understand them so he doesn't fall too far behind."
The hospital program teacher went to see the boy that afternoon. No one had mentioned to her that the boy had been badly burned and was in great pain. Upset at the sight of the boy, she stammered as she told him, "I've been sent by your school to help you with nouns and adverbs." When she left she felt she hadn't accomplished much.
But the next day, a nurse asked her, "What did you do to that boy?" The teacher felt she must have done something wrong and began to apologize. "No, no," said the nurse. "You don't know what I mean. We've been worried about that little boy, but ever since yesterday, his whole attitude has changed. He's fighting back, responding to treatment. It's as though he's decided to live."
Two weeks later the boy explained that he had completely given up hope until the teacher arrived. Everything changed when he came to a simple realization. He expressed it this way: "They wouldn't send a teacher to work on nouns and adverbs with a dying boy, would they?" Hope provided this boy the strength to fight. Hope is what Jesus brought us with His birth.
Wishing versus Hoping
As people, we wish, dream, and hope all the time. Sometimes it’s about little things like a great parking space or getting in the fast line at the supermarket. Sometimes it’s about bigger things like wishing to win the lottery, have your favorite team finally win a championship or dreaming about a promotion or a new car. And sometimes it’s about the biggest things of all, the things that really matter, like relationships and our health.
We tend to put wishes, dreams, and hopes into the same category, but really there’s a fundamental difference between them. Wishes and dreams are passive and often have no basis in reality whatsoever. That’s what so great about them sometimes. We can wish and dream about things that might have been or what could be without any consequence. But occasionally people get stuck in wishing and dreaming. You know the types. They plan to marry their dream girl but never do anything about asking her out. They talk of a career, but never go to school. They sort of wait for the universe to intervene in their lives, kind of like that “year of a thousand dreams” that took place at Disney World where they randomly select people in the park for all kinds of rewards, even a night in Cinderella’s castle.
But hope is different. Hope isn’t passive; it’s active. And it’s not based on fantasy, but rather based upon fact. Faithful people who hope, know the goodness of God’s grace firsthand. They read their Bible and pay attention to the promises. They plan on solid things based on real information. Hopers have faith – what Hebrews calls “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen” (11:1). When I think of hope, I think of the hymn, “My Hope Is Built.” Listen to the lyrics: “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus’ name. On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand. All other ground is sinking sand.” Folks, that’s hope.
Simeon and Anna – People of Hope
This morning our Scripture lessons were about two people you’ll never find in a nativity set, but who are nonetheless, an important part of the Christmas story. Why? Because they are tremendous people of HOPE. After Jesus was born, Mary and Joseph followed Jewish law and custom by traveling from Bethlehem to Jerusalem to present Jesus at the temple. This was when male Jewish babies were circumcised according to the covenant that God made with Abraham and when their naming was made official. And families were required to bring with them a thanksgiving offering to sacrifice. Typically this would be an unblemished lamb. But for those who are too poor to afford the lamb, a pair of birds was considered an acceptable sacrifice. We get some insight into the life of Mary and Joseph when Scripture tells us that they bring the poor sacrifice of a pair of birds. And while they are at the temple, they have two unusual encounters with strangers that they meet there.
First they meet Simeon. Scripture calls him a “righteous and devout man,” and tells us that “the Holy Spirit was upon him.” He had one goal before he died – to see the Messiah, the hope of Israel. And the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die until he had seen Him. This is all Simeon is living for. He hangs out at the temple every day checking out the new babies being brought in, looking for that one special infant who will deliver Israel. Maybe Mary and Joseph were flattered when Simeon searched them out in the temple and asked to hold the baby while praising God. But the flattery must have faded when Simeon started talking about how the infant would be opposed by many and would cause great pain to His mother. He even goes as far as to tell Mary, that because of this baby, a “sword will pierce your heart” (Luke 2:35). How could someone speak of such unhappy things while holding a beautiful baby?
And then before they could leave and get away from the temple, someone else approached them. This time a woman named Anna. Scripture tells us she was “a prophetess.” And despite the fact that she was “eighty-four” years old, she “never left the temple, but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying.” And she too recognized the baby Jesus for who He was. She too gave thanks to God and spoke to everyone around her who would listen about how He would redeem Jerusalem.
The Importance of these Encounters
So why talk about them? What can we learn from these strange encounters that helps us understand Christmas and our lives as believers?
Simeon and Anna are significant because so early on in Jesus’ life did they recognize the true purpose behind His arrival. They looked beyond the miracle of the birth of Jesus to the true purpose behind His arrival. They looked beyond the little baby and saw the man that He would grow up to be and what He had come to do.
Simeon and Anna had been hoping for years about the Messiah, trusting that God would fulfill the promises and prophecies of Scripture. And they were vigilant to watch and wait for the Messiah and to trust in the unexpected when awaiting His arrival. The most interesting thing to me is this – Scripture tells us that they were both well along in years – neither one of them probably lived long enough to see what became of the child who was the realization of all their hopes. And yet, without any positive proof, they still believed and they praised God.
Lesson 1 – Be Vigilant
There’s two lessons about hope to be learned from them. The first is to be vigilant as we hope. What does that mean? Webster’s Dictionary defines vigilance as “staying watchful and alert.” Simeon and Anna had much in common. They were educated and well aware of all the Scripture’s promises concerning the Messiah. They were hoping and praying to see the fulfillment of those promises during their lifetime. But they didn’t wait around passively for the Messiah to come, like most of the Jews of their time. They were both “watchful and alert,” dedicating themselves to prayer, fasting and temple worship. That’s a good lesson for us today too. Like Simeon and Anna, we too are awaiting the coming of the Messiah. Only this time it is His return we are anxious for. It isn’t enough just to passively sit around and wish for His return. We stand on the promises, we stand on hope, and we can be active in our hoping. We can be watchful and alert, dedicating ourselves to prayer, worship and service in His name. You want God’s kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven? That’s what we pray for each and every week during the Lord’s prayer. And we can be active in our hope and help usher the kingdom in through our actions.
Lesson 2 – Consider the Unexpected
Second, this morning I think we can learn to consider the unexpected when it comes to hope. While the Jews of Jesus’ time were awaiting the coming of the Messiah, most of the Jews missed understanding what was happening. This was because they had a preconceived notion about how God was going to work His redemption and what happened in Jesus’ birth didn’t match up with their grand expectations. Yet because they were vigilant and not closed off to the possibilities of how God might act, Simeon and Anna recognized it. You see, the rest of the Jews expected fanfare and got none; they expected political freedom and got freedom from sin and guilt; they expected miraculous signs and wonders and got healings for the sick; they expected a messiah who would make life easier, and Jesus grew up to talk about bearing crosses and loving your enemies. Jesus wasn’t born or lived how people expected Him to be and even He may not show up where we expect Him to either. We pray for inner peace and encounter Jesus in the midst of another struggle. We pray for healing and encounter Jesus graveside saying, “I am the resurrection and the life.”
Go Forth and Hope
Those are important lessons for us to remember about HOPE, to be vigilant and to consider the unexpected. Especially when we find ourselves in one of those seasons of life that seems especially hard. When Debbie and I lived in Kentucky while she was in seminary, we thoroughly enjoyed the change of the seasons when the beautiful leaves began to fall. We even liked the snow at first, until we had to drive somewhere in it. Somewhere around the third continuous week of snow and cold wind and gray depressing skies, we two Floridians became convinced that winter would never ever end. But our friends who had already survived some Kentucky winters told us to keep focusing on our calendar, counting the days until the dawn of spring, with its flowers and sunlight. It’s easy to be reassured and it’s easy to cling to hope, where the seasons of the calendar year are concerned.
But what about the seasons of life? What about the winter seasons we go through in life when we are disappointed or discouraged; when we are filled with doubt and discontent? What about the times when God feels far away, and it seems as if He has completely forgotten you? Anna and Simeon help stand as reminders of reassurance that January will someday turn to May. As people of faith, we can build our hope upon the solid rock of Jesus Christ, for all other ground is sinking sand. When we’re troubled about today, we can hope with vigilance and expectation for tomorrow.
A tremendous gift has been given to us in the manger. We have the promise of knowing that however hopeless our current situation may seem to us, God has never stopped working in the lives of His people. We don’t always understand His plan or His timing, but God is always present. Remember, Emmanuel means “God with us.” In the spiritual winters of our lives, when we don’t necessarily “feel” God’s presence, we can stand on His promises from Scripture and we can hold fast to the manger and His Son. May God bless you with hope as you close out this year and begin your journey into another year. Amen.
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