Life of Christ 9
Eight days after the
birth of Christ in the stable yard of the inn, His parents, as the custom was,
circumcised him and officially gave Him the name Jesus. Almost five weeks
later, Joseph and Mary traveled with their infant baby boy to Jerusalem for His
presentation.
Moses had instructed
Israel that the first child, if male, was supposed to be dedicated to the Lord
as a priest. Later, when God chose the tribe of Levi and the descendants of
Aaron to fill these positions, the first male child was to be brought to the
Temple and redeemed (bought back from God's use) with five shekels. At the same
time, Mary was considered unclean as a result of her pregnancy and delivery.
Thus, for the double purpose of cleansing her impurity and redeeming their
first born son, they walked six miles to the Temple forty days after Jesus' birth in
order to pay the redemption money and to give a sacrifice for Mary's cleansing.
That morning the Holy
Spirit led Simeon to the Temple, as He had countless times before, only this
time to meet by divine appointment the Messiah he had awaited for decades. As
Joseph and Mary walked in they were startled to find an elderly man practically
grabbing the babe from Mary's arms. With tears of gratitude streaming down his
cheeks, Simeon gently cradled the baby's head in his arms, as his heart and
voice whispered praise to Jehovah that He had lived to see this day. Then,
under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and to the astonishment of His
parents, Simeon pronounced a blessing over the life of that precious little
baby boy.
The Apostle John would
later say, in discussing the life of Christ, that the world couldn’t contain
the books that could be written about His life (John 21.25). About thirty of
those books sit on the shelves in my office, and I haven't read close to a
tithe of the books written about Jesus Christ. Yet Simeon managed to sum up the
entire arc of Jesus' life, including both His first and second comings, in just
a few short sentences, and Simeon did it before the baby boy could even walk or
talk. Additionally, in so doing, Simeon predicted a life that was totally at
odds with the accepted Jewish wisdom of the day regarding what the Messiah
would do and be.
If I haven't piqued your
interest by this time you might as well go watch funny cat videos on YouTube.
But I find here (Luke 2.21-38) a wonderful summation, predicted beforehand, of
the life of Jesus Christ, and that is worth investigating, if you ask me. Next
time we shall dive into it, and see just exactly what wonderful blessings Simeon
saw as he cradled the infant child Jesus in his arms.
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