The Child and The Pensioners

Luke's Gospel in chapter 1, verse 5. In the time of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah. His wife, Elizabeth, was also a descendant of Aaron. Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly, but they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren and they were both well on in years.

That's a nice way of expressing the fact that you're old. Well on in years. Once when Zechariah's division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, he was chosen by lot according to the custom of the priesthood to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshippers were praying outside. Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him standing at the right side of the altar of incense. When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear, but the angel said to him, do not be afraid Zechariah, your prayer has been heard.

Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son and you are to give him the name John. Now let's go on to the second chapter of the same gospel. Our Lord Jesus, an infant taken to Jerusalem with Mary and Joseph for a special service.

Verse 22, when the time of their purification according to the law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord as it is written in the law of the Lord. Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the law of the Lord, a pair of doves or two young pigeons. Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon who was righteous and devout.

He was waiting for the consolation of Israel and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts.

When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God saying, you've got the NIV joining this prayer, sovereign Lord as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory to your people Israel. The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him. Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, this child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel and to be a sign that will be spoken against so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed and a sword will pierce your own soul too.

There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was very old. She had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage and then was a widow until she was 84.

She never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying, coming up to them at that very moment she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. Amen. Sometimes when I'm visiting older friends and it comes to the end of my half hour or so with them we have a time of prayer and I generally read a passage from God's word.

More often than not I choose the 37th psalm which I call the pensioner's psalm because it has in it, right in the heart of it, the 25th verse this comment, I was young and now I am old. Yet, and I'm quoting the authorized version, yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken nor thy seed begging bread. I have been young but now I am old yet I haven't seen God desert anybody.

I wonder if I were to ask you what particular category of person Christmas is directed to, what your answer would be? Is it a children's thing? Is it a festival for middle-aged? Or is it a time of the year which should really attract older people? Now the answer, unless you read the notes and news, would probably popularly be given as it's a young person's thing, boys and girls. Anyone says this is quite true, I mean come here next Sunday morning and you will be amazed at the way that the nativity story is rehearsed by our children and the performance of the various angels and shepherds and what have you. We've even had angels doing press-ups before now when one little girl got somewhat impatient because the whole thing was dragging on too long.

And of course if you went to the schools you'd almost need a computer to work out the number of humpback camels that are depicted on the walls of our educational establishments in our country and the number of elderly looking men who were informed were wise men coming from the east. And of course Christmas Day, well it's the kids who break the silence of the early morning as they go and get their stocking and start to eat Smarties at two o'clock in the morning or whatever it is. Very much a children's thing isn't it? And in no sense do I want to detract from that.

And yet it occurs to me and really it came as a novel thought when I was reading the infancy accounts just earlier on last week. It came to me as quite a revelation that by and large the first Christmas involved not so much boys and girls but older people. Not middle-aged but friends who we would kindly put in the senior citizen category, a euphemism for a pensioner.

These were the type of folk who were immediately affected by the message of Christmas. Now just in case you think I'm straining something to take a novel slant on the Christmas story let me justify my proposition. You see basic to the friends who are involved in the affair of the Lord Jesus coming into our world are first of all a couple who never quite make the Christmas cards.

You never see them depicted but nonetheless they're very vital to the unfolding of the story. By the name of Zacharias and Elizabeth who are to be the parents of John the Baptist. And as I pointed out in my reading and three times references made to this in the opening chapters or the opening chapter of Luke's gospel they are old people.

Verse five, in the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah. Both of them were upright in the sight of God. Verse seven, but they had no children because Elizabeth was barren and they were both well on in years.

Old people. These wise men I can't tell you how old they were but if Christian art is right and very often it is then traditionally they are shown to us as being well again getting on a little bit. As I see them depicted they remind me of a sort of apostolic age substitute for prospective candidates for the any questions program.

You know does the team think? Thinkers one and all. We three kings. Very wise men.

Well wisdom does not necessarily come with advancing years but it rarely comes without it. So they're certainly in the getting on a bit category. The shepherds I can't make any comment I haven't a clue how old they were.

Joseph well the fact that he's never referred to again apart from the infancy narratives does seem to support the traditional view of the church that he was somewhat older than Mary and possibly died in the earlier years of the life of our Lord Jesus. Thus he became the breadwinner of the family. You can accept that or reject it but it seems to me reasonable supposition.

But we're on much firmer ground when we come to Simeon and Anna. The two people whose story I read completely from the second chapter of the gospel of Luke. They were in the temple area as Joseph and Mary came with the infant child to present him to the Lord for blessing and as they brought their own sacrifice in response to the child that had been entrusted to their care.

So put them together and you do have a reasonable collection of all the people. In Isaiah's prophecy reference is made to those who would be present sensitively so at the coming of Jesus into the world. The people that sat in darkness saw a great light and my argument is simply this.

That by and large the people who made the first response who were affected by the coming of the Lord Jesus onto planet earth were elderly friends. I don't want to make too much of it but I particularly want to bring this corrective because it might well be and this is the danger of next Sunday morning service that people will come in and bless their hearts see our boys and girls and I'm all for this enacting the Christmas scene and come to the conclusion well it's just for the children. What it is for the children but it's not exclusively for the children and radically older people have been affected down the years and particularly at the beginning by the impact of our Lord Jesus and his birth on earth.

Don't you think that our church is a very peculiar name Tabernacle. It's a very lovely name if you understand what it means but the majority of people don't and they think we're Jews. Not that I mind being called a Jew quite frankly but it is rather a clumsy title.

I would have gone for another one if Mr. Crouch had asked me but then he was dead before I ever was even thought of. Well what does the word tabernacle mean. Well in the Old Testament you've got a clue.

The Israelites put up this portable temple that was shifted from place to place as they went through the land of through the wilderness of Sinai and eventually it gave way to the temple a more permanent building at Jerusalem. And the notion of tabernacle was well it had the presence of God in it and it gave the idea to the Hebrew verb that to tabernacle was to know God's presence. Now in that sense this is a very good very well-named church tabernacle but as I say the majority of people aren't interested in the etymology the history of the word they don't know it.

Now look how do you describe or how do you understand what happened at Bethlehem. Well you say Jesus came here and what's one of the names of the Lord Jesus. Emmanuel.

And what does Emmanuel mean. Well Emmanuel means God with us. John's gospel clinches the point.

The word the Lord Jesus God's the second person of the Trinity was made flesh dwelt amongst us the word tabernacle pitched his tent so to speak drew alongside. Now this is what I'm angling for. This is what I'm trying to produce in front of you the thought that that if God draws alongside his people then there are certain effects that come about as a by consequence as a consequence as a byproduct.

There are certain things that happen. You see you can't be in the company of God in a sensitive fashion and remain the same as a result. Now let's go back to this handful of elderly people.

You see there weren't many in Palestine at that time who were devout. There was a category of people who were known or are known to historians who existed at that time who were known as the quiet people of the land the quiet people of the land. They weren't involved in revolution.

They weren't concerned about political intrigue intrigue the relationship between between Rome and Jerusalem. They left all that to the Sadducees and the politicians. They weren't even concerned about the speculation that when when the Messiah came he might come as a great deliverer to to push the Romans out of the land.

What they were concerned about were the spiritual values of people in those days and they got decreasingly increasingly depressed at the way that society was going in Jerusalem and in the rest of Palestine. But there were these quiet people of the land a minority. Thank God for the minorities who are waiting for God to do something in a day that is so very needy.

Now don't you see this is my point this is where I'm my thinking is taking me. This this handful of senior citizens whose stories are recorded not by accident in the opening chapters of Luke's gospel are friends who are going to be mightily affected when God tabernacles alongside when the child is born. That's what my why my address although it's not very well constructed homiletically does carry the title the child and the pensioners.

What was the effect of the coming of Jesus upon the life of Zacharias? You see here is this good man whom we read of in this fifth verse of the opening chapter. He's a priest. He's a descendant of Aaron.

In a meritorious fashion he has he has married a woman who is also a descendant of Aaron. Now he is one priest of amongst 20,000 priests who could serve in the temple. You see they didn't have any difficulty in getting people to be present at the various religious customs that continued day by day in the temple at Jerusalem.

In fact the matter was this that probably you would never be called to temple service as the majority of us will never be called to judicial service never be part of a jury. The potential is there but actually it only comes for a few. Now that was the case in the days of Zacharias.

The whole of the tribe of of Levi was split into 24 different units and as I say there were at least 20,000 men. So the possibility of any one man being called to temple service was remote and even more remote was the possibility that of that group of people who were engaged in looking after the temple services a man would ever have the privilege of casting incense on the altar after or before the sacrifice which was made once each morning and once each evening had been offered. But you see when our Lord's birth is imminent this man Zacharias has a red letter day.

That's what verse six is all about. Is it six or eight? Eight. Once when Zacharias' division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God he was chosen by lot according to the custom of the priesthood to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense by lot.

It was his day. He perhaps never thought that this opportunity would come his way but by a sovereign decree of God by chance at the human level Zacharias has a red letter day this senior citizen and it's basic to the purposes of God that this should be his privilege. Why? Well you see he and his wife old though they be will bear a son and it was the fact of their barrenness which is very much on Zacharias' heart as he goes into the temple as he goes into the holy area of the temple and as he offers the sacrifice to the Lord.

Do you remember what happens? Gabriel who stands in the presence of God comes before Zacharias and informs him that his wife and he shall father a son. Zacharias who should have known well to question an angel who comes from the presence of God is doubtful as to this happening because he is so old and because of his immediate unbelief he is dumb. Now this presents him with a great problem.

Here are all the people outside waiting for the priest the one chosen by lot who has thrown the incense on the altar waiting for the priest to come and give them the Aaronic blessing. The Lord bless you and keep you the Lord lift up the light of his countenance upon you and and so forth. You remember Numbers chapter 6 and Zacharias who's been in the temple area a long time he comes to the balustrade with the people in front of him and he can't speak at all.

Why? Because he's been in the presence of an angel who's come from God and the angel has informed him that he Zacharias would be a father and on this red letter day because of the ultimate birth of the cousin of his son to be Zacharias the old man is blessed incredibly by God. What about his wife? Well she an equally old person has a response which is an improvement upon her husband's when she hears what is happening. Verse 25 fits the piece together the piece of the jigsaw.

The Lord has done this for me she said in these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people. You see they've been married for a long time and it was a very difficult thing for a woman in those days to be barren. Indeed according to the tradition of the rabbis barrenness was a reason for divorce but now towards the eventide of her life Elizabeth with the birth of Jesus just round the corner so to speak has this knock on blessing that she will become a mother and so at the time when Emmanuel draws near Jesus comes to tabernacle in this world.

Two old people are blessed husband and wife Zacharias a red letter day Elizabeth her barrenness the stigma is removed. Now let's just break off there for a moment you see I'm not just concerned in this historical excursion into the word of God though that's very important you see as I said when I invited you all to sing the Magnificat in one sense Christ is born in our hearts in one sense we're all Mary's. You see if you've had an experience that Jesus Christ is your savior then my argument is this there are byproducts of blessing that come your way.

The red letter day of Zacharias is attested to by many many people in the tabernacle is it not that the sense of barrenness of doing nothing with your life which gripped Elizabeth and was lifted from her because of God's gracious dealings with her. Now has that not been an experience that some of you have had older friends and younger friends too. So when I talk about the child and the pensioners you see although my idea may be novel to you it does have some scriptural justification and it applies not only to senior citizens but also to us of more tender years.

When did the wise men turn it up? I'm not going to talk about the wise men actually but just by way of interest how do you place them historically? The reason why I'm asking this question is because again I have not contempt but a feeling of disdain towards the manufacturers of Christmas cards. I just wish that they'd check their pictures with me before they release them. You see you never get on the Christmas card Simeon and Anna and I don't know why because Simeon and Anna are part and parcel of the nativity scene.

For those who are not into the secret of the second chapter these are the old folk who are on the temple steps as Joseph and Mary take Jesus into the temple area. Now I would argue that the wise men came after that event that's why I want Simon or Simeon and Anna on Christmas cards because they have as much a right as the wise men. In fact in one sense they've got more right but I'll not go into that.

Why do I think that the wise men came after? Well you see when Jesus was born Mary rightly takes to the temple an offering does she not? And the offering is a poor person's offering it's either pigeons or turtledoves you know because they were not very well established Joseph and Mary they were poor people living in northern Galilee. Now I argue this that it would be illogical for them to have come to Jerusalem if the wise men had already been there and offered gifts that were akin to those of poor people because by the time the wise men have finished they're not poor. Go frankincense and myrrh that lifts them on the social level isn't it? And if that argument doesn't convince you then the next one most certainly will and it's this that when the wise men went back to their own country they had been warned in a dream not to return to Jerusalem and to Herod so also had Joseph.

Why? Well the infant Christ child his life is in balance and so it seems to me that these wise men came after this event in the second chapter of Luke where Simeon and Anna come very much to the forefront. So we've got Mary clutching this lovely little parcel of human life in her arms as she walks up the steps and we read in the 25th verse. Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon who was righteous and devout.

Now as I say he must be well gone in years because he's had it revealed to him that he won't die before he has seen the Lord's Christ and when he takes the Lord Jesus in his arms and blesses him he then utters what our Anglican friends or the Anglo-Catholic church has called the nunc dimittis Latin for the departure song. Sovereign Lord as you have promised you now dismiss your servant in peace. This is one of the most lovely psalms that there is in the New Testament.

I use the word psalm deliberately. You see this is how I see Simeon. He's one of these quiet of the land you see and he's not concerned as I say about Caesar Augustus or Caiaphas or all the motley crew that are controlling the religious and the political state of things in Jerusalem.

What he is concerned about is God's purpose in the world and he sees himself like a slave. A slave that has been commissioned to do one thing by his master to look through the long hours of the night for the dawning of a star which will indicate the beginning of the new day and when that star is seen then he is discharged from his obligation of waiting and as he sees inspired by the Holy Spirit perhaps with some of the news having been brought to the temple area by the shepherds who I believe were in the pay of the of the priests looking after the paschal flock from these two indications the Holy Spirit and the shepherds he knows that that something has happened which is rather spectacular and in the timing of God when the parents bring Jesus Christ into the temple area Simon is there waiting and he sees as he takes the child in his arms the salvation of God for my eyes have seen your salvation Lord now let us tell thy servant depart in peace you see I fulfilled my obligation for years I've been waiting for years I've maintained a spiritual ministry here in Jerusalem and now it's towards the end or rather the beginning the star has been seen so to speak the child has been born indicative of a new era now release me Lord and take me to be with yourself you see the knock-on blessing if you please of the birth of the infant Jesus to this elderly man Simeon it's so wonderful let's move from from from Simeon because also on the temple steps is a woman by the name of Anna 80 plus years of of age only lived with her husband seven years and after he had died instead of remarrying she almost moves in lock stock and barrel as we would say to the temple area she never left the temple but worshiped night and day fasting and praying the woman who prays alone can pray well together in community and this was Anna you see she's one of the pillars of the temple I must pause to make this point you see the world looks on greatness in terms of those who are running things the machines the political machine the religious machine the Caesar Augustus' the Caiaphas' the Annas' of this world but but one of the pillars in the temple don't you see in Jerusalem was was this woman who was constantly praying not that God would break the bondage of Rome as Rome had the Jews shackled but that God would establish his way amongst his people this was her great concern and to this end she worshipped the Lord and she prayed night and day with fastings as well as intercessions thank God that there are many Annas many who have followed in her footsteps who have given themselves over to a life of prayer who have looked for the fulfillment of God's purposes on this earth and when she sees the infant Christ what does she do do she comes up verse 38 she comes up to Joseph and Mary at that very moment and she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem she becomes the first evangelist of this there can be little doubt I very often try to correct what I think is an imbalance in evangelical theology in its understanding of women and here is a woman who spends a ministry far better than the majority of the priests with the exception of the like of in the temple and amongst her clientele those who come to her from the various areas are those who want to know what God is saying to her about his purposes in the world and she starts to speak to all who come about the child who has been in the arms of Simeon now isn't this rather wonderful let me try and draw all this thinking together and you can accept my emphasis this morning or reject it as you please I offer it you humbly and I offer it to you with sincerity that this is what I believe is a valid point to draw for this congregation here are here are these people who are involved in the nativity by and large of an elderly stock and they are very very much affected by what the Lord Jesus is Zacharias means the one whom God remembers God never forgets the elderly he never forgets the faithful man the faithful woman whatever generation they spring from Elizabeth that means God who is absolutely faithful God remembers Zacharias and gives him a red letter day God is faithful to Elizabeth and he lists the stigma of her barrenness and though even the word John the son that they bear is significant God who is merciful now go to the temple here is Simeon and he speaks to us too about the faithfulness of God let me give you the actual translation of his name the name of Simeon Simeon he is the one to whom God will come and will vindicate his promise I can't just get the word I'll get it in a moment or two Anna her name means gracious the graciousness of God the graciousness of God Simeon means hearing so you see even the very names of these people they indicate what what God is going to do for them in their lives and what their names suggest so God realizes now my friend you may feel yourself to be very very insignificant but but go away with this thought from these infancy or the characters around the infancy of our the infancy of our Lord Jesus God was very concerned to be true to them he recognized their faithfulness and he made the blessings of Jesus realized in their experience now that's what he can do with you and me because God is concerned to keep true to his word and when he says draw near to me he says I will tabernacle with you now that was true for Zacharias God remembered him it was true for Elizabeth God was absolutely faithful to her it was true for Simeon God heard him it was true for Anna God was gracious to him now it will be true to for you provided you are prepared to do what these elderly folk did seek after the things that are most precious in life and let fall through your fingers the things that are inconsequential because the child that was born in Bethlehem has been born for the ordinary person to lift their lives and to put them on a standing a plane before God where they will be appreciated as his sons and his daughters Lord let us now thy servant depart in peace I see Simeon as a sort of Christmas parcel all wrapped up in brown paper with a string on and the address written clearly and the stamp I'm ready to go Lord let your servant depart in peace post me unto heaven and don't you see my friend that's basically the reason why Jesus came so that you might be wrapped up and ultimately stamped with the address on ready to go into the presence of the father because from the presence of the father Jesus came to tabernacle with you to prepare you for the destiny the destiny that is vouchsafe to all those who embrace him as Lord and Savior the first movement of the help the aged society occurred in Bethlehem and Jerusalem when the knock on blessings of the nativity of Christ were directed to a handful of elderly people amen let's sing together one six seven who is he in yonder stall at whose feet the shepherds fall is me is me which shines more and more until the perfect day father whatever our age category may be may we discover that as we remain faithful to you so the unfurling of your purposes will get more and more wonderful till the day dawns we're like these four whose stories we've been looking at as they had an encounter that was special with yourself until the day dawns and we're taken into your immediate presence bless this Christmas to us all old and young now and always amen