While these words are commonly shared every year at this time by people all over the world, the transformational gravity of that statement has become a simple phrase without much thought. What we celebrate is the God and Creator of the world taking a part of himself and stepping into the brokenness, depravity and fickleness of the people that carry his image in order to save them.
I know I often don’t feel the weight and impact of the Christmas celebration. When we pause, and store up these things in our hearts and ponder them as Mary did, we realize that our literal salvation, our purpose, the reason we exist and have hope, is wrapped up in the coming of the Messiah as a baby. Merry Christmas isn’t simply a pleasant statement for a festive season, it is an understated announcement of the transformational reconciliation with God.
The account of the birth of Christ in Luke 2:1-21 is well read and full of beauty and truth. Luke 2:22-40 is sandwiched in between the birth account of Jesus and the account of Jesus as a boy in the temple. It can sometimes be overlooked because of the powerful narratives in the verses before and after in Luke 2. However, as we celebrate Christmas, the story shared in those 19 verses are an incredibly powerful reminder to us. The Jewish custom for purification rites required Mary and Joseph to take Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to God along with a sacrifice. There are two people mentioned specifically in verses 22-40, that I believe we can learn from this Christmas - Simeon and Anna. Simeon was a “righteous and devout” man in Jerusalem, who was told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he saw the Messiah. As soon as Jesus was brought into the temple, Simeon was moved by the Spirit and took him in his arms and praised God saying, “you may now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations: a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32, NIV)
Anna, the prophet, who had been fasting and worshiping God for decades in the temple, went to Mary and Joseph immediately after Simeon, and praised and thanked God, then shared about Jesus and the redemption he would bring to Jerusalem.
Have we taken the same posture as Simeon and Anna? Are we praising and worshiping God as we celebrate the coming of Jesus? If we understand the truth of who Jesus is, we should celebrate our salvation and redemption, who came to dwell among us to give us hope and a future.
At eduKenya, we seek each day to help our students see themselves as people not stuck in the circumstances of brokenness, depravity and fickleness that God himself entered into as a baby in Bethlehem, but rather as people full of hope - redeemed, reconciled and saved. We seek to live into the coming of Christ and what that means for each of us, regardless of circumstance. And so, from all of our team at eduKenya, we wish you a very, Merry Christmas!