A Guiding LightL: Sermon Luke 2:22-40

Dear God, take our minds and think through them; take our hands and feet and work through them; take our lips and speak through them, take our hearts and set them on fire for you. Amen

If I were to ask you what a lighthouse is, most of you would know. Although we do not live anywhere near a coastline we have either been to a coastline, or read about lighthouses in books, or saw lighthouses in movies or on TV. In any case, you would recognize one if you saw it. You know its purpose. Lighthouses were created as guiding lights to aide sailors as they navigated treacherous waters and there is many a sailor who owes his or her life to these guiding lights.

Today’s lesson is about a guiding light of another kind. We continue the Birth Narrative in Luke that began on Christmas Eve. In these verses from Luke the Christ Child is presented at the Temple as was all first-born Jewish male children and Mary made her purification offering at the Temple. Mary and Joseph were proper Jewish parents and so they fulfilled what the law required. As they were coming into the Temple they ran into two prophets, a man and woman who immediately recognized Jesus for who he was. Simeon was advanced in years, but he had a promise from God that he would see the one who would free Israel. Before he died he would see the Messiah. Now the Temple was a busy place and there must have been hundreds if not thousands of babies coming in and out of the Temple on any given day, but Simeon and Anna knew Jesus right then and there. Jesus did not look any different. He did not have a halo around his head or special markings that marked him as the Christ. How did Simeon and Anna know? Luke tells us that it was the Holy Spirit that gave them the insight to see who Jesus really was and today it is still the Holy Spirit that lets us know who Jesus is and that he is our guiding light.

You see a guiding light only works when you recognize what it represents. If you did not know what a lighthouse meant, some warn of dangerous reefs and rocks, some guide ships to safe harbors, then the lighthouse does you no good. You must recognize the purpose of the guiding light in order for it to guide you. Most people, even the most staunch secular humanist historian, agree that Jesus lived on earth. They agree he was born, that he lived and taught, that he had a following, and that he was crucified by the Roman government. There is enough empirical evidence for scholars to agree on this. They would not believe that he was born of a virgin, that he performed miracles of healing, that he fed a multitudes, they certainly do not believe that he rose from the dead.

Thomas Jefferson was one of those people. After he left the presidency he worked to remake the gospels. He took a Bible and literally cut out all the supernatural aspects of the gospels leaving only the teachings of Christ. He believed that Jesus was perhaps the greatest teacher who ever lived, but was not divine. He saw the guiding light, but didn’t recognize it. He saw the man, but not the Savior. He saw the teacher, but not the healer. He saw the dead man, but not the risen God. There are many like him. There are many who call themselves Christians who do not believe some of the supernatural aspects of the story of Christ. The see the guiding light, but they do not follow it.

Why do we recognize Jesus for who he really is? How is it that we came to know Jesus as our Lord and Savior? To answer these questions we must look back at our story from Luke. Simeon and Anna recognized Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit guided Simeon to the Temple so he could see the Christ child and the Holy Spirit gave Simeon the vision to see which baby was Jesus. Every person who encounters Jesus and recognizes who he really is does so by the power of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist recognized Jesus even while both were in the wombs of their mothers. He could not see Jesus, but it was the Holy Spirit that caused him to jump for joy. When Jesus called the disciples it was the Holy Spirit that let them know that this man was something different. When we said yes to Christ it was not only of our own accord, but by the power of the Holy Spirit. Every person who sees Jesus and recognizes him as their guiding light as the Light of the World does so by the power of the Holy Spirit. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians twice once in 2:9-10. “What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the human heart conceived, what God has prepared for those who love him” these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit; for the Spirit searches everything, even the depths of God.” And again in 12:3 “Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.”

We recognize Jesus as Lord and Savior. We recognize the guiding light of Christ through the Holy Spirit. This means that God’s grace was working in us before we even knew it and before we said yes to Christ. Wesley called this prevenient grace, the grace that comes before. Wesley said that humans are too selfish and sinful to make a right choice and so every good choice we make, including the choice to accept Christ is also done by God through his Holy Spirit. It is because of God’s prevenient grace that the Holy Spirit works through every person.

So why doesn’t every person believe in Jesus? Like with any guiding light you can ignore it or misinterpreted it. The Spirit might be nudging you and nudging you, but you keep pushing it farther and farther back. Like in the old hymn “Almost Persuaded” we can push the Spirit away until one day it might be too late. A ship’s captain can see a lighthouse and choose to ignore its warnings to his and his crews peril. We can see the guiding light of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit and choose to ignore it. We don’t want to follow Christ, we want to go our own way. We follow our own maps, our own path until we crash ashore and run aground. We all run aground every now and then. The good news is that even through we have ignored him in the past he is still illuminating our path. As we end another year and begin a new one, let us renew our commitment to Christ and our commitment to follow his guiding light.

I want to close this morning with one of my favorite prayers. It is the Wesleyan Covenant prayer. Let us pray.

A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee,
Exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things
To thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God,
Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Thou art mine, and I am thine. So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth,
Let it be ratified in heaven.
Amen.