Last week we started this two part series with the suggestion that among the gifts that our kids give us are priorities and purpose. And we looked at the opening chapter of Luke’s gospel and into the lives of Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary and saw how their priorities and purposes changed when it became known that they would become parents of two children who would be a part of God’s purposes that would grow out of the event that we have always called the Incarnation but now call Christmas.
This morning we move over to the second chapter of Luke and are going to look at two more gifts that kids give us: the gifts of passion and perspective. And we are going to spend sometime with a couple of people who, from the Biblical text, never had children and yet the promise and the coming of the Christ child gave them these gifts of passion and perspective that were woven into the fabric of their life and faith over the course of their lives. These two persons are Anna and Simeon.
Now passion is truly a holiday word. In fact, passion is something that holidays seem to generate more of than at other times of the year; be it passions of frustration due to the holiday pressures or the passions of love and friendship which come as we truly give of ourselves during these times of celebration.
A dictionary definition for passion includes words like infatuation, lust, rage, and a whole host of other powerfully emotional words. And these days if you are in leadership positions you often hear the word “passion” in the context of discovering the thing that motivates you to get up out of bed in the morning and go full blast through the day. Passion is a deep word, it is a powerful word, and it is a gift from our children.
Passion is a word that describes Anna. Here is a woman, 84 years of age and widowed for many years, whose passion for God was strong, deep, and robust. It is revealed to us in Luke 2:38, which says that Anna “talked about Jesus to everyone who had been waiting for the promised King to come and deliver Jerusalem.”
How many children had Anna seen in the temple over the years? How many of those children, not her own, were now adults? How much satisfaction did she get watching them serve God and follow Him faithfully throughout their lives? How many of those male children did she look at, closely, lovingly, and wondered, “Could he be the Messiah?
Children stretch, challenge, and deepen our passions. When they are mastering new skills and opportunities we root them on and we will do whatever we need to help them enjoy these new skills and opportunities and to do them well. We will change our schedules and priorities for them so they can get to practice. We will do without so they have the equipment for whatever sport they want to try. We will practice with them and help them learn. (We also stretch muscles and joints as well).
When they take up a new sport or learn to play a musical instrument, we will utilize the banking systems of our nation to pay for the instruments or equipment and lessons! We will clean out a room or the garage to give them a space to practice. We will be nice and endure the endless hours of off note playing and, if they play the drums or tuba, we will kindly give them the house to themselves so they can practice! Kids give us the gift of passion.
Children gave Anna the gift of passion. A passionate pursuit of and love for the Lord. A passionate faith in His ways, plans, purposes, and a passionate expectation regarding the coming of the Messiah. And that day when she saw the face of the baby Jesus she knew that this child, this boy, was the one.
Luke writes in 2:37, “She never left the temple but stayed there day and night, worshipping God with fasting and prayer.” We know very little regarding Anna. We know that she was a widow. We are reasonably sure that she never had kids of her own. But we do know that she had passion! Passion for the Lord! Passion for His purposes and plans! Why else would Luke say that she never left the temple but worshipped the Lord day and night?
Some might consider her homeless. May be there was sometime of defect that caused her to be an outcast to her own family. We don’t know. But, she had a passion for God.
In an article entitled, “The Three Wise Women,” Christin Ditchfield noted this about Anna, “[she] had a lot of time on her hands. She could have spent that time living in the past and longing for the good old days. She could have become the proverbial busybody… sticking her nose into other people’s business. She could have sat on the porch complaining to her neighbors about her aches and pains and the problems that come with growing older. But she didn’t. Instead,” noted Ditchfield, “Anna devoted herself to loving God.”
We must not forget that Anna had difficult days. We must not forget that Anna could have had moments when she wished that she could have re-married and had children. We must not forget that there were moments when faith was hard to express.
But we must remember that her passion in the hoped for and anxiously awaited Christ child was grown, refined, and sustained throughout all of her life because God promised the coming of One who would redeem us.
Then there is Simeon, another wonderful servant who had been given a promise by the Spirit that, as Luke writes in 2:26, “he (Simeon) would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.” This promise of the Christ child gave Simeon the gift of perspective.
Now, we don’t know when the Spirit told Simeon that he would see the Messiah, but we can be sure that it changed his perspective. He would now live his life in light of the coming of the Christ child.
Children do change our perspective on things don’t they? Last week we were reminded that when children come to our homes, they affect the way we look at homes. Household chemicals are moved to a more secure location. Electrical sockets are covered so that little fingers are kept out of them.
Children change our perspective in many ways, from time to sex to money. We begin to see life in a different way. As someone has written, “when you have children, cleaning house is like shoveling snow while it’s still snowing.”
One classic example of how kids give us perspective is illustrated in the relationship between Dennis the Menace and Mr. Wilson. One day Mr. Wilson was sitting in his chair reading the newspaper. Mrs. Wilson is looking out the window as Dennis walks past the house.
You can almost hear the sigh of relief from Mr. Wilson. He says to his wife, “There goes a Maalox moment waiting to happen.”
We also learn from the perspective of children. For example, one Sunday School teacher told the story of the Prodigal Son to her class and then asked, “Was anyone sorry when the prodigal son returned?” One boy answered, “Yes, the fatted calf.”
By Simeon’s comments in verses 29 through 32, I think that we can really hear and feel Simeon’s perspective. It comes out as he rejoices in holding the Christ child in his arms and realizing the promise of God has come true right in his very arms!
“I have seen the savior!” Can you see Simeon give a little jig of joy right there in the temple? “I can die in peace!” Can you hear his voice and body relax and quiet down as he says this?
It is not some fatalistic resignation. It is not some sighing regret of life quickly gone by.
It is a celebrative statement of one who has lived life with a perspective of hope, faith, and trust because God said to him, “You will see the Messiah, Simeon!” It is a “jump for joy” and “thank you Father!” statement!
The perspective of children is amazing. Many years ago, I heard a then 2 year old describe their foot going to sleep as “ants in my shoe.”
We laugh and snicker, not at kids, but with them when they make statements like the three-year old nephew of someone who was taken to church on Palm Sunday and exclaimed when he saw the loads of palms being carried down the aisle, “Oh boy! Corn on the cob!”
These four gifts that we have briefly looked at are gifts that make us more open to the work of God in our lives and sometimes, more than either we care to admit or imagine the gift givers are children. But there is one more gift that the Christ child came to give, and without it, the real message of Christmas is lost. It is the gift of peace.
This gift of peace is spoken of by the angels in Luke 2:14 and it is ultimately given to us at Easter when Christ leaves the tomb in which He has laid for three days. It is a peace that comes through God’s forgiveness and reconciliation because of what the Christ child did for us on the cross.
Ken Sande, of Peacemaker Ministries shares a wonderfully true story about this gift of peace that comes through a child. It involves a young bride-to-be named Becky.
Her father Frank had left the family when Becky was a little girl and so she had seen very little of him over the years. She was concerned about the pain and bitterness that she was dealing with and feared that it might affect her marriage.
Her Pastor made contact with her father. They had a wonderful conversation about the relationship and felt that there was openness in him and so asked her dad, Frank, "Wouldn’t this be an ideal time to seek reconciliation with Becky?" Frank took her phone number and that evening called her. “When she answered, he said, "Hello, Becky. This is your father" and waited for a response.
“After a few moments, he heard a word he had not heard for years. "Daddy ... is that you?"
Soon they were talking and as they did, God, noted Sande, began to work in both their hearts and reconciliation between father and daughter took place. She also informed him of her upcoming wedding and then asked him if he would give her away. After she hung up, she realized what she had done and wondered if she was going to cause tremendous problems for both her and her family.
Well the day of the rehearsal and wedding came and while there were many nervous people, it went very well. “All day long,” notes Sande, “God was working in Frank to give him the courage to do something he had not planned to do.
During the reception, he stood up and cleared his throat. Raising his glass toward Becky’s mother (his former wife), he said, "I want to propose a toast to Susan for her faith, endurance, and character, and for the wonderful job she has done in raising our children." He lowered his glass and looked around the room. Then he continued, "I also want to ask forgiveness for all of the pain I caused so many of you through my selfish actions." Finally, he lifted his glass toward the ceiling and said, "Most of all, I want to thank God that my daughter is marrying a Christian and that her pastor loved her enough to reach out to me."
There was not a dry eye in the room as Becky ran into her father’s arms, thanking him for the best wedding gift he could have ever given her. Other family members went to him as well, expressing their forgiveness and pushing aside the walls that had divided their family for twenty years.”
Sande concluded the story with the news that Frank would confess his sin and put his faith Christ one month after this reconciling with Becky and her family. And he concludes this story as follows: “When Becky heard the news, she knew that the reconciliation process was complete. By God’s grace, she and her father would never be separated again.”
This is a tough time of year for many people. There is tragedy of broken lives and relationships and walls between people. There is first Christmas loss of a loved in death. And all the sentimental songs and slogans cannot heal the pain and resolve the loss.
But, Jesus offers us the gift of peace. Peace with him and peace with others. Because of what He did for us, we can be forgiven and we can begin the process of reconciliation and new life.
Jesus offers us all of these gifts. He offers us the gift of purpose, a new and solid purpose, for living because we have been created to live for and with God.
He offers us the gift of priorities because God’s priorities for us are ones that are not subject to change like the shifting priorities of others who are here today and gone tomorrow.
He offers us the gift of passion. A passion that runs deep and creates a commitment in us to be God’s person and find meaning and life in God’s priorities and purposes.
He offers us the gift of perspective. It is a perspective that allows us to see life as not just taking up space, but as something larger and more complete.
We give a lot of gifts this time of year. We spend a lot of money on them. But these gifts are the gifts that keep on giving. These are the gifts, often from children, that allow us to really experienced life as God has always meant it to be experienced.
Perhaps you have never accepted God’s peace through His forgiveness. This morning I invite you to do so, right where you sit, without any pressure or fanfare by confessing the wrongs and pain in your life and asking for His forgiveness and help even as I speak.
Don’t worry about trying to sound spiritual. Be honest with God about your life; just plainly tell Him about what needs to be let go of and changed in your life. Let Him start directing your life. Let Him forgive you. And, where necessary, let Him help you to seek forgiveness of others.
The best Christmas gift of all is the gift of a changed life. And the child in the manger has made that possible. Amen.
