Born to Die

Introduction

As we continue meditating on the meaning of Advent, we are not really resisting attempts to make Christmas meaningless so much as we are fighting with alternative meanings. There is no such thing (in the last analysis) as a vacuum holiday, a celebration without a point. Attempts to neutralize Christmas are simply an intermediate step—and the alternative meanings are always waiting in the wings.

What we are contending for is that, among other things, Christ took on a human body in order that He would be able to die. Adam was told that the day you eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the Garden, you shall surely die. But a deeper truth lay far beneath that warning. The day you eat of the fruit of the tree in the midst of the Garden, the God/man will surely die.

Alternative understandings of Christmas are always trying to get away from that.

The Text

“And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also,) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed” (Luke 2:34-35).

Summary of the Text

Simeon was a great man of faith, an Old Testament saint who was waiting faithfully for the consolation of Israel. By the grace of God, he was permitted to live just long enough to see the Messiah arrive in His infancy. But he was not simply a man of faith; he was also given a prophetic word. Among other things, he blessed Joseph and Mary both (v. 34), and then he turned to Mary in order to give her a particular word.

The child was destined to be a divider. On the one hand, he would bring about the fall and rising of many in Israel, which was a good thing (v. 34). The corrupt rulers of Israel had good reason to fear His arrival. On the other hand, he would be “for a sign” to be spoken against (v. 34). Not everyone would receive the Messiah with glad shouts of acclaim. No matter what signs He performed, they were adamantly hostile. Simeon hints that more than just speaking against Him would be involved, because he predicted that a sword would be run through Mary’s soul (v. 35). This is a clear indication that Mary would live to see the crucifixion, which is what did in fact happen (Jn. 19:26-27). The fact that Jesus would for a sign to be spoken against was in order to reveal the condition of many hearts (v. 35). Goodness of the sort that Christ manifested makes us choose. And violence of the sort that was directed against Him makes us choose again.

Alternative Meanings

What does it mean to say that alternative or competitive meanings for Christmas are positioning themselves? Usually this comes out when someone points to something that everyone is supposed to acknowledge as problematic, and then says something like, “We have to get away from this problem or that one and get back to the true meaning of Christmas.” The fact that the problems are so obvious is used as a trick to make us think that the proposed meaning must be self-evident also.

So what are some of those false solutions to fake problems?

Sentimentalism—a sentimental Christmas is a Christmas without conflict. As my daughter puts it, what if the true meaning of Christmas actually were what is portrayed in a Hallmark Christmas movie? That meaning would reduce to a cup of delicious cocoa. But sin brought conflict and violence into the world, and so in a very real sense, Christians are enemies to the way of death. But note this: death is our enemy. We cannot rid the world of conflict without conflict. But it must be the God-ordained kind of conflict, as Simeon foresaw. The pseudo-problem that such people want to point to is the mere existence of conflict, never mind who is right or wrong. The imperative coming out of their worldview would be “be sweet.” These people are so sweet that diabetics can’t be friends with them.

Moralism—a moralistic Christmas is a Christmas without sin. People are changed (if they need to be changed) the way Scrooge is transformed in A Christmas Carol. They are changed by simply changing their minds, or through giving somebody a goose or something festive. This kind of Pelagianism is not what we are commemorating. Simeon’s prophecy takes real sin into account. Note his prophetic language of judgment—falling and rising, a sign that is hated, a sword piercing the soul of a godly woman, and the revelation of many hearts. The pseudo-problem that is raised here is the problem of “negativity.” But when Christ was born, our world really was cold and black. The imperative coming out of this false ideal would be “be good.” These people are earnest, and their brows are furrowed.

Spiritualism—a spiritualistic Christmas is a Christmas without matter. But when Simeon blesses Joseph and Mary, he is doing so because they are there in the Temple with a baby in their arms, there to be circumcised. The Lord was taken up in Simeon’s arms (v. 28). Jesus was a baby, a material gift. So we do not celebrate Christmas by trying to back-pedal away from the world of material things. The pseudo-problem here is the warning against “materialism,” as though matter were somehow inherently a problem. Idolatry is a problem, but that can occur with thoughts and virtual reality as easily as with fudge and presents. Remember that it was Judas who wondered why the precious ointment was poured on Christ’s feet instead of being given to the poor. Another manifestation of this problem is the idea that Christ’s advent was somehow apolitical. But Herod didn’t make that mistake. The false imperative coming from this idea would be “be spiritual,” meaning “be ethereal.” These are the people who want to float through the Christmas season.

A Sword to Pierce the Soul

We have noted before that the weeping of Rachel for her children is part of the Christmas story. Nativity sets should have models of Herod’s soldiers in them, and nativity sets ought not to have little drummer boys. The killing of the boys was part of the story. But we should note also that Simeon included the violence that would be directed against Christ Himself, and which Mary would feel in her soul, and he included this in the story from the very beginning. Earlier in that chapter, we read that Mary treasured up in her heart what the shepherds had said, and it says that she pondered them (v. 19). Make a note of all the things that Mary needed to “figure out” over the course of the Lord’s upbringing. Luke tells us at the beginning of his gospel that he gathered his account of these things from eyewitnesses (1:2). Clearly, one of his chief sources was Mary.  From whom could he have found out about Simeon? Again, when Luke was writing, Mary was the only eyewitness of that event. And she clearly remembered what Simeon had told her. She was preparing herself for the crucifixion, in some measure, from the infancy of Jesus on. She was braced for those hard words to come to pass . . . but she also knew that this prophetic word initially came to her in the context of a blessing. Christmas is a hard saying—who can bear it?

Blessings Have a Story Arc

Simeon said that there would be falling and rising. Blessings are not static. When Simeon told Mary about the pain that was coming, he had already said that the baby in his arms was the Lord’s “salvation” (v. 30). Mary knew, from Simeon’s mouth, that Jesus was the Christ (v. 26). Mary knew that this was a story that could not end in disaster. It would have a disaster in it, but not in the final chapter, not on the final page. The gospels are not tragedies in any sense. They are not comedies either, if we take comedy as referring to anything like a sitcom. But they are comedies in a much deeper and more profound sense than this. Christ was born to die, but He died so that He could be the first born from among the dead (Col. 1:18). This is a story that was going to land.

The Full Gospel

If we tell the Christmas story carefully, taking note of all the things that the writers of the scriptural accounts include, we find ourselves telling the entire story of salvation. The story includes the world, and everything in it. That includes all the sin. When Jesus came, He came to pick up the world. That world was very dirty, and so did this make His hands dirty? No, even as the sin-bearer, He remained altogether holy. If our grime contaminated His hands, any attempt to pick up the world would have been in vain.  

But what He accomplished in fact made His hands bloody, and that in its turn is the salvation of this sorry planet. This world could only be picked up with bloody hands, but in order for such a thing to happen, He needed to have hands, and blood. And that is what Christmas gave to us by giving a body to the Word. And so it was that He came to make His blessings flow, far as the curse is found.

First preached in 2006