Depart in Peace
The First Sunday of Christmas – 12/29/2024
Luke 2:22-40
Rev. Christopher W. Brademeyer
That portion of God’s holy Word for consideration this morning is our Gospel lesson from the second chapter of the holy Gospel according to St. Luke with special emphasis on verses twenty-nine through thirty-two which read as follows:
“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”[1]
Thus far the Scriptures.
In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Let’s set the stage here: Jesus was brought to the Temple for the period of purification. Since this is something that is a bit mystifying, we need to unpack what is going on here before we move on to discuss why Simeon sang the Nunc Dimittis here.
The purification according to Moses here refers to a command given in the Old Testament book of Leviticus, specifically chapter twelve. In that chapter, God commands that a woman who has given birth to a son is to be considered unclean for seven days. On the eighth day, the son was to be circumcised. From that point on, she waited an additional thirty-three days until she was able to go to the Temple and offer the required sacrifice: either a lamb and a turtle dove if she could afford it or, if she was poor, two turtle doves. Thus her period of uncleanness was forty days and was ended by the sacrifice of a lamb. As an aside, the period of uncleanness for birthing a daughter was doubled: eighty days total rather than forty.
Now there is a lot to unpack here. Firstly, we must reject the notion that this long period was required because of misogyny, that is, hatred of women, or sexism or anything like that. The theological reasoning behind this deals not with the woman as a woman, but with the reality that blood is shed in childbirth. Blood is sacred and belongs to God, specifically, it is for atonement for sins and contains life within it.[2] In other words, the shedding of blood whether intentional or unintentional is a sign of the reality of sin and the need for an atonement. Blood has life in it, so it is sacred and belongs in the body where it grants life. Besides all of this, there is only one shedding of blood that ultimately matters to God, that is the shedding of the blood of His Son, Jesus, who made perfect atonement for our sins.[3] All other shedding of blood either points to this or seeks to replace it, the former being commanded, and the latter forbidden. This is why murder is so bad, it sheds blood for our own ends, rather than looking to the shedding of blood in Christ’s death for God’s ends of life and salvation. This is anticipated in the preferred offering of a lamb, an Old Testament picture, or type, of the true Lamb of God to come.
As for the period of time, forty is a number used for pilgrimage, fasting, and being refined. For example, the people of God wandered in the wilderness for forty years, Noah’s flood lasted for forty days, and Jesus went into the desert to be tempted for forty days. Besides this, is also gave the practical benefit to a new mother of exempting her from her religious obligations so that she could spend her time at home with the newborn child. Which brings up a question that can be uncomfortable to modern readers of the Scriptures: why was the period of uncleanness double if the child was a girl?
To be brief, we must reject any notion of sexism on the part of God. After all, He loves all people dearly, both men and women, and He does not show partiality, that is play favorites, to anyone.[4] The best explanation I’ve come across has to do with that first Gospel promise given to Eve in Genesis 3:15. From a woman, a descendant of Eve, would come a Son to crush the head of Satan and redeem humanity from sin and death. For this reason, the period was shortened for a son both to remind of the coming Son of God and in hopes that the child born would, in fact, be the Messiah promised from of old.
At any rate, Mary came to make her offering as commanded. Being poor, she brought the poor woman’s offering of two turtledoves. And while she was there doing this thing, they Holy Family was met by Simeon. We know very little about Simeon from the Scriptures. In fact, all we know was read today. He was told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he met the Christ. Ancient traditions in the church say that he was old, no doubt due to the implications of an expectation of a near death in the Nunc Dimittis. Another tradition holds that he may have been one of the translators of the Old Testament into Greek, but this seems unlikely.
Regardless of his exact background and pedigree, Simeon was anticipating this day. For he knew that peace that transcends death could only be found in Christ Jesus the Lord, the Messiah foretold of old and who was promised to be seen by him. And that day came.
Given all of this, it is unsurprising that Simeon broke out into song. How could he not sing? What greater reason to sing than this could there possibly be? He had met the Lord, the Savior of the world, the One who could finally destroy sin and death and overthrow the reign of the devil!
Now that he had met the Christ, the Savior, Simeon could depart in peace. He could lie with his ancestors, knowing that God had indeed kept his promises and would not allow His people to be under the oppression of evil any more.
And this salvation, this saving from death, sin, and Satan, this was not only for Israel, not only for those descended from Jacob, it was also for the Gentiles, the nations outside of those who were of that chosen people. In other words, Simeon confessed that all of the world, every tribe, nation, tongue, and race should rejoice for Christ is born of Mary! And because of this, we have salvation, redemption, even the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
And because of this, we, like Simeon, are able to meet our ends in peace and thanksgiving. It is a good Christian prayer that we and those we know have a peaceful and good end to this life. That is, we first and foremost die believing in Christ and secondly, and to a lesser degree, that we do so free from undue suffering or harm.
Peace is hard to come by in this world, but in Christ, we have peace that lasts beyond the grave, that transcends this life, and that is ensured not by any work of us human beings, but by the victorious suffering and death, the shedding of perfect and holy blood, by our Lord Jesus Christ. And now, through Him, we have peace. We can depart in peace. We can live in peace.
In the holy Name of + Jesus. Amen.
The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1] Luke 2:29-32 English Standard Version
[2] Leviticus 17:10-14
[3] Hebrews 10:13-14
[4] Romans 2:11
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