First Reading: Exodus 13:1-3a, 11-15
1The Lord said to Moses, 2“Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine.” 3Then Moses said to the people, 11“When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, as he swore to you and your fathers, and shall give it to you, 12you shall set apart to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn of your animals that are males shall be the Lord’s. 13Every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of man among your sons you shall redeem. 14And when in time to come your son asks you, ‘What does this mean?’ you shall say to him, ‘By a strong hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of slavery. 15For when Pharaoh stubbornly refused to let us go, the Lord killed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both the firstborn of man and the firstborn of animals. Therefore I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.’”
Psalm 111
1Hallelujah! I will give thanks to the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, in the congregation. 2Great are the deeds of the Lord! they are studied by all who delight in them. 3His work is full of majesty and splendor, and his righteousness endures forever. 4He makes his marvelous works to be remembered; the Lord is gracious and full of compassion. 5He gives food to those who fear him; he is ever mindful of his covenant. 6He has shown his people the power of his works in giving them the lands of the nations. 7The works of his hands are faithfulness and justice; all his commandments are sure. 8They stand fast forever and ever, because they are done in truth and equity. 9He sent redemption to his people; he commanded his covenant forever; holy and awesome is his Name. 10The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; those who act accordingly have a good understanding; his praise endures forever.
Second Reading: Colossians 3:12-17
12Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony. 15And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. 16Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 17And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Gospel: Luke 2:22-40
22When the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, {Joseph and Mary} brought {Jesus} up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) 24and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” 25Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, 29“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; 30for my eyes have seen your salvation 31that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” 33And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35(and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” 36And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. 39And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. 40And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.
A New Vantage Point
Over the years I’ve had the opportunity to visit various churches and other impressive buildings. And invariably, there seemed to be two things I wanted to do: I wanted to go up to the pulpit and see how things look from that perspective, and if there was a balcony, I wanted to look down on the Sanctuary from that lofty vantage point. And from what I’ve come to understand, this is typical behavior. It seems that there’s something inside us that drives us to climb to the top and get the view from above.
When we were children, we’d climb trees so we could spy down on the world below. When we were older, we’d climb to the top of a skyscraper, or dive to the highest hill, just so we could gaze upon the city below. Why do we do this? What’s inside us that makes us want a view from above? Actually, there are two reasons for this behavior; one is a sense of power and the second is perspective.
Psychologists say there’s a sense of power that comes when we stand above the world. In one sense we get to play “god,” looking down on everything, giving us a feeling of superiority! One could say it’s a Goliath complex. We like to feel up to the challenge, no matter what we face. It’s that same independent nature that drove Eve and Adam to commit the first sin, the conceit that says I’m like God, or worse, better than God. Self-centeredness aside, there’s a second reason we like to view things from a higher vantage point, perspective.
Oftentimes, we need a different perspective. For example, when you look out the window of an airplane, you begin to see how things fit together, how the hills and valleys interlock, how the fields form a mosaic, and the towns have some shape and definition. It’s from this perspective end that St. Paul had in mind when he wrote about Jesus’ ascension in the first few verses of Colossians chapter 3. He says that if we want to find some method to all the madness of life, we need to get the view from above. We need to follow Jesus into heaven and see things from His perspective in glory.
The first two chapters of St. Paul’s letter to the Colossian Christians are a grand testimony to the reign and rule of Jesus. Paul writes, “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether principalities or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (1:16-17).
But from our view of the world, this can, at times, be difficult to believe. When we look at the world around us, what do we see? Is Christ Lord over all things? Is this the opinion we have after listening to the nightly news or when we read the headlines on the computer? It can be difficult at times to see God’s work in our world today with so much that’s out of our control. In 1940, John Steinbeck earned a Pulitzer Prize for his book, The Grapes of Wrath. Tom Joad is the main character in his book.
Tom’s Grandfather homesteaded a farm out on the prairies. He broke the ground. He worked the land. He raised his family. And when he died, Tom’s dad took over. The land was good. God blessed his efforts. And all was right in the world. But then the bad years came. The rains stayed in the clouds. The grasshoppers ate their fill. The winds battered the tender shoots of grain. And one by one, the farmers went bankrupt.
First, they borrowed a little money, just to feed the family. Then they couldn’t pay it back. Finally, the sheriff came out and told them to get off the land; it wasn’t theirs anymore! But whose land was it? Well, it belonged to the bank. So, they went to the bank. “I’m sorry,” said the bank manager. “I can’t help you. You see, I’m only the administrator of the bank.” So they go to the Board of Directors. “We’re sorry,” said the Board of Directors. “We’d like to help you, but our hands are tied! The shareholders, you see….They’re the ones who tell us what to do.”
And who are the shareholders? A thousand faceless people, all over the country. And Tom Joad’s father wants to hit somebody. He wants to punch somebody in the face. But nobody’s to blame. There’s a monster that controls everything. And nobody can help it. And nobody knows what to do. And nobody seems to hear when the preacher prays and the baby cries. That’s where we all live, most of the time. And St. Paul knows that.
At the beginning of Chapter 2, Paul says life is a strain for him. He says he struggles to get people to see the mystery of God in Jesus Christ. He says people love to follow fine-sounding arguments and run after the latest fad. He says they end up in the maze of life and can’t see the forest for the trees. They get caught up in what he calls “hollow and deceptive” philosophies. If you can’t see how things fit together, if you don’t have a perspective larger than yourself, that’s where you end up. The world according to me!
A gravestone in an English cemetery carries this epitaph: Here lies a fellow who lived for himself, And cared for nothing but gathering pelf. Now where he is or how he fares, Nobody knows and nobody cares! Pelf is, of course, an uncommon word; it means to chase after wealth, fame, influence, and/or power. When you really consider it, a life chasing pelf is actually fruitless. To do so gives one a narrow view of life, it shrinks our world and gives us a small view of things. We get lost in the forest of traffic and are eaten up by some unseen monster. St. Paul, however, gives us the information we need to change our perspective.
According to our Epistle reading, our view changes when we get a glimpse of things from the perspective on life that Jesus has, ascended to glory, sitting next to His Father in Heaven. It’s a perspective that doesn’t deny the evil we see around us. It’s a perspective that doesn’t try to sugarcoat everything in some kind of syrupy-sweet religion. Rather, it’s a perspective that puts evil in its place, and catches the larger purpose for which we exist.
Some of you may have read a novel by E. M. Forster, titled A Room with a View. Lucy Honeychurch is visiting Italy with a friend. They’re rich English people, out on holiday, and when they get to a hotel, they want a room with a view. They want a room that looks out on the beautiful things of Italy: the colors of nature, the marble statues, and fine architecture. But there’s only one room left. And it’s on the wrong side of the hotel.
Their room doesn’t have “a view”; at least not the kind of view they want. It looks down on the markets, and the teeming mass of people, poor people, rough people, the kind of people they don’t want to know about. All the other rich people pity them. What a terrible way to spend the holidays! And Lucy Honeychurch at first buys into that idea. Think of her name: “Honeychurch” Religion where everything is nice and pious and oh, so sweet! But the author changes her heart. He helps her to see the poor people.
Forster gets her to open her heart and reach out in compassion and touch their hurts and share their needs. She begins to see life as it really is. In the end we get the feeling that Lucy Honeychurch actually does have “a room with a view.” It’s a view of things as they truly are. It’s a window looking down on a world of good and evil, of beauty, and pain. That’s what Paul says gaining the perspective of Christ can do for us.
Seeing the world through the eyes of Jesus can give us the perspective of Christ in heaven, and then fill us with His character as we continue to live in this world. Paul says it begins with a confession of faith, and then continues with a conscious decision. The confession of faith is this: Jesus Christ is Lord and Ruler of the Universe! Our view of the world may not always see this as the case, but, as Paul says in another passage: We live by faith, not by sight!
Just because I don’t see my family during the day doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Just because no police officer reminds me of the legal code doesn’t mean the law isn’t working. Just because I don’t understand nuclear power generation, doesn’t mean the lights won’t go on when I flip the switch. That’s the way it is with our testimony of faith. Even if God’s ways are sometimes a mystery, that doesn’t mean He’s not there, or that somehow, He’s lost control. God is still the Master of all, even when we don’t always see His hand at work in this world.
A man and his young son were enjoying the Springtime winds with a brand-new kite. It was a big, colorful, and fancy kite. And they had a huge spool of string. The breeze was blowing stiff and the kite begged to run wild. So they let out all the string. And the kite went so high that the little boy couldn’t see it anymore. Is it still there? he asked. Yeah, it’s still there! But how do you know for sure? I can’t see it anymore! I know it’s still there, his Dad said, because I can feel it tugging at the string! The same is true with our testimony of faith. We may not always see God’s hand at work, but in faith we can feel His presence.
When we love somebody and feel their presence, even when we can’t see them, we say they’re tugging at our heartstrings. When we confess that Jesus is our Lord and Savior, we feel the tug of His love inside us. Even though He’s disappeared from our sight for a while, we know He’s alive, and we know where He is, and we know what He’s doing, and we know someday He will return. That’s the testimony we make with St. Paul: Our lives are now hidden with Jesus in God, and when Christ appears, we will be with Him in glory! Living for God is a choice we make, and it’s a choice as basic as changing clothes.
Take off your old clothes, says Paul, and put on the new ones! Take off your little perspectives, the way you’d naturally see things, and then put on the clothes of a new perspective, the view of life from Christ’s vantage point in heaven. St. Paul says in verses 9 and 10, “Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.” What then does this mean in practical terms?
The idea originally came from an ancient Greek philosopher named Pyrrho (Pi-Ro). He honestly believed that the sensory world didn’t exist. He thought all he saw around him was just a projection of his mind. He told everybody that they shouldn’t worry about things, nothing actually existed. Well, the townspeople got a kick out of that. And one day they got the laugh of a lifetime.
Here was Pyrrho, who said nothing really existed, running down the street, chased by a rather vicious dog! In a desperate move, he grabbed hold of a tree branch and swung himself up to safety. As the crowds gathered around, they called up to him, “Hey, Pyrrho! Why are you running from a dog that doesn’t even exist?” Pyrrho reportedly shrugged his shoulders, and said, “It’s difficult to put off the old man!” From that day forward, philosophers have talked about putting off the old man, the old self, the old perspective, and putting on the new way of life. That’s what the Apostle Paul is talking about here.
If we truly believe Jesus is in charge, if we confess that He is Lord over Creation, then we need to live as if this is the case! We need to live as though Jesus matters to us! We need to live as if His perspectives were our own! We need to stop being chased around by the dogs of anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language! (vs. 8) Instead, we need to live out the words of our Epistle reading for today: “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. And above all these, put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him (Colossians 3:12-17).
When Henry David Thoreau wrote his classic wilderness book, Walden, he told of a powerful custom among the Muc-classe Indians. Once a year they had a village-cleanup called a “busk.” First, they would make new clothes for themselves, and new furniture, and pots and pans, and all the other necessities of life. They would keep all these new things in a new building just outside of the village. When everything was ready, they would begin the annual spring cleaning.
Every corner of every house was scrubbed. Every stick of furniture was thrown out. Every child’s toy went on the garbage heap. The dirt paths were swept, and the weeds were pulled up. Even the food that was left over from the winter was thrown out the door. Next, all the refuse was gathered. They piled it high in the center of the village. When all was collected, the chief set the heap on fire, and while they were watching it burn, they took off their old clothes, and threw them into the flames.
They tended the fire carefully, and made sure every last piece of garbage was burned. They even waited for three days to make sure everything had been destroyed, and no coals were still glowing. And on the fourth morning, washed and bathed, and dressed in their new clothes, they gathered again at the heart of the village. Now the chief started a new fire, by rubbing sticks together, and from the fresh flames each family took a burning ember home. The old was gone. Life was beginning again! That’s the kind of thing Paul is talking about here. Out with the old, in with the new.
As we look ahead to the New Year, to 2025, we have a new opportunity to set aside the old and begin a new with Jesus as our focus and example. If we truly believe that Christ rules in heaven, that He’s given us new life in Baptism, and a new perspective on things from His vantage point, then we need to make a conscious decision to live that way. If we truly believe Jesus rules, then we must choose to act in ways that reflect His perspective and His love! That’s the choice of living a life of faith! That’s the lifestyle of those who choose to see things from a new perspective, to see the world from God’s vantage point.
Amen