In the Name of the Father, and of the +
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Although Scripture does not tell us his actual age, it is
presumed that Simeon is an old man when he sings the words just read. “Lord,
now lettest Thou Thy servant, depart in peace, according to Thy word, for mine
eyes have seen Thy Salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all
peoples.”[1]
Presumably many years before, the Lord revealed to Simeon that he would not die
until he had seen the coming of the Lord’s Christ. When Mary and Joseph brought
the baby Jesus to the Temple, Simeon joyfully took up the child and burst forth
in song.
What Simeon is praying for is death. He is praying that God
would release him from this veil of tears because the Word of God had been
fulfilled. The Savior had been born to save the world from sin. Confident that
the Christ had come to forgive his sins, Simeon tells God that he is ready to
die in peace.
Be very careful not to misunderstand these words of Simeon.
When he asks to depart in peace, Simeon is not asking for a quiet death. He is
not praying to fall asleep with a pleasant dream and simply not wake up on this
side of glory. The peace in which Simeon prays to depart is peace with God. This
peace is only possible with the coming of the Savior, the coming of the Son of
God in human flesh, the coming of Jesus Christ.
St. Paul writes that “by the deeds of the law no flesh will
be justified in [God’s] sight…for there is no difference; all have sinned and
fall short of the glory of God.”[2]
To be justified in God’s sight is to be declared, to be made, righteous, and
yet there is nothing to be done according to the deeds of the law for man to
make himself righteous. All have fallen short. All have sinned. All have sinned
first through the original sin of our first parents, Adam and Eve, and then
through the sins of your own flesh; sins in thought, word, and deed.
What are these sins? They are the works of the flesh:
adultery, fornication, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, wrath, selfishness,
dissensions, envy, murder, drunkenness, and the like.[3]
Anything that is contrary to the will of God is sin and there is no one who is
free from sin. All have fallen short of the glory of God.
Falling short of God’s glory would not present a problem if
God was unjust. If God was unfair, unjust, and played by inconsistent rules,
then sin would not matter. God would choose those whom He likes, or who please
Him, and they would be saved. Those He doesn’t like; they would be damned. But
the True and Living God cannot be persuaded. He cannot be bribed. He is not
partial and He is not unfair. God is just.
God’s justice means that the only fair punishment for rebelling against His Word is death…eternal death. All sin is worthy of eternal death no matter how slight in your eyes because all sin is a despising of the God who created you. According to God’s justice alone, man does not stand a chance.
The evidence of sin and the consequences thereof lay before
us today. Susan died because of sin. Do not misunderstand me, she did not die
because God was punishing a specific sin. God is not so petty as to punish a
lewd joke with a terrible disease. No; Susan died because she is human and in
being human, she has participated in the sins common to all mankind. The wages
of sin is death.
Thanks be to God that He is not only just. He is also the
justifier of man. What does this mean? It means that God Himself is the one who
took on human flesh. It means that God Himself lived a perfect life. He was
born without sin because He was born of a virgin, without inheriting the sin of
Adam. As Jesus walked through Galilee and Judea, teaching and healing, He was
also gathering the sin of man upon His shoulders. When the Pharisees and the
mob took Him to Pilate and demanded Jesus be crucified, He humbly submitted to
an unjust death.
Where God is perfectly just, man is unjust. Therefore, God
submitted Himself to an unjust death. The sins of man that He bore on His
shoulders, He carried with Him to the cross. As Jesus Christ breathed out His
final breath on the cross, He died the death that every human deserves. He
endured the anguish not only of His own torturous death on the cross, but the
physical and spiritual torment due to every human at every time and in every
place. There is no suffering common to man which our Lord did not endure.
This same Jesus rested in the tomb for three days and then
rose again. Christ rose from the dead not only because He is God, but because
death had no claim to Him. He had not sinned in any way. The wages of sin is
death and He had not earned death. Because of this, Jesus broke the power of
death. He broke the chains of death. He ripped the teeth out of the vicious
dog.
This is what Jesus means when He says, “I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.”[4]
The death and resurrection of Jesus is the opening of the doorway to eternal
life. Death no longer has dominion over those who are in Christ Jesus. Thus,
when Simeon prays for a peaceful death, he is not rushing to die. He is not
trying to hurry along. He is not looking for a death with dignity. He is asking
that God would deliver to him the joys of salvation, that which has been
promised to him in the death and resurrection of the Christ.
There was not a moment of Susan’s illness that was not
torturous. Aggressive cancer is an ugly sight. It is an ugly sight because it
is a visual reminder of the ugliness and the terrible effects of sin. It is the
body consuming itself through growth against the will of man and the will of
God. How can a just and merciful God allow such suffering, especially to one of
His dear children?
Susan was a humble woman. A part of her humility was never
bothering to question why God brought her such suffering. Susan’s faith, her
trust in God, was an example to us all. And yet, not all of us are capable of
such humility. We may question. We may worry.
The 17th century pastor and hymnwriter, Paul
Gerhardt, can help us to understand Susan’s humility, and possibly help us to
imitate her great faith:
8 Leave all to His direction;
In wisdom He doth reign,
And in a way most wondrous
His course He will maintain.
Soon He, His promise keeping,
With wonder-working skill
Shall put away the sorrows
That now thy spirit fill.
9 A while His consolation
He may to thee deny,
And seem as though in trial
He far from thee would fly;
A while distress and anguish
May compass thee around,
Nor to thy supplication
An answering voice be found.
10 But if thou perseverest,
Thou shalt deliverance find.
Behold, all unexpected
He will thy soul unbind
And from the heavy burden
Thy heart will soon set free;
And thou wilt see the blessing
He had in mind for thee.
11 O faithful child of heaven,
How blessed shalt thou be!
With songs of glad thanksgiving
A crown awaiteth thee.
Into thy hand thy Maker
Will give the victor’s palm,
And thou to thy Deliverer
We are brought together today because of death. We mourn the
loss of Susan because we can no longer reach out and hold her. We can no longer
spend evenings talking and laughing together. It is just and right to mourn
because death is not good. Death is not the friend of anyone. It is not a part
of the circle of life.
However, we also gather today to look forward. We look
forward to the day when all who have died will be raised. There will come a day
when Christ returns to gather His people as a mother hen gathers her flock. On
that day, all who have died in Christ, all who believe in Christ alone for
their salvation, all who look to Him as the way, the truth, and the life will
be reunited for all eternity. We shall open our eyes and see the face of Christ
in glory.
However, on that day, all who do not follow the way, the
truth, and the life will also be raised, but they will be raised to everlasting
destruction. These will look to the face of Christ and see only judgement.
These will only receive the justice of God, a just punishment for their sin.
This eternal punishment is far worse than any human can imagine.
It is for this reason that we, like Susan, must rely on
Christ. We must go to where He has promised to be—in His Word and Sacraments.
We must gather with the church so that our bodies and souls will be fed on the
Bread from heaven. We must train our hearts, minds, bodies, and souls to trust
on Jesus with everything that we have, praying that He would forgive our sins
and strengthen us against the temptations of evil.
For a while, God may deny His consolations, His comforts to
you. Susan certainly endured such a while. It may seem as though God is far off
while distress and anguish surround you. And yet, if your faith perseveres,
that is, if you trust that every act of God is for the good of those that love
Him, then you know that He will find a way to bless you. When you least expect
it, God will unbind your soul, releasing you from the burden of your sins, from
pain and suffering. In Susan’s case, this meant calling her home to His side.
And then, with songs of glad thanksgiving, there will come
the day when all His saints shall arise. With crowns of gold and palm branches
of victory held high, the saints of God will sing His praises day and night.
What a joyous day that will be. What a beautiful sight to behold. And all those
who repent and believe in Christ will be there—with angels and archangels, with
all the company of heaven, with Susan; and we will laud and magnify the
glorious name of Christ forever and ever.
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