Amy C Walters

Jesus Presented at the Temple – Luke 2:21-40

When Simeon takes baby Jesus into his arms at the temple, his beautiful prophecy is filled with words of comfort and salvation. But he also reminds us that not everyone will welcome what Jesus brings. And throughout the rest of the Book of Luke, we watch what happens as Jesus reveals people’s hearts.

In the previous post, we read about how Jesus was so warmly welcomed to the temple by Simeon and Anna, these two people who both confirmed that Jesus indeed is the Messiah. We read powerful descriptions of him; consolation, salvation, revelation, redemption. But as we continue in our story, we’re going to see that not everything that was said about Jesus was easy to hear.

After Simeon takes Jesus into his arms and he’s praising God and saying these beautiful things, Joseph and Mary marvel at his words. Simeon blesses them and then says to Mary, Jesus’ mother, “This child is destined to cause the falling and the rising of many in Israel.” 

He will cause many to fall and many to rise. Jesus is disrupting the social order. He’s gonna flip it on its head. Those who are in high positions are gonna fall because of him. Those who are low positions will be lifted up. So this is gonna cause disruption and disorder.

People don’t like to have the status quo changed, especially if they are the ones in a high position. They don’t want to be brought low. So Jesus is going to create some disruption and there will be opposition to it.

In fact, Simeon goes on to say that Jesus will be “a sign that is spoken against.” People will so dislike this disruption that Jesus brings that they’re going to speak against him. They’re going to accuse him of all kinds of things. They’re going to try to trap him. And eventually they are going to condemn him to death.

It’s interesting that Simeon calls Jesus a “sign.” We see the word “sign” a lot in scripture. Oftentimes it’s accompanied by “and wonders,” as in “signs and wonders,” these miracles that God performs, interrupting the status quo with his divine power. Signs also point to something. And signs confirm the things that God is saying.

Jesus is all of these things. Jesus is God in the flesh. He points to himself. He is divine authority himself. 

He is supernatural power himself. 

But the people that he comes across are not going to believe it. Some of the people that he interacts with, particularly those in the high position that he brings low, they do not believe him.

Many of them come to him later and say, “Give us a sign. Prove to us who you are.” And this will be after Jesus has already healed and done many miracles. But Jesus himself is the sign.

Now, why are all these people going to respond this way to Jesus? Simeon goes on to say that “the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.” This is what shakes these leaders. This is what gets them to their core, to the point that they are willing to condemn a man to death.

He reveals the thoughts of their hearts.

Jesus gets past the facade, the pretense, the pretending. He gets past the carefully cultivated, respectful appearance of these people and reveals that their heart is not for God. It’s for themselves. It’s for their own way, their own control, their own position.

These leaders are going to be threatened by Jesus’ revelation of what’s in their heart, and they must put an end to it.

Simeon has more to say, and this is a message directed to Mary. He tells her, “and a sword will pierce your own soul as well.” Those are difficult words to hear. What mother wants to hear that?

We’ve talked about how it was risky for Mary to come to the temple with Jesus, since there were many in those days who thought Jesus was the result of immorality, and the temple would be a tricky place to come with such a child. Mary probably approached it very cautiously. She was probably very guarded and protective of her baby. And now this man is telling her that a sword will pierce her soul because her son will be spoken against.

Every mother works to protect her baby. But here Simeon is telling Mary that’s not going to be her job, that she won’t be able to protect him, because his purpose is to reveal people’s hearts, which will make him a sign that is spoken against.

I recently met a mother who had just said goodbye to her son and daughter-in-law and their kids as they went to be missionaries in Pakistan. This mother was torn because she loved her family. And it was so hard to say goodbye and to know that it would be a long time before she saw them again, to know that their communication would be limited.

But she had also raised that son, reading to him missionary stories. And she had raised that son to value the gospel and to understand that not everybody has access to it and that we are to go and make disciples of all nations. So there was also a sense of pride in her son and the work that he was going to do. 

So she’s torn. She wants to protect him. But she has realized that her job is to raise him and release him. 

Mothers like that amaze me.

I have known many missionaries that have gone to difficult places, and it was their parents releasing them to do that work that has so encouraged and comforted them in that work. And it is not easy to do. And yet that’s exactly what Mary is called to do here, to raise and release Jesus.

Our key truth for today is that Jesus reveals our hearts.

Just as Simeon said, “the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.” And it’s not always comfortable when Jesus reveals what’s in your heart.

So the question is, are you listening? Are you paying attention to what Jesus has revealed, and are you dealing with it? Or are you trying to ignore it, avoid it, sweep it away, or sweep Jesus away so you don’t have to hear it?