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Do you ever find it hard to believe
something somebody has said to you? I'm pretty young and probably
pretty naïve about the world, but even I sometimes have a hard time
taking somebody at face value. For example, my fiance and I are
trying to buy a house. There's a lot of trust that goes into this
transaction, from trusting the sellers not to hide if your house is
the site of an ancient burial ground to trusting your bank or
mortgage lender not to take your money and run for the hills. It's an
exercise in faith building, and I think it's pretty normal to be
unsure and have questions, especially when all you have is the word
of somebody you don't know. Faith is a lot like buying a house or
taking a job; you don't know exactly what you're getting into but you
hope you can trust the word of the people who say they want to help
you. You cling to the hope that their word is true, but it's not
easy, and faith isn't easy either.
The lesson for today is a great one,
but also a tough one, mostly because I can't help thinking “Simeon
and Anna, you lucky jerks!” We start out with Mary and Joseph
taking the 40 day old baby Jesus to the synagogue to offer sacrifice
to the Lord, as was proper for them to do for a first born son. While
they're there, they run into an old man named Simeon, who some time
ago had heard a word from God that the Messiah would come, and that
Simeon would lay his own eyes on Israel's salvation. And so, as the
text says, “Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple . . .
took him in his arms, and praised God, saying, 'Master, now you are
dismissing you servant in peace, according to your word, for my eyes
have seen your salvation.'” And then after that, an old widow who
spent all her time worshipping at the temple comes up and starts
talking about the child and the redemption of Israel. These two
devout people got to hold the incarnation of God in their arms; they
got to see their own salvation. As I said, lucky people... This is
not really an opportunity available to us.
This makes me think of a scene in
Indiana Jones: The Last Crusade, where Indiana has to step across an
invisible bridge and hope to God there's solid ground beneath his
feet. That's kind of how life is. Some things you can at least
foresee, like finishing a degree, getting married, or starting a
family, but often that's often not the case. Certainly the parents in
Newtown didn't anticipate what happened a couple weeks ago. Nobody
did. We can't foresee an illness on the horizon, or an accident, or a
job loss... you know your life. What kinds of things have popped out
at you lately? It can be pretty hard to trust that God is there, and
that God is working in the midst of such things.
In fact, sometimes it's hard, in the
face of such evil, tragedy, death and sickness, to trust that God
ever came at all. That God even exists. That anything will ever
change. The whole story of Jesus is pretty fantastical. We start out
with an angel from God announcing to a virgin that she's about to
give birth, and then we move on to a fanciful and dramatic birth
story that involves angels and shepherds, and magi following a star,
and then to top things off we're told that this baby isn't just a
baby but God, and that God is now walking around on earth. And later
we'll be told that this God/man has been crucified and died, and then
that he has defeated the one thing no mortal can escape: death. And
we're told to just keep believing that in the face of the deaths of
children, in the face of political corruption and war and starvation
and cancer and... how can we? How can you?
I think there's a myth about prophets
and those who testified about Christ, that they never doubted. We
even have a bad attitude about the ones that do doubt. We laughingly
call a skeptic a “doubting Thomas.” We assume that because Simeon
and Anna were described as faithful and devout that they kept a
constant vigil, that they never questioned the word which came to
them, and that they never had dark moments where the pain of living
in an occupied country, where the pain of being poor, of being
widowed, of being lonely, or rejected seeped into them and caused
them to wail in despair. We assume that they were rewarded with
seeing God because of their unwavering belief. We assume that if we
look at the tragedy around us and despair utterly, that we have lost
our faith, that we have sinned by doubting. But the thing is, this
story doesn't say that.
Blessed be Simeon and Anna, for their
eyes did see the child Christ. But they never witnessed the angels
appearing to Mary or the Shepherds. They never saw the child grow up.
They never saw him preach, or heal, or raise the dead. They never saw
him wrap so many rejected people in love and kindness, and they most
certainly never saw him die and rise again. What they had was a word
from the Spirit that salvation would come, and a baby: a tiny glimpse
at a plan for redemption which began generations before, and which is
still being completed today. And it was enough. It wasn't everything,
and their trust wasn't perfect, but it was enough.
Faith isn't about never questioning. I
would be remiss as a pastor and theologian if I never asked God why
something had happened in absolute rage and grief. I wouldn't be
human if I had never asked God why I hadn't heard his voice, or if he
was even there at all. Difficulty trusting is human, and doubt is not
the opposite of faith. The opposite of faith is certainty. Faith is
about hearing a word and trusting the character of the speaker enough
to keep believing in the face of uncertainty. It's about seeing a
thread of light, of human warmth and compassion in the midst of the
most horrific tragedy, and clinging to that as if it were the only
thing keeping you from drowning in darkness. Faith is not about
knowing where the ground is, but taking that next step anyway,
because otherwise despair will chase you, and devour you.
What faith is about is looking long
and hard for the ways in which God is revealed. And God is
revealed to you. The character of God is revealed throughout the
Bible, and through the ways we experience God in our daily lives.
That experience looks and feels like a lot of different things: in
the midst of tragedy, there is a gentle word from a neighbor, or the
embrace of a community. In the midst of loneliness, there is
imagination and creativity and vocation to reassure you. In the face
of loss, there is hope for the resurrection. God enters into your
life in many ways, perhaps more subtle than Jesus entered into Simeon
and Anna's, but God does enter. Like them, you have been given a word
by the Holy Spirit, and like them, God is being revealed to you in
bread and wine, and laughter, and comfort, and in surprising and
exciting ways. The beauty of Christmas is the radical declaration
that Jesus is here among you, walking with you, carrying your burdens
when they're too much and comforting you when you hurt. It isn't
always easy to trust that it's happening, or that it will happen, but
our God is a God of promise. The word has come; God is with you.
Amen.
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