Have you ever looked forward to something and when it happened, it was so much more than you anticipated? Some examples in history are dramatic. David Livingstone, the explorer and missionary to central Africa in the mid-1800s, set out to see what no other European had seen. What Livingstone saw was so much more than he imagined! In his journal he tells about his discovery of the great falls, which he named the Victoria Falls, and what that experience meant to him. He had heard from the natives that there was something up the river, but he was not sure what it was. He could hear the roar of the falls for miles and he could see the spray five miles away. He said he could never explain the splendor that fell upon his soul when he looked on the falls for the first time! Suddenly, right before his eyes, the Zambezi River was a mile wide; it sloped slightly and then cascaded in a 400-foot plunge in a display of awesome splendor. He said for several minutes the sight literally paralyzed him! He knew that something was ahead but his discovery was far beyond his wildest imagination.

This is exactly what happened to Simeon in our reading. He knew the Savior was coming and he waited and prayed for the day to arrive. He was told by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he would see the Lord's Messiah. Every time parents brought their children to the Temple he was filled with anticipation that possibly one of them was the child he was waiting for. Then Mary and Joseph arrived at the Temple and Simeon, now an old man, took the child up into his arms and praised God saying: "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people."

The scene is a moving one: an old man now ready to die holding a six-week-old baby, who is at long last "the salvation for all people." You see, even though Jesus was only an infant God was already at work in Him.

Exceeding Expectations

The joy of Simeon's discovery exceeded his expectations. He did not know what it all meant, which is true of anyone who makes such a great discovery. I am certain that Columbus had no idea that he was opening a whole new world. It never dawned on the Wright brothers that they were the pioneers of space travel. Little did Simeon know that the child he held in his arms was to have such a dramatic and forceful impact on the course of human history. But he did know that something great and significant was taking place, and he was part of it.

The fact is, Simeon was an exception, because the first century world was not prepared for the coming of this Christ. The people of Israel had anticipated the coming of the Messiah for centuries. The whole nation expected Him and the fiber of their stories, art, literature, and songs carried this theme for more than 300 years. Because of their expectation they were able to bear the indignities of exile and Roman occupation. But the birth of Jesus was unexpected, not as to his coming, but because of the manner of his coming. The Messiah did come, but they did not know it, because the manner and style of Jesus' life was unexpected.

He was the unexpected Jesus. They expected him to come with fanfare. He did not. They expected Jesus to bring political freedom from foreign occupation; instead he brought freedom from sin and guilt. They expected a Jesus who would dazzle them by miraculous feats. But instead, he healed the sick, cared for the poor, and fed the hungry. They expected a Messiah who would make life easier, reduce taxes, increase employment, and bring down prices. He didn't. If anything, he made life harder! He talked about crosses and not about crowns. He talked about his way of life being harder and the entrance into it as being narrow and that few would enter into it. He talked about loving your enemy and the wrongs others have done to you as God has forgiven you. Those who do not leave all behind and set their minds and hearts on the kingdom of God, He said, are not worthy of Him. They expected a Christ who would be a smashing success, but to them he was not because he died the shameful death of a criminal. He was the unexpected Christ because he did not fit into their scheme or plan of things. They wanted a Christ they could keep for themselves exclusively as part of their nation, but his life was like a river, a current so strong that no bank could contain it.

Jesus did not come then where men and women expected him to come. He may not come today where we expect him to come. We have a tendency to look for God to come among us in the bright spots of the world, in the creeds and in the cathedrals. But he was found in the shadows, by the pool of Bethesda with the crippled and the diseased. A man jumped into a cab in New York City and told the cabbie to take him to God. Without hesitation the cabbie drove him to St. Patrick's Cathedral. As the man got out of the cab he asked the driver, "Are you sure that God is here?" "If he is not here, he is not in town," the driver answered. I wonder if it ever entered the mind of the driver to take the man to Harlem, Washington Square, or the alleys?

Christ Is a Living Presence

Today, Christ comes as He did in the first century -- the tormentor of men's and women's souls. We can feel quite satisfied with our lives until Christ comes along. In the day that we confront him we discover we cannot remain as we are. We must either change or flee from his presence. He offends our prejudices and challenges our basic axioms; He reveals our shabby respectability for what it is. Today, He is not just a figure of history who lived 2000 years ago. He is not a Christ in a stained glass window. He is not eternally a baby in a manger in Bethlehem. He is a living presence! He is an all-invading Christ, a life-revolutionizing Christ, and for many that is intolerable. He pierces souls and causes the rising and falling of many!

H.G.Wells, in 'The Outline of History' wrote this about Jesus, 'He was like some terrible moral huntsman digging mankind out of the snug burrows in which they had lived hitherto. In the white blaze of this kingdom of his there was to be no property, no privilege, no pride, no precedence; no motive indeed and no reward except love. Is it any wonder that men were dazzled and blinded and cried out against him? Even his disciples cried out when he would not spare them the light... For to take him seriously was to enter a strange and alarming life, to abandon habits, to control instincts and impulses, to seek an incredible happiness."

Sharing in the Life We Know

Expected or unexpected, Christ came. The world will never be the same since his coming. God sent Him here to live as one of us. Galatians 4:4 says: "God sent forth his son, born of a woman, under the law" Jesus knew our life; like us He was weary at nightfall. His tears were salty like our tears, and when He cut his hand, his blood was red like our blood. He craved human friendship. He shared in the anguish of parents over the death of their child; He suffered in the despair of the unemployed in the market place. He knew the plight of the poor and the shame of the outcast. He identified with the "undesirables." He grieved over the stubbornness of men and women. He laughed with little children. He died bleeding, but not before He had felt our ultimate pain and guilt when He cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" He "was crucified, dead and buried" -- a phrase which is the creed's blunt testimony to his humanness. That Jesus came to share our lives there is no doubt. He did what we couldn't!

We can look out at the terrifying conditions in our world today and say as the Christmas hymn states: "Jesus Christ is born for this." This Christmas may not be the same for some of you. The loss of a loved one may have altered your life, but "Jesus Christ was born for this." Some of you will leave this service and rush back to the side of a loved one who is not well. For others this year has been one of misfortune, or business and financial reversal; for others, the deterioration of a relationship with your family or marriage. "Jesus Christ was born for this."

I heard about a fascinating conversation on Rush Limbaugh's talk show a while back. Having just completed Tom Brokaw's book, The Greatest Generation, a book filled with inspiring stories of the WWII generation, Rush had taken the position that the current generation of young adults, those in their 20's, are, for the most part, a bunch of whiners. He said that while they are constantly whining about the difficulty of their lives, in fact, when compared to the hardships faced by their grandparents' generation, they've actually got it easy. Their grandparents had endured truly devastating events like The Great Depression and WWII. The current crop of young adults, he concluded, doesn't even have a clue about real hardship.

Once Rush had finished his monologue a self-professed member of this younger generation called in to offer a different perspective. Bright and articulate, the 23 year-old caller said that while The Great Depression and WWII certainly created terrible hardships for the people who faced them, he nonetheless believed his generation faced an even greater hardship. Limbaugh asked, "And what exactly would that be?" The caller said, "The loss of hope." He said that many of today's young adults had simply stopped believing that things were going to get better. They didn't expect to live as well as their parents had lived. They weren't expecting a brighter future. They have simply given up hope. He said that The Great Depression, as terrible as it was, in many cases brought families together as they worked side by side in the hope of saving their families. Whereas most of his friends grew up in families in complete disarray and have given up the hope of ever having a real family experience of their own. He said that WWII was a terrible event that obviously cost thousands of lives. But even though these men knew the risks they still enlisted voluntarily by the millions because they saw it as a cause worth dying for. Most of those in his generation, he said, can't imagine anything worth dying for…and they're committing suicide in record numbers because many can't imagine anything worth living for."

Today the world is on the dizzy edge of disarray. Today millions of refugees roam the earth and there are more homeless than ever before. Doubt and injustice and all the sinfulness of humanity afflicts us. Still, Christ's presence today is a blessing as profoundly as it was in the first century! Christ's presence in our lives is as full now as it was for Simeon! He brings us peace, forgiveness, and salvation! The Christ of Christmas brings hope and so much more! Amen.

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