December 28

Lessons: Isaiah 61.10-62.3; Luke 2.22-40

Sermon Title: Changing Tradition

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INTRODUCTION

Art Interpretation (1)

Liz goes to her first show at an art gallery and is looking at the paintings.

One is a huge canvas that has black with yellow blobs of paint splattered all over it.

The next painting is a murky gray color that has drips of purple paint streaked across it.

Liz walks over to the artist and says, "I don't understand your paintings."

"I paint what I feel inside me," explains the artist.

"Have you ever tried Alka-Seltzer?"

    1. Simeon is one person who does not need Alka Seltzer.

    2. He does not need an antacid.

    3. He is being provided all he needs.

  1. Simeon has become old.

    1. He has been waiting for the fulfillment of the promise that he had been given by God.

    2. He looks anxiously into the faces of the parents who bring their male child to the temple to be presented to God.

    3. Then one day it happens.

    4. Joseph and Mary bring Jesus to the temple for the purification rites.

    5. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law,

    6. Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

"Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
    according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
    which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
    and for glory to your people Israel."

    1. The child's father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.

    2. Then Simeon blesses Joseph and Mary.

    3. Simeon has one final word to communicate.

      1. He speaks to Mary, "This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed

      2. A sword will pierce your own soul too."

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MAIN BODY:

  1. Simeon is fulfilling the traditions that have been handed down from the beginning of the nation.

    1. Simeon prophesied that Jesus would have a paradoxical effect on Israel.

      1. Some would fall because of him.

      2. Others would rise.

      3. With Jesus, there would be no neutral ground.

      4. People would either joyfully accept him or totally reject him.

    2. The continuity between the traditions of Israel and what God was to do through Jesus is exemplified. (1)

      1. By the presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the sacrifices offered,

      2. By Simeon's recognition and affirmation of Jesus as "Messiah" and bringer of "revelation to the Gentiles" as well as a cause of controversy within Israel, and

      3. by the prophetess Anna's acclaim of Jesus as the one who will redeem "Jerusalem", the symbol of God's people.

  2. Traditions may be something like an reenactment of an event.

    1. During June 18-21, 2009 the Annual Prairie Villa Rendezvous will take place on St. Feriole Island along the Mississippi River at Prairie du Chien.

      1. This Fur Trading era environment recreating life as it was in 1840's when Prairie du Chien was the hub of the fur trading, largest re-enactment in the Midwest, open to the public, free admission.

      2. There is a group of men and women who re-enact scenes and particular activities of the time.

        1. They have authentic costumes and equipment.

        2. There are a lot of them, and they are organized into the ways that people carried out 163 years ago.

    2. There is value to the reenactment.

      1. It carries on a tradition and preserves a memory.

      2. It may provide a sense of tradition that gives us a feeling of firmness in our lives.

      3. It is, of course, perfectly predictable.

        1. The outcome of the story is already known.

        2. We re-enact it to tell the story - to remember it and to teach it to others, especially our children, so they can have the same understanding of tradition.

    3. Christian faith can become like that. It is sort of a reenactment of ancient battles.

      1. The lessons are already set.

      2. We - the grown-ups - always know the outcome.

        1. We know the end of the story.

        2. We know how God is.

      3. Do we really know how God is?

        1. That's the rub.

        2. That's the problem that the leading people of Jesus faced in their own lives and understandings.

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  1. The man Jesus is set for the rise and fall of many.

    1. The many who fell were the traditionalists.

      1. They are the ones who had rigid rules about the washing of hands.

      2. They have criteria that determine whom they will associate with.

      3. They are confounded by Jesus breaking the Sabbath rules.

        1. He actually has the gall to heal on the Sabbath.

        2. He really told a man to pick up his bed and walk home.

    2. The elders are well-dressed and to be admired on the outside.

    3. Inside they are something else.

      1. There is a scene in the movie, The Godfather, Part III, in which the Godfather, Don Corleone, must visit Cardinal Lamberto, bearing the unwelcome news that a business deal involving the Vatican Bank has gone bad.

      2. After hearing the Godfather's news, the Cardinal picks up a stone and says, "Look at this stone. It has been lying in the water for a very long time. The water has not penetrated it."

      3. Then, he smashes the stone.

        1. Picking up one of the fragments, he shows how the inside is perfectly dry.

        2. "The same thing has happened to men in Europe.

        3. They have been surrounded by Christianity for centuries, but Christ does not live in their hearts."

      4. God does not live in the hearts of the elders.

      5. They refuse to break with their tradition and accept the path that Jesus is laying out for them and for all Israel.

  2. It is said that the common people heard him gladly.

    1. He taught them as one who had authority.

    2. Not as the their teachers.

    3. Jesus put the whole picture together for them.

      1. In Instructions (2) Don Shelby tells the story about the father who had ordered a tree house for his children.

        1. The time came to assemble the tree house. He laid out all the parts on the floor and began reading the instructions.

        2. To his dismay, he discovered that the instructions were for a tree house but the parts were for a sailboat!

        3. The next day he sent an angry letter to the company complaining about the mix-up.

      2. Back came this reply:

        1. "We are truly sorry for the error and the inconvenience. However, it might help to consider the possibility that somewhere there is a man out on a lake trying to sail your tree house."

    4. The point is clear: To put something together, you have to have the right parts and the right instructions.

      1. Jesus gives the right parts and the right instructions.

      2. He is the change agent that was and is needed.

      3. He is the creator of a new tradition.

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CONCLUSION:

  1. You can hold on to the old or accept the new, it is up to you.

    1. You have to clear away a lot in order to survive and thrive.

    2. David Chadwell, in "How could I say that?" reminds us of the necessity of clarifying what is necessary and what may be ignored.

      1. The time is the 1950's. (3)

        1. The place is a British colony near the equator.

        2. As in most colonies near the equator, making cement is an important enterprise.

        3. Buildings built with cement last.

        4. There termites do not eat cement.

      2. Remember: Near the equator, you have two seasons.

        1. One is wet season when it rains almost constantly for a few months.

        2. The other is dry season when there is no rain for a few months.

      3. At a major cement plant in this British colony, every dry season the British administrator formed a work detail to sweep the cement dust off the roof at the end of the day.

        1. It was hot, filthy, hated work.

        2. Every week he told the work detail, "Your job is the most important job we have."

      4. No one liked that job.

        1. No one wanted to do that job.

        2. And no one thought that job was important.

      5. Now the time is the 1960's.

        1. That British colony is now an independent nation.

        2. The cement plant is still a very important enterprise.

        3. The first dry season begins, and no one wants the job of sweeping the roof.

        4. So that job is eliminated.

        5. Everyone is certain that it is not important.

        6. And through the dry months cement dust builds up on the roof to a depth of several inches.

      6. Rainy season begins.

        1. With the first rains the dust turns to stone, and the roof collapses.

        2. Sweeping the dust off the roof during dry season was important...

  2. The Church has a number of traditions.

    1. Traditions can be beneficial and they may be harmful.

    2. You decide!

Amen!

1. © -

2. James W. Moore, ChristianGlobe Sermons, via eSermons.com, preachingnow@preaching.com

3. David Chadwell, "How could I say that?" April 30, 2000, West-Ark Church of Christ Web Site, westarkchurchofchrist.org.

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