Luke 2:22 When the time came for Mary and Joseph to do what the law of Moses taught about being made pure, they took Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. 23 (It is written in the law of the Lord: “Every firstborn male shall be given to the Lord.”) 24 Mary and Joseph also went to offer a sacrifice, as the law of the Lord says: “You must sacrifice two doves or two young pigeons.”
25 In Jerusalem lived a man named Simeon who was a good man and godly. He was waiting for the time when God would take away Israel’s sorrow, and the Holy Spirit was in him. 26 Simeon had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he saw the Christ promised by the Lord. 27 The Spirit led Simeon to the Temple. When Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus to the Temple to do what the law said they must do, 28 Simeon took the baby in his arms and thanked God:
29 “Now, Lord, you can let me, your servant,
die in peace as you said.
30 With my own eyes I have seen your salvation,
31 which you prepared before all people.
32 It is a light for the non-Jewish people to see
and an honor for your people, the Israelites.”
die in peace as you said.
30 With my own eyes I have seen your salvation,
31 which you prepared before all people.
32 It is a light for the non-Jewish people to see
and an honor for your people, the Israelites.”
After forty days Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the Temple according to the law for two reasons. 1) For Mary's ritual purification and 2) To dedicate Jesus, through offering a sacrifice. It was there that Simeon, an old priest, held Jesus in his arms and prophesied over Him. In his prophecy he said Jesus was to be a light to the Gentiles and was to bring honor to the Jewish people.
John in his Gospel says this; John 1:4 In him there was life, and that life was the light of all people. 5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overpowered it. (NCV)
We once lived in a house with one small garage. It was always full of "stuff," and we never got to park our car in the garage. It never served the purpose for which it was created.
Light does two things. 1) It reveals the mess 2) It shows the way to cleaning up the mess. I never got around to cleaning out the garage, because as I turned on the light and saw the mess, it was easier to turn the light off and pretend the mess did not exist.
That's the dilemma of a lot of people. Their life is a mess and rather allowing Christ to shine light on it, it seems easier to ignore the light and pretend that it does not exist. The problem is, your life is sill a mess whether you want to admit it or not. And if you do not admit it, you will never serve the purpose for which you were created.
The hardest problem is letting Jesus illumine the mess and admitting that there is a problem in your life. The mess in our life is often caused by the sin of spiritual neglect. The Scripture says, "men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil." But once we admit there is sin and a mess in our lives Jesus Christ takes the lead in cleaning it out. He has already taken the necessary means to remove the sin. The Scripture declares that "He died for us even while we were sinners." And the rest of the stuff that needs to be gotten rid of He will lead us to do, if we are simply obedient to Him. During this special season, will you allow Jesus to be the light in your life?
And you light up my life
You give me hope to carry on
You light up my days
And fill my nights with song
You give me hope to carry on
You light up my days
And fill my nights with song
(Portion of "You Light up my Life," by Joe Brooks)
Today, Jesus is a light to the whole world of people who remain in darkness. We are challenged to not only allow the light to shine in our lives, but to take that light to the world. As John says, the light of Jesus cannot not be extinguished by the most evil of spiritual darkness.
LET THE LIGHT, WHICH IS JESUS, SHINE ON YOU AND THROUGH YOU TO THOSE AROUND YOU
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