Christmas is fast approaching. Are you ready for Christmas? Author Ann Voskamp writes: “We’re ready for Christmas, not when we have all the gifts, but when we are ready for Christ—when we’re ready to give all of ourselves to Christ.” So, are you ready for Christmas? Thankfully, we have “Advent,” the four weeks leading up to Christmas Eve. Advent is a great time to set aside a bit of space each day to ready our hearts for Christmas — the coming of Christ into the world. My prayer is that we never let the busyness of the season overshadow Christmas, but rather, we may prepare our hearts to respond fully to the ultimate gift of God – Jesus – this Advent season.
Speaking of busyness Jerusalem temple at the time of Jesus was a very busy place. It was filled with all kinds of people from everywhere – from the priests, Pharisees, Sadducees, scribes, worshippers, to those selling things. But when Mary and Joseph brought the baby Jesus – the long-expected Messiah – for the purification to the temple, sadly enough, no one recognized him. They all failed to recognize their Savior. Only two lay people recognized the Messiah – Simeon and Anna. Luke’s understanding of Jesus the Messiah is well captured in the Song of Simeon, who claimed:
“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” (2:30-32).
So, Luke’s message can be summarized in one phrase: good news of salvation through Christ for the whole world.
Salvation
First, “salvation” is a key word in Luke’s Gospel. What is then salvation? Salvation includes two components. Negatively, salvation means freedom from all evil, including sin, eternal death, disease, oppression, and bondage (“The Gospel of Luke”). Positively, salvation means promise of new birth, eternal life by the power of the Holy Spirit (“Book of Acts”). At Jesus’ time Israel was under the rule of the Roman emperor. But in a spiritual sense the Israelites were in bondage to sin and death. But they didn’t know that they were in bondage. So the mission of John the Baptist was to go and tell this spiritual reality to the people, “You are in bondage. Repent and be saved.” Missionary Horace Underwood was one of the first missionaries to Korea about 135 years ago. Part of his prayer is like this: “Lord, nothing is visible in this land… Only stubbornly stained darkness can be seen. Only Korean people chained with poverty and superstition can be seen. They don’t even know why they are chained, what suffering is. They just distrust us and express anger to us as we tell them how to take away their suffering, which is not suffering to them.” It is all by God’s grace that we come to realize, “I am helpless. I am in bondage. I need help to be saved.”
God’s salvation brings healing, liberation, freedom, removal of guilt. But there is more! Salvation brings new life. As Jesus began his ministry, he went to the synagogue, opened the scriptures, and read from Isaiah 61:
The spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners… to give them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of a faint spirit (61:1, 3).
God heals, restores, liberates, forgives, removes our guilt and our past. But not only that, God transforms, empowers, gives new life. That is good news of salvation.
Through Jesus
Secondly, God brings his salvation through Christ. This truth is clear in the story of Simeon. When Simeon took the baby Jesus in his arms, he said, “My eyes have seen your salvation!” (v. 30). Jesus is God’s salvation. Salvation comes through Christ. The Bible says “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
There are countless people who accept Jesus as Savior and surrender their lives to him. Each one has a unique story. But They all have one thing in common. They acknowledge Jesus Christ to be at the center of their conversion experience. Sundar Singh is one of many examples. He was born in 1889 into a rich family in India, and he grew up to hate Christianity as a foreign religion. He even expressed his hostility at the age of fifteen. He publicly burned a Gospel book. But three days later he was converted through a vision of Christ, and in his late teens, he determined to become an itinerary preacher. On one occasion Sundar Singh visited a Hindu college, and a professor accosted him aggressively and asked, “What have you found in Christianity that you don’t have in your old religion?” Sundar Singh replied, “I have Christ.” The professor continued impatiently, “Yes, I know, but what particular principle or doctrine have you found that you did not have before?” Sundar Singh replied, “The particular thing I have found is Christ.”[1] Christianity is not about institution or doctrine. It is all about one person, Christ. What we must have to be saved is the person Christ. What we must preach is good news of salvation “through Christ,” nothing more nothing less.
For the Whole World
Thirdly, Luke’s message is good news of salvation through Christ for the whole world. Luke was a Gentile. As a Gentile, he deliberately includes the stories how Jesus reaches out to “all people.” Jesus touches a leper and says, “I do choose. Be made clean” (5:12-13). Jesus goes to see a widow who just lost her son and touches the coffin and says, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” (7:14). Jesus forgives a sinful woman, who was weeping, anointing his feet with the ointment, and says, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace” (7:50). Jesus includes and blesses children, saying, “Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs” (18:15-17). Jesus visits Zacchaeus, a hated tax collector and sinner, and says, “Zacchaeus, hurry and come down; for I must stay at your house today” (19:5). Jesus sees all people. Jesus reaches out to all people. Jesus loves all people. God brings his salvation through Christ for the whole world.
Preparing for Christ’s Coming
Lastly, Luke’s message, good news of salvation, is personal as well as universal. Simeon, by the Holy Spirit, presents Jesus as the Savior of the world. But at the same time, both Simeon and Anna see Jesus, receive Jesus, experience Jesus in a personal way. They were obscure, ordinary people. We don’t find their names any other books in the Bible. But, they lived an extraordinary life in God’s eyes. They were ready for the coming of Christ into their lives.
As I close, I would like to share the story of Brother Lawrence. He entered the priory at Paris in 1666 as a lay brother. Because he was lame and had no education, he was assigned to the kitchen. He had naturally a great aversion to the kitchen. But, he determined to live as if there was none but God and he in the world. He began to do all the kitchen work for the love of God with prayer in all occasions. He prayed before and after the work, and also prayed all the intervals of his time. In his book The Practice the Presence of God Brother Lawrence said, “For the first ten years I suffered much. During this time I fell often, and rose again presently… But later I found myself changed all at once. My soul felt a profound inward peace.” Every morning as he started a day, he practiced the presence of God. He considered himself as a stone before a carver. He truly desired God to form His perfect image in his soul, and make him entirely like Himself. He did every common business and little things for the love of God. He said, "Nor is it needful that we should have great things to do. . . We can do little things for God; I turn the cake that is frying on the pan for love of him, and that done, if there is nothing else to call me, I prostrate myself in worship before him, who has given me grace to work; afterwards I rise happier than a king. It is enough for me to pick up but a straw from the ground for the love of God." He did seek God only, and nothing else, not even His gifts. As time went by, more and more visitors came to seek spiritual guidance from him. From Brother Lawrence’s life, I think we can learn what it means to be ready for Christ in our everyday lives.
Are you ready for Christmas – Christ’s coming – into your life? As we journey toward Christmas, may we clear the path in our hearts and be ready for Christ. May we be ready to give all of ourselves to Christ. Amen.
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[1] E. Stanley Jones, The Christ of the Indian Road (Hodder & Stoughton, 1926), 64.
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