The Disturbing Dynamic of Deliverance

Luke 2:22-35

Rev. Monte Marshall

I can imagine the scene.  There’s old Simeon prowling around the outer courtyard of the temple in Jerusalem.  He’s carefully eyeing the crowd.  He’s looking for some kind of sign that the promised of God has finally come.

Of all the people in the crowd, Simeon’s attention is drawn to one particular couple.  It’s Mary and Joseph from Nazareth.  Simeon notices a baby cuddled in Mary’s arms.  When he sees the child, something stirs within his soul and he wonders:  “Is this the one?”

Simeon moves quickly toward the couple.  He stops them.  He tells them his name.  He asks to hold the baby.  Mary carefully gives him the child.  Simeon takes the baby in his arms.  He peers into the baby’s face.  And his heart leaps for joy.  Now he is certain.  This is the promised one of God.  The wait is over.

Words of blessing to God pour forth from his mouth:  “[M]y eyes has seen the salvation which you have prepared for all people to see.”  He speaks of peace, light and glory.  The promise has been kept.

The parents are amazed at Simeon’s words.  He blesses them.

But then, as Simeon looks again into the child’s face, his expression fades.  The joy turns to sadness.  Simeon senses something ominous in the child’s fate.  To Mary he says, “This child is destined to be the downfall and the rise of many in Israel, and to be a sign that is rejected, so that the secrets thoughts of many may be laid bare.  And a sword will pierce your heart as well.”

Now Luke’s narrative doesn’t tell us of Mary’s reaction to these words, but as I finish the story in my own mind, I imagine Mary being stunned by Simeon’s prophecy.  She was, after all, favored by God and the proud new mother of a child surrounded by extraordinary expectations announced by both angels and shepherds.  And yet, here is Simeon talking about this child’s rejection and a sword piercing her own heart.  The Mary I see in this scene is shocked.  How could this beautiful baby sent from God be opposed by anyone?  She shivers at the thought.

Well, so much for “Joy to the World” and “Jingle Bells!”  What kind of Christmas is this?  The mood created by Luke’s story was just right when Simeon was talking about peace and salvation and light and glory.  These are the things we’re supposed to talk about at Christmas, right?  If that’s true, then why all of these negative images of falling, rising, rejection, and a sword?  What is Simeon trying to do to our Christmas?  And what is Luke trying to tell us about the gospel?

    Well, we may not like it, but sometimes the truth hurts; sometimes the truth is disturbing.  On this Sunday after Christmas, Simeon simply reminds us of the truth:  This baby named Jesus was destined to be a radical, disruptive force in the world that would cause some to fall, some to rise, and opposition to form.  According to Luke, this is how salvation comes.      

In fact, in Luke’s gospel, there is no salvation without a fundamental reordering of life that involves a reversal of the status quo in which the rich and the powerful take a tumble from the top, while the poor and the marginalized are raised up from the bottom.  I call it the disturbing dynamic of deliverance.

And as nearly as I can tell, we see this dynamic at work throughout the scriptures and especially, in Luke’s gospel.  Luke doesn’t even wait for Jesus to be born before he sounds the theme.  Listen to these portions of Mary’s song from the first chapter of Luke’s gospel:  “My soul proclaims your greatness, O God, and my spirit rejoices in you, my Savior.  For you have looked with favor upon your lowly servant….you have scattered the proud in their conceit; you have deposed the mighty from their thrones and raised the lowly to high places.  You have filled the hungry with good things, while you have sent the rich away empty.”  Can’t we see in Mary’s song, the falling and the rising of many, not only in Israel, but everywhere this good news is heard?

Given what we know about Jesus from Luke’s gospel, Mary must have taught her son well.  Didn’t Jesus lift up the lowly?  This is what he said:  “Blessed are you poor…blessed are you that hunger, blessed are you that weep now…blessed are you when people hate you…blessed are you when people hate you, when they scorn and insult you and spurn your name as evil because of the Chosen One.”  To folks like these, the ministry of Jesus was sheer, unadulterated good news!

But Jesus also brought people down from their perches of power:  “Woe to you that are rich…woe to that are full now…woe to you that laugh now; woe to you when people speak well of you.”  We know the kinds of people Jesus caused to fall.  He set his sights on the religious leaders of his day and on the likes of Herod and Pilate.  Jesus knew that if the high and the mighty were ever going to experience the uplift of God’s deliverance, they would first have to take a tumble from the top—even though for them, this good news sounded like bad news!     

So old Simeon got it right!  Jesus was “destined to be the downfall and the rise of many in Israel.”

And Simeon got it right on another point.  Jesus was rejected by many.  Jesus was opposed by powerful people who clung desperately to the status quo.  And they struck back, first with snickers and sneers and trick questions, then with organized plots, and finally, with a humiliating and brutal public execution.  The good news these folks sought was Jesus crucified, dead and buried—for good!  No wonder Mary’s heart was pierced by sorrow. 

Like it or not, Luke’s Christmas story announces an unsettling truth:  The deliverance wrought by God and proclaimed by Jesus, is a radical, disruptive force that turns everything upside down.  The folks who are ready for a change experience the uplift of salvation.  The folks who are content with the status quo experience the downward tug of deliverance.  This is the way of salvation.

Now it seems to me that the disturbing dynamic of deliverance proclaimed in Luke’s gospel is still at work today in every movement where those at the bottom are rising up and seeking justice in the non-violent way of Jesus, while meeting opposition from those on the top who are positioned to take a tumble. 

As we move into 2015, I especially remember the events that happened 50 years ago in Alabama.  African-Americans were rising up to demand the right to vote in the Jim Crowe South.  They were joined in their cause by others of different races, creeds and colors who also wanted to end racial oppression in America.  But they met with stiff opposition from some at the top.

In January, 1965, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference joined other local organizations and individuals in planning a non-violent voting rights campaign in Selma, Alabama.  Their aim was to attract national attention and pressure President Lyndon Johnson and the Congress to enact new national voting rights legislation.  In other words, the people at the bottom were rising up and tugging at those on top to disrupt the status quo for the sake of justice.

In February, 1965, marches and demonstrations were held in Selma and Marion, Alabama.  Atop the state power structure was Alabama Governor George Wallace.  He issued an order that banned nighttime demonstrations in those two cities. 

On February 18 during a march in Marion, state troopers attacked the demonstrators and killed a marcher named Jimmie Lee Jackson.

“In response to Jackson’s death, activists in Selma and Marion set out on March 7, to march from Selma to the state capital in Montgomery.  There first attempt was met with violence on the Edmund Pettus Bridge as law enforcement personnel attacked the crowd with clubs and tear gas while being cheered on by white onlookers.  The television cameras caught the carnage of what came to be known as “Bloody Sunday.”  There was national outrage.

On March 9, Dr. King led 2,000 people to the bridge.  Faced with a pending court order denying them permission to march, the demonstrators simply knelt in prayer, and then turned around to march back to Selma.  In response, President Johnson promised to introduce a voting rights bill to Congress.

“That evening, several local whites attacked James Reeb, a white Unitarian minister who had come from Massachusetts to join the protest.  He died several days later.  Pressure mounted on President Johnson and Governor Wallace to protect the marchers.”

On March 17, President Johnson kept his word.  He submitted voting rights legislation to the Congress.

On March 21, under the protection of federalized Alabama National Guard troops and FBI agents, about 3,200 demonstrators left Selma and spent several days covering the 50 miles to Montgomery.   

Finally, on March 25, the marchers reached Montgomery.  The number of demonstrators had swollen to 25,000.  Dr. King proclaimed from the steps of the state capitol:  “The end we seek is a society at peace with itself, a society that can live with its conscience.”

On August 6, President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in the presence of Dr. King and other civil right leaders.[1]  On that day, the defenders of the Jim Crowe status quo in the South and elsewhere were pulled down a peg or two from their privileged positions of power, while those they sought to oppress were lifted up to new heights. This, to my way of thinking, was but a working out of that disturbing dynamic of deliverance proclaimed in Luke’s story about an old man’s encounter with a baby named Jesus.

So, my brothers and sisters, where does this leave us?  Where do we find ourselves within this disturbing dynamic of deliverance?  Are we desperately clinging to the status quo or yearning for a change?  Are we ready to embrace the disruption and even the sorrow that accompanies the way of Jesus?  Well, thanks to Luke, these are legitimate questions to face during this Christmas season.  The question is:  How will we respond?