Biblical Text: Luke 2:34-35 (Luke 2:22-40)
The Current Thing is internet slang for whatever is being fought over right now but is ultimately meaningless. Nothing will change, and in a short time a new current thing will engulf everyone.
When Joseph and Mary are taking care of everything they need to legally due for purification after childbirth, they run into Simeon and Anna. And Simeon has a bunch of prophetic words. The longest being what the church calls the Nunc Demitis, Now let your servant depart in peace. But this sermon reflects on what he says to Mary directly about Jesus. The child is a sing of contradiction. And that sign is destined for the falling and rising of many, not sparing even Mary herself. It’s a deep and complex prophecy, but at the same time the eternal experience of the church. If the current thing is ultimately meaningless, Jesus is the eternal thing. People fight over and deny exactly what this sign is. But unlike the current thing, the eternal thing doesn’t move on. The eternal thing has real apocalyptic consequences. That is what this sermon for Christmas develops. We have been given a sign. A sign for the falling and rising.
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