| Read: Luke 2:21 – 35 |
January 1st, the stroke of midnight, some will be partying, some will be in a dark bar kissing a stranger, some will be firing a gun or fireworks into the air and some will be drunk behind the wheel of a potential killing machine, maybe with flashing lights of a police car behind them. Others might be simply at home watching festivities on T.V. and at midnight swallow a piece of pickled herring for good luck in the New Year.
The world is filled with endless customs and traditions. Most go along with popular practices without question, choosing to do what everyone else does simply because it is easier. The majority hold the same beliefs they learned in childhood, assuming what they believe and do is right.
In 46 B.C. the Roman emperor Julius Caesar first established January 1 as New Year’s Day. Janus was the Roman god of doors and gates, and had two faces, one looking forward and one back. Caesar felt that the month named after this god (“January”) would be the appropriate “door” to the year. Caesar celebrated the first January 1 New Year by ordering the violent routing of revolutionary Jewish forces in the Galilee. In later years, Roman pagans observed the New Year by engaging in drunken orgies; a ritual they believed constituted a personal re-enacting of the chaotic world that existed before the cosmos was ordered by the gods.
For some January 1 is known as the Feast of the Circumcision of Christ (Luke 2:21). This is in accordance of Jewish tradition in which a male child eight days old shall be circumcised and given a name. For the followers of Jesus Christ, January 1st should be more than just a day of recovering from a hangover or a day of football, but a day of remembrance that our Savior, Jesus, first bled on this day showing His humanity. One should also understand at this point that the circumcision did not happen at the Temple, but usually at home. These next verses are actually 40 days after the Birth of Jesus.
A woman in Jewish law is considered ceremonially unclean for 40 days after the birth of a male child, so beginning in verse 22 would have to be 40 days after the birth of Jesus. Jewish law also requires the first born male child to be presented to the Lord along with a sacrifice. At the Temple Mary and Joseph comes across a man named Simeon.
In verses 29 through 32 Simeon, holding the baby Jesus in his arms, gives his blessing, but in verse 34 and 35 he also gives a warning that we need to hear. Simeon tells Mary: “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rise of many in Israel, and for a sign to be opposed and a sword will pierce even your own soul to the end that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
Jesus will cause the falling and rising of many in Israel. Those who embrace the message of Jesus will fall before they rise. In other words, identification with Jesus will bring persecution; Jesus will be a sign to be opposed. Many people today reject the notion that only Jesus saves, that the only way to eternal life is through Jesus. Simeon goes on adding that Mary herself will also experience anguish from the rejection that Jesus will encounter. This rejection of Jesus as the Christ will reveal the truth in many hearts. Today might be a good time to examine what is in your heart. Who is it you are following?
Before you go following the crowd, think about where the crowd might be leading you. Be careful and remember John 14:6 when Jesus says “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through me.”
If you are reading this and you have never given your life to Jesus and you are feeling a tugging at your heart, do not let this day go past without asking for Jesus to enter your life. As we get ready to close the door on this old year and enter a new year with new hope, let us enter this New Year with the saving grace of Jesus Christ. If you are ready please pray this prayer:
Father, it is written in Your Word that if I confess with my mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in my heart that You have raised Him from the dead, I shall be saved. Therefore, Father, I confess that Jesus is my Lord. I make Him Lord of my life now. I renounce my past life with Satan and close the door to any of his devices. I thank You for forgiving my of all my sins. Jesus is my Lord, and I am a new creation. The old have past away and now all things become new in the name of Jesus. Amen.