To Fall

“Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
    you may now dismiss your servant in peace.
For my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of your people Israel.”

Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” (Luke 2:29-35)

         Abraham will surely become a great and powerful nation, and all nations on earth will be blessed through him. (Genesis 18:18)

          Some people would like us to believe that Paul originated the idea that the Gentile nations would be included in God’s blessing. In today’s passages, it’s clear that both Luke and Moses thought along those lines, too. They may not have understood it quite the way we do, but it was there.

          Israel was singled out before Israel was born. I’ve said before that if God had chosen another nation, like Great Britain or India, that nation would be blessed and hated as Israel has been blessed and hated. It’s God’s blessing that brings hatred, not Israel’s superiority. God moved Abram to the area and established him there – just a little off the main throughway that connected Europe, Asia, and Africa.

          And, just as God’s blessing on Israel made the other nations jealous, so God’s blessing on Jesus makes other people jealous. That’s part of the idea of the “rising and falling of many in Israel.” Either some would fall to their knees in worship while others rose up to do battle, or some would be raised up to glory while others would fall in disgrace. It all came down to the question of godhood – and not so much whether Jesus was/is God, but that we are not. The Chosen One was not the One we would have chosen.

          The Christmas holidays remind us of this. Jesus was born in a stable, which is to say, a cave, not a palace. He was raised as a carpenter’s son, not a king’s. He went to the cross, not the palace. He defeated us, not Rome. He gave us life, not conquest and power. He got it all wrong, and so right. And the question we must answer is, how will this cause us to fall and to rise?