3.5.23 - Jesus and Fulfillments Past, Present, and Future (Kenny Camacho) (Copy)
NOTE: New equipment glitches got us again! This week’s audio did not record. The script is copied below, with Reflection/Discussion Questions at the end. Thank you for bearing with us!
This morning, we are starting a new series on the first half of the gospel of Luke. We’re calling this series “Fulfilled,” and I’ll get to some of the reasons why in just a bit. But before I do, I want to talk for a moment about why we’re doing this series now.
Last week, we looked at the second section of the Apostles’ Creed, which we read in its entirety just a moment ago. In particular, we looked at what Christians believe about Jesus… and we noted 4 things: Christians believe that Jesus is fully God; that he is, mysteriously and at the same time, fully human; that he chose to experience actual physical and emotional suffering here on this earth; and he Jesus was crucified and died.
We believe in Jesus Christ, [God’s] only Son, our Lord.
He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit
and born of the Virgin Mary,
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried
But something you might have noticed if you were here last week, or something you might be noticing right now as you look at those statements, is this: the Creed covers Jesus’s birth and his death… but it says nothing whatsoever about his life there in the middle.
I’ll admit I’m scratching a bit of a personal itch here, but there’s something about these conventional Christian doctrines when it comes to Jesus that really does trouble me. Based on the “big picture” stuff about how Jesus dies–which is to say: what we believe about the problem sin creates for us, and our understanding of the covenantal structure of sacrifice, and the mechanics we can put together for atonement–the way Jesus lives doesn’t really seem to relate to anything. After all, if God’s only purpose in all of this is to solve our sin problem, and even if we agree that there is no solution apart from Jesus’s death… couldn’t God have sent Jesus down as a full-grown man? Did he really have to grow up? And even after he’s grown, couldn’t he have just gotten right to the cross? Why did he need disciples? Why did he bother healing people of their physical problems if he knew that his real purpose had to do with their eternal problems? Why wander about for three years before doing the “important” thing?
The short answer, of course, is that things happened this way because God wanted them to happen this way. But the long answer is that Jesus’s life and ministry were a crucial part of his purpose, too. And in fact, I believe explaining that purpose is the very reason the gospel accounts exist. The truth of the New Testament scriptures is that the heavenly mechanics that go on at the cross and the empty tomb are already key parts of the Christian tradition before any of the gospels are written: Paul talks about them in great detail, and we see the key steps–which are a recognition of our own brokenness, belief in Jesus’s power to take our sins away, and acceptance of Jesus as our personal Lord and savior–in the very first testimonies and sermons the Church ever gave.
But somehow, some 20 or 30 years into the Church’s story, it becomes clear to these “Jesus people” that Jesus's life needs to be recorded and taught, too. What changed? I think the answer is obvious: the people who were there started to die. And as exciting as the spread of the Church was, they wanted to make sure there was more to the story.
We’re calling this series on Luke’s gospel Fulfilled for this reason: the parts of the Jesus story Luke emphasizes have to do with how Jesus’s entire life speaks to God’s loving plan for His people. Jesus doesn’t just get rid of sin and death. He also brings life to the world! And he does this in concert with the big story God has always been telling. “Fulfilled” has to do with prophecy, with patterns, and most of all, with people. When the burden of sin is lifted, we can walk in our design as human beings with freedom. That’s where we want to go with this series.
So, where do we begin?
Helpfully, Luke adds a preface to his own gospel. Here’s what it says:
Luke 1:1-4
Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us, just as they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses and servants of the word. With this in mind, since I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning, I too decided to write an orderly account for you [...] so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.
We can quickly note that Luke’s gospel begins by saying there are other gospels. In fact, he says “many have undertaken to draw up an account” of Jesus’s story. Luke also says where those accounts come from: “they were handed down to us by those who from the first were eyewitnesses.” So, although Luke is not himself an eyewitness to Jesus, he’s saying he’s talked to them. Personally, when I read this, I can't help but think of a good podcast: Luke is the journalist, digging into the Jesus story to which he has devoted himself by interviewing the folks who were there. He says that his job is to try and organize these memories–to construct an “orderly account”–for the purpose of giving others certainty (a better word might be “confidence”) when it comes to what they believe.
So, in a nutshell: Luke is working like a historian. But we skipped over a word here that is important, and that word is “fulfilled”: Luke is not an impartial observer! What he’s interested in is specifically how the parts of Jesus’s life connect to the whole of God’s redemptive mission.
Where, then, does Luke go? If you have a Bible app on your phone, it might be easiest to follow along with me…
Interestingly, Luke does not begin with Jesus! Instead, he starts with two seemingly-common (if also uncommonly righteous) Jews: Zechariah and Elizabeth. Zechariah is descended from an ancient king of Judah named Abijah, who although he reigned over the southern kingdom of what was once the united Israel only for a few years, stood out in Israel’s history as one of the last kings to seek reunification after the nation was divided by civil war. Abijah wasn’t successful… but he had a legacy as a unifier. Elizabeth, Luke says, was descended from Aaron, the brother of Moses, and the patriarch of Israel’s priestly tradition.
So, why these two? Luke says that an angel appears to Zechariah and tells him that his wife will become pregnant and give birth to a son, whose name will be John. One day, we know John will be the man who baptizes Jesus. But the angel tells his parents that
Luke 1:16-17
He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.
We could get into the weeds here, but the short version of things is this: their son, John, will be a prophet like Elijah. What is Elijah known for? He’s known for calling the Isrealites back from their idolatry and to the right worship of God. He’s a way-maker, or someone who clears a path for redemption. John is going to “fulfill” that same purpose. This is why it’s significant that his father descends from a unifier in Israel’s story… and his mother descends from the priesthood: their son will help usher in a united path to purity.
But why does Luke care so much about John? He cares about John because John puts Jesus in context. When Jesus shows up, we all know he doesn’t mince words with the religious leaders of Israel. But, in the decades since Jesus’s death and resurrection, it became easier to see him as a revolutionary who set out to topple the Jewish Temple. In fact, that’s one of the accusations that gets him killed! But Luke wants us to see him as a reformer instead: Jesus didn’t come to condemn the Jewish people, he came to lead them back to real worship and wholeness. There’s that word again: Jesus came to fulfill God’s covenantal promise.
Where do we go next? Next, we meet Mary. This is a story you likely know already, so we’ll keep our conversation brief! In Luke’s account, Mary is chosen for her part in the story for no other reason than that she has “found God’s favor.” It is helpful that her fiance, Joseph, is descended from the line of David… but added to Mary’s account, we see only her willingness to trust and obey. It’s clear here that this is enough. But there is one more detail in the way Luke presents that narrative we should note: after the angel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her who her son will be, he ends by saying,
Luke 1:37
“...for no word from God will ever fail.”
Jesus, then, isn’t just a hero, who comes to Israel at the perfect time. Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s longstanding promises to His historic people. This cast of characters helps make that point: unifiers like Abijah, priests like Aaron, and faithful kings like David are all arrows pointing ahead in time to this moment, when the words of God prove out.
So, what does Luke want us to know? He wants us to know that Jesus’s place in this specific moment and time means something. It’s not only what happens at the cross: it’s the way the cross proves God’s faithfulness to thousands of years of Jewish history. It’s forgiveness… in the context of steadfast love.
What happens next? Well, Jesus is born, and if you’ve ever been to a Christmas Eve service, you’ve heard folks teach and read from Luke’s detailed account of that event. He’s born in David’s old hometown of Bethlehem, laid in the most humble of homes, and visited by (of all people) shepherds… who both echo David’s own origins and anticipate the kind of human this baby will grow up to be.
But then there’s a story you might not have heard: on the eighth day, Joseph and Mary take Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem in fulfillment of the customs relating to the dedication of firstborn male children. And while they are there, they meet two elderly folks. The first is a man named Simeon, who the text says was “righteous and devout”:
Luke 2:25-35
He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:
“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.”
The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 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 says Simeon is waiting for the “consolation” of Israel. What that means is that he was waiting for the Messiah, who would alleviate Israel’s long history of troubles. The word used here is the same word in Greek used to describe the Holy Spirit as our “comforter.” But the rest of Simeon’s words here to Mary are not obviously comforting! He says Jesus will cause many to fall, he will be spoken against, and a sword will pierce Mary’s soul and the souls of others. What is Simeon talking about?
The suggestion is that the kind of “comfort” God intends is not the kind that soothes problems but the kind that gets at the root of a problem: through Jesus, “the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.”
This past week, I've been battling one of the worst styes in my eye that I have ever had. I’ll spare you the details, but it’s been absolutely brutal. When I went to the doctor, they prescribed me an anointment to help me out… but let me tell you, no matter how much it would have hurt, what I wanted was for them to lance this sucker! The thing that was wrong with me needed to be revealed… not just soothed.
The kind of “comfort” Jesus brings us is like that lance sometimes: the roots of our pride or our selfishness or our greed need to be exposed if we’re ever going to heal! Simeon is saying that this is another way that Jesus “fulfills” God’s intentions for us: he will clear out the infection down to its root… and that’s necessary if we’re ever going to get better!
What about the other elderly person at the Temple? Let’s talk about Anna! Luke says,
Luke 2:36
[And] there was also a prophet, Anna [...] She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
Anna is a wonderful character to include because, especially after the Simeon episode, it would have been the easiest thing in the world to cut her out! But she’s here because her dedication gives her authority: she’s waited decades and decades at the Temple to meet Jesus, and even when he is just 8 days old, she knows him when she sees him. “At that very moment,” she gave thanks to God and told everyone who would listen to look forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
My goal this morning is to make this a shorter sermon, so I’m going to cut to the chase: real fulfillment works in every direction at once. In Zechariah and Elizabeth, in Joseph and Mary, we see how Jesus fulfills what was said in the past. He is the answer to God’s long promises to Israel. But, at this moment, he’s also still just a baby! There’s so much more to being the big Answer to the world’s problems than arriving. And so here’s Simeon and Anna, saying to everyone who will listen: just you wait and see what’s next.
My sense from these first two chapters is that the whole of Jesus matters to Luke, and by writing this gospel, Luke is trying to lay down how much it matters to the early Church and to us. The doctrines we see in things like the Apostles’ Creed emphasize Jesus’s birth and death… but the fact of his life carries much meaning, too. The “fulfillment” he brings isn’t only for Israel, it’s not only for our sin problem, it’s for the entire world, past, present, and future. And it’s a “fulfillment” that’s supposed to reach into our actual lives, too!
Why does this matter? It matters because our eventual salvation and eternal life isn’t just a matter of “emptying” ourselves out from the problems and weaknesses and sins which damage us. They’re about getting “filled up” with the richness of a Jesus-type-life, too! So, our question today becomes this: if you’re following Jesus…where is your joy? Where is the living in your life? What use is it to be freed from the bondage to sin if you’re not embracing the kind of life Jesus showed you how to live?
The gospels help us explore this question because they show us Jesus’s actual life! It’s not a superfluous detail that he had real parents who loved him and who he loved back: in having them, he shows us how to be part of a family! It’s not an extra detail that he went to Temple and participated with sincerity and hope in his faith: he shows us how to be faithful! It matters that others saw him and knew he was different in a way that gave them excitement about the future: Luke is saying that if we’re really following after him, we can expect others to see us this way, too! Jesus’s life gives us an example and direction in our own living.
So, here’s the closing challenge this morning: imagine you’re Zechariah, or Elizabeth, or Mary, or Joseph, or Anna, or Simeon. What promise of God are you waiting for Him to fulfill? Really think about this! For me, it’s a deep and genuine ability to see other people. Can Jesus show me how to do this? Yes! Maybe for you it’s an answer to depression, or release from pain in your past; maybe it’s just a need for real hope. Is it possible the real person of Jesus, if you get to know his life, can lead you to fulfillment?
What if he can? I’ll pray for us.
REFLECTION/DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Why do you think the gospel stories of Jesus’s life (as opposed to just the stories of his birth and death on the cross) matter to the early church? Why do they matter to us now?
What do we glimpse in Jesus’s life stories that might help us better understand fulfillment?
What kind of a life do you feel God wants for you/for others? What sorts of things does it include?
What can we learn from the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth? How do their connections to Israel’s past help explain the “fulfillment” Jesus brings?
What can we learn from the story of Mary and Joseph? How does their response to Mary’s pregnancy help explain the “fulfillment” Jesus brings?
What can we learn from the story of Simeon and Anna? How do their reactions to Jesus help anticipate the “fulfillment” Jesus will bring?
What needs in your own life are you hoping God can meet?
What is one small way you can follow after the example of Jesus’s life in your own “living” this week?