Our epistle reading is from the letter to the Hebrews, starting in verse 29 of Chapter 11. Hear God's word. By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith, Rahab, the prostitute, did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Beric, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, and put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned. They were sawn in two. They were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated, of whom the world was not worthy, wandering about in deserts and mountains and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect. This is the word of the Lord. And our gospel lesson is from Luke chapter 2 verses 22 through 40 where we hear more who belong in the hall of faith hear God's Word. And when the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses. Mary and Joseph brought Jesus up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the law of the Lord. A pair of turtle doves or two pigeons. Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, Simeon took him up in his arms and blessed God and said, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For my eyes have seen your salvation, that you have prepared in the presence of all people a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people, Israel.' And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed. And a sword will pierce through your own soul also, so that from many hearts, the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. And there was a prophetess. Anna, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was 84. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour, she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. And when they had performed everything according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. This is the gospel of our Lord. Pray with me. Guide us, O God, by your word and spirit, so that in your light we may see light, in your truth find wisdom, and in your will discover peace. Add your blessing to the reading, the hearing, and the preaching of your word, and grant us all the grace to trust and obey you, and all God's people said. Amen. Well, kids, I heard that it snowed at a few of your houses this week. How many of you had snow at your house on Thursday and Friday? All right. How many of you got to go outside and play in it? Okay, good. How many of your parents made you do chores before you got to go out and play? All right. We made our kids do chores, and they're reading before going outside, too, so I guess ours aren't the only ones with mean parents. Even if you didn't have to go do chores before going outside, how many of your parents told you to wait or be patient? Yeah? Yeah? I know in our house, we started talking about the possibility of a snow day over a week ago, and we kept talking about it just about every day until the day arrived. And so when our kids woke up to snow on Thursday and Friday, they were really excited to go out and play with their friends, turn sleds into temporary snowboards, and chase each other around with snowballs. But like I said, before they got to do all of that, we had them do regular, daily chores. And thankfully, they did them faithfully, but I'm sure, as if you had to do them yourselves, it was likely hard. Everyone knows doing what you're supposed to do can be hard, even when you don't feel like you're missing out on something fun. But choosing everyday faithfulness is especially hard when you're eagerly looking forward to something else that's just right around the corner. Now God is growing you in lots of ways, but it's especially when you're faithful to do what's right when it's hard, when it feels like you're suffering, that God grows you into the kind of person who will be able to be more and more faithful, more and more patient in the future than you are now. And I can't remember who, but last week in Q&A, someone asked me what they could do to be the kind of person who would be able to face big trials in the future without feeling so anxious. And I basically told them what I just told you. If you want to be a faithful Christian in the future, be a faithful Christian now. If you want to be able to do the right thing when it's hard in the future, Do the right thing when it's hard now. If you want to be the kind of teenager or mom or dad or husband or wife or grandma or grandpa that God would describe as righteous and devout when you get to that stage in life, trust God and do what is righteous and devout now, even when it's hard, especially when it's hard. In our gospel lesson today, we heard about two people who had been waiting to enjoy God's gifts and who had obviously been becoming the kind of faithful, patient people that God could describe as righteous and devout for a long, long time. Simeon, who apparently knows he's going to die sooner rather than later, and Anna, who was 84 years old, seven years for every tribe of Israel, and a widow of 77 years. are just two more faithful, ordinary saints that Luke describes as having been eagerly and patiently waiting on God to keep his promises to send the promised one who would bring comfort to his patient people. While Simeon and Anna's faithfulness tends to receive the majority of attention in this section of Luke, and rightfully so, I want us to add to our consideration Joseph and Mary's very precise, albeit inconvenient, faithfulness so that when we march out those doors with Simeon's song echoing in our ears, we can be a little more patient and a little more precise in our ordinary day-to-day faithfulness too. Our gospel lesson began in verse 22, but if we go back up just one verse and remember some of what we talked about last week, we can get a better feel for the kind of faithfulness on display in today's narrative. Verse 21. At the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Last week, we discussed how God required the father to ensure that their baby boy would receive the sign of the covenant at eight days old, and that's exactly what Joseph did. Joseph was very faithful and very precise in his faithfulness. I know it seems almost too obvious to point out, but Joseph didn't have Jesus circumcised on the seventh day. He didn't wait until the ninth day or postpone it until the twelfth day. God's word was clear. Speak to the people of Israel, saying, if a woman conceives and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean seven days, and on the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. If Joseph were alive today, and this was still a requirement, I wonder how many Christians would accuse him of being a legalist. for wanting to do exactly what God said, exactly when he said to do it, or perhaps accuse him of being a cruel and abusive father for putting his child through such a painful ordeal. But Joseph wasn't a legalist. And he wasn't so arrogant as to think he was a better parent than God. Joseph was just a simple, ordinary, faithful husband and father who loved God, loved his law, and obeyed it, precisely as it was revealed. And as we can see in verses 22 through 24, apparently Joseph encouraged his wife in her very precise obedience, too. While Joseph ensured Jesus followed God's law by having him circumcised on the eighth day, he also ensured that his wife performed her God-ordained duties as well. After God told Moses that all males were to be circumcised on the eighth day, he went on to describe how mothers who had become unclean due to the loss of blood experienced in childbirth could be cleansed and therefore restored to worship. And when the 40 days of her purifying are complete, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering and a pigeon or a turtle dove for a sin offering. And he shall offer it before the Lord and make atonement for her. Then she shall be clean from the flow of her blood. If she cannot afford a lamb, then she shall take two turtle doves or two pigeons, one for a burnt offering and the other for the sin offering, and the priest shall make atonement for her, and she shall be clean. So as you can hear, based on what we know from Leviticus and here in Luke 2, Joseph and Mary were too poor to even afford bringing a lamb to be sacrificed, and yet, they still gave God what he required. Joseph didn't use his very real poverty as an excuse to disobey God and Mary didn't use the two mile walk 40 days after having her first baby the old school, old school way as an excuse for skipping worship. God's word was very clear and Joseph and Mary trusted God enough to obey him. If Mary wanted to be cleansed, they knew what they had to do. 40 days after Mary gave birth, not 39 days, not 42 days, they had to obey God, come into his house, and bring him his offerings. God was merciful, and because they were too poor to bring a lamb to worship, they could bring not one blue jay or three hummingbirds, God's word was clear, it was two turtle doves or two pigeons. Now I know it seems almost silly to point that out, but in a culture that so disdains any and every form of precision, particularly precision when it comes to worshiping and obeying God, it seems worthwhile to point out that Joseph and Mary cared enough about God and his word that they obeyed him. It's almost like they believed that if they loved him, they would keep his commandments. For the faithful, and Joseph and Mary were faithful, even though it's not always easy, it's simple. If God says to do something, the faithful find a way to do it. Hasn't that been one of the main themes that we've seen running through Luke's gospel? Patient, ordinary, everyday faithfulness in every stage of life and in every vocation. It's quite boring if it wasn't so miraculous. In just a couple of chapters, we've already seen God extend his gracious promises to faithful men and women at every stage of life. Luke has told us stories about a faithful priestly couple in their late to mid 40s, Zechariah and Elizabeth, grieving over being barren, sure, but faithfully praying in the temple. Then a teenage virgin, shocked by her miraculous pregnancy, and a young man, likely in his early to mid 20s, working, paying taxes, and being faithful in worship. We've seen a faithful infant leaping in his mother's womb upon beholding the glory of the Lord. And we've met faithful shepherds, Bible-believing tax collectors, and about-to-be Christian soldiers, all faithfully, simply trusting God and obeying his word while waiting on him to keep his yet unseen but certain promises. faithful children, young and middle-aged men and women who, if they continued on their righteous paths, would end up with similar crowns of glory as the next faithful man and woman in Luke's gospel. Simeon, an old prophet who's preparing to die, and an old prophetess, Anna, who has been a widow for 77 years. It's more clear in the New King James because they actually use the word behold to highlight that Luke wants to take the time to slow down and point out that while there were many unfaithful Jews in Jerusalem, there were some who were righteous and devout and Simeon was one of those guys. Luke writes, behold, look upon, see this man whose name was Simeon. As we've already seen in Luke's gospel, Simeon's name, which means God hears, is a crucial part of the story as it's from the Shema. Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one. And so in introducing us to this faithful saint, whose name means God hears, and who says he's been waiting for the consolation of Israel, Luke is pulling several Old Testament threads together from the prophet Isaiah, which will come to life when Simeon sings. The first of which is Isaiah 40, when on the heels of the prophet telling Hezekiah that a day was coming when Babylon would plunder the temple, God turned his attention to the faithful and said to them, comfort. Take comfort, my people, says your God. God then tells Isaiah to prophesy, to speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry out to her that her warfare is ended and her iniquities have been forgiven. And yet, while God's people did receive a 70 year reprieve of sorts, ever since that prophecy, the faithful have been patiently and prayerfully waiting on the fulfillment of that promise. For over 700 years, the questions have lingered, when would God overthrow our oppressors? When would God forgive us our iniquities? Over 700 years of being ruled by foreigners, 700 years of waiting for the comfort of the Lord, waiting to be delivered from enemies, waiting to see how on earth the Lord would pardon them for their sins. 700 years of waiting for the consolation of Israel. With all of the prophecies and Daniel's timeline lining up to occurring in his life, and with a revelation from the Holy Spirit, Simeon is able to see that in the arrival of this 40-day-old baby to the temple, God has finally heard the prayers of the people. In Jesus, God's consolation for faithful Israel has arrived. After decades of patient, faithful obedience and prayer, upon beholding this Jesus, this old prophet can take the baby up in his arms and sing, Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word. For now my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel. And beholding the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ, Simeon, this old, faithful Jewish man, is ready to die. It's what he's always waited for. He can depart. He can now be with the Lord, satisfied forever. In singing this scripture-filled song that is now scripture itself, Simeon has obviously restored, stored God's Holy Spirit-inspired word up in his heart. And being inspired by that same Holy Spirit, his mouth opens up and his lips declare praise. For Simeon to sing that his eyes have seen the Lord's salvation is for him to sing the fulfillment of Isaiah 52 has come. The Lord has shown his holy arm before the eyes of all the nations and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God. For him to take this baby up and bless God and say, you have prepared your salvation in the presence of all peoples is for Simeon to echo Psalm 98, which we opened our service with this morning. The Lord has made known his salvation. He has revealed his righteousness in the sight of nations. He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. for him to say that in this baby is the Lord's salvation and a light for revelation to the Gentiles is for Simeon to rejoice that the long awaited promised one had arrived and through him God would save not just the Jews but the whole world as he echoes in our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah 42 and our salutation from Isaiah 60. I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness. I will take you by the hand and keep you. I will give you as a covenant for the people and a light for the nations. For behold, darkness will cover the earth and thick darkness the people. But the Lord will arise upon you and his glory will be seen upon you and nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising. For this old, patient, faithful prophet to draw near and sing while holding this little baby is for him to sing. He's seeing the one in whom the glory of the Lord is revealed. All of Isaiah's prophecies have been fulfilled in this child. In the Lord all the offspring of Israel, Jew and Gentile alike, shall be justified and shall glory. For the Holy Spirit inspired Simeon to hold this Holy Spirit conceived baby and to have so much of God's Holy Spirit inspired word come pouring out as blessings on this little one's head. Is it any wonder, Luke says in verse 33, that his father and mother marveled at what was said about him? Now, of course, none of that was new news to Mary as she sang as much herself in the Magnificat, but that other people, that shepherds and old prophets were coming to her son and saying these kinds of things, not the least of which being that he would be a sign for opposition to many and that her own soul would be pierced, had to be overwhelming. Just how was this baby, her baby, going to accomplish all of this glory? They were nothings. Nobodies. From nowhere. And yet they trusted God's messengers. And so, along with all the other faithful saints, Joseph and Mary would just have to wait. Eagerly, no doubt, as waiting is always hardest, the closer you get to getting what you've always wanted, but waiting patiently, faithfully, and obediently. After telling Theophilus about the patient, faithful old son of Israel, the prophet Simeon, Luke moves on to another indicator that in the arrival of Jesus, the last days had in fact arrived because God's sons and daughters were prophesying. In verse 36, Luke introduces another faithful Israelite, a nobody, a forgotten about. a lonely old daughter of Israel, daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. And he highlights her extreme patient faithfulness by telling us that she had been married for a perfectly faithful seven years. And though undoubtedly grieved when her husband died, her faithfulness to the Lord had remained steadfast for a perfect 11 sevens of years. Now that she was 12, sevens, or 84 years old, representing a perfectly faithful, widowed Israel, like Simeon, this old woman, too, was receiving her long-awaited comfort. After decades of showing up to church all alone, decades of fasting and calling on the Lord to hear her cries, decades of mornings and evenings filled with prayer, Coming again to the temple that very hour God was gracious to reveal to Anna that finally her prayers had been answered. And as is always the case when the faithful behold the glory of the Lord the old prophetess responds by giving thanks and going around and telling everyone who had been waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem that the Lord's servant had come. So many faithful saints. had been waiting for so long for God to send his Messiah to save the world and yet so many of them died before ever seeing it. Aren't there's just a few of the stories we heard in our epistle reading from Hebrews 11. We didn't read the entire list, but the passage begins with faith being the assurance of the things hoped for and the conviction that the things yet unseen would in fact be seen because God keeps His promises. And it's that patient, assured, and convicted faith that led the glorious saints of old to faithfully obey the Lord while they waited on Him to keep His promises. By faith, Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain. By faith, Noah constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith, Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith, Jacob, when dying, blessed the sons of Joseph. By faith, Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. By faith, Moses chose to be mistreated with the people of God rather than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt. By faith, Moses left Egypt. By faith, he kept Passover. By faith, the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land. By faith, the walls of Jericho fell down after they'd been encircled for seven days. By faith, Rahab gave a friendly welcome to the spies and was saved. What more shall I say? All these and countless more, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised. They all died in faith, not having received the things that are promised, but having seen them, greeted them from afar. And so likewise, even the last of the Old Testament saints, Zechariah, Elizabeth, Their son John, Joseph, Simeon, and Anna also received but a preview of the promise you and I take for granted because they all died before the crucifixion. That little baby that had been circumcised just like all the other little babies of the faithful Old Testament saints. That baby that was brought to the temple exactly when and exactly how he was supposed to be in perfect accordance with God's law there and all his days also went through an even greater circumcision and being cut off from the land of the living at the cross so that he might not only taste life but taste death for all those who have always and would always look to him to be saved. Even then, at 40 days old, Jesus is the fulfillment of all God's promises. And like all the faithful before and after, it was his faith in God's promise that drove him to be patient, faithful, and obedient, even when it was hard. Beloved, it's that same faith that you and I are called to have, not just a faith in here, as though all of those saints would have received God's promises without doing what He said, but the kind of faith that by faith trusts and obeys God precisely while waiting to receive His promises. After listing how the faith of the saints motivated their obedience, the author of Hebrews goes on to exhort his hearers with the same exhortation I'm going to give you at the end of the service. Because we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses. Let us also lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross." Children, Brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, if you want to be a faithful saint in the future, and I know you do, a faithful saint like Anna and Simeon, faithful saints who are ready to depart and be with the Lord when the time comes, that kind of faith doesn't spring out of nowhere like magic. If you desire to receive the crown of glory that all of the faithful saints of old received as they completed their journey's end, you must walk by faith now. Luke gives us examples of faithful saints through every stage of life. from a baby to a teenager to a guy in his 20s to a couple in their 40s to old men and widows in their 80s to show us that God's salvation is from womb to tomb for those who trust and obey him in all the ordinary faithful ways. We are so used to the gospel being reduced to Jesus saves sinners and it is that but we forget that the sinners Jesus saves are the ones that don't just hear but obey the gospel. The Apostle Paul and Peter both express the judgment that comes upon those who hear but do not obey the gospel. In the same chapter that he extends God's promises of salvation to Jew and Gentile alike, Paul acknowledges that not everyone who hears the gospel obeys it. Romans 10, for the scripture says, everyone who believes in him will not be put to shame. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord is Lord of all, bestowing his riches on all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news. But they have not all obeyed the gospel. In his letter to the Thessalonians, Paul describes what happens to people who don't obey the gospel when he writes to encourage the faithful saints who are suffering because they have and are obeying the gospel. This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God for which you are also suffering. Since indeed God considers it right to repay with affliction those who afflict you and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might. God be praised that salvation is by grace alone through faith alone. But make no mistake, as we always say, saving faith is never alone. Saving faith isn't apathetic to God's law and saving faith doesn't presume on God's grace. Saving faith is a simple, patient, obedient faith that trusts the God who makes promises, keeps them, even when he seems slow to do so. Beloved, as long as you seek to justify yourself for why you can't obey God in the midst of your trial, your faith will continue to get weaker and weaker and weaker. and your disobedience will only continue to grow and grow and grow until instead of being described by God as righteous and devout and faithful, your life will be faithless. Think about all of those saints we listed earlier and think about what would have happened if they'd said they believed God but that obeying him in the moment was too hard. What would have happened to Noah and his family if he had kowtowed to the mockers and shied away from building the ark? What would have happened to Abraham and his offspring if he would have said, I'm good. I don't like change. I'm not going to obey God and go where he tells me. I know he loves me no matter what. Or if Rahab would have said her hormones were too out of whack to possibly consider hanging a scarlet thread from the window, would she have been saved or destroyed? What about if Zechariah had chosen to skip church because it was just too hard being around all those other people who God chose to bless with children? What would have happened to you What would have happened to me if Joseph and Mary hadn't been faithful to obey God by having Jesus circumcised on exactly the eighth day and bringing him to the temple exactly 40 days after he was born with God's precisely required sacrifices, even though they were poor and difficult? If his parents were most Christians today Jesus would have literally been disqualified from being the savior of the world. And Simeon and Anna would have died without being comforted by the Lord. You see it's small. But God has always used the simple, faithful, precise obedience of his saints since the beginning of the world to keep his promises. And he is right now using and will use your simple, faithful, precise obedience in all the small ways, even when it's hard, to sanctify you and eventually save the world. Beloved, I am not saying that your trials really aren't real, or they're not scary, or they're not hard, any more than Luke was being dismissive of Anna's 77 lonely years, or the writer to the Hebrews was making light of the literally deadly circumstances that God's faithful saints had to endure. I'm simply trying to give you the only kind of faith that can prepare you or anyone else to depart from this life in peace. And that's a patient, faithful life filled with obedience. I know it's hard sometimes, but it's not complicated. And what you're going through isn't harder than what so many saints who have gone before you have gone through. And what you're going through for Jesus isn't harder than what he was willing to go through for you. He doesn't ask anything of you that he's not willing to do. A bruised reed he will not break. A faintly burning wick he won't quench. You don't have to lose your temper when you're feeling impatient. You don't have to outsource raising your kids when you feel overwhelmed. You don't have to fight with your spouse or your siblings or be afraid to forgive. You can get up and go to work and love your wife and serve your husband and you can start by grace through faith today. If you want to be ready to depart in peace without your heavy burdens of guilt and shame weighing you down as your last day approaches, walk by faith, not by sight. If you come to Christ and keep coming to him, walking by patient, obedient faith, even when it's hard, our patient Lord will comfort you and lift you up. And you can be assured of that because he promised. and he who promised is always faithful. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, amen. Let's pray. Our Father, we have heard wonderful things out of your word. We praise you for revealing Christ by promise and shadow in the Old Testament and for revealing him as the fulfillment of all these things in the new. Give us your spirit so that we might understand these words and the fullness of your truth as you have revealed it to us in the person and work of Jesus, who with you and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory now and forever. Amen. Our communion homily is from that short prophecy of Simeon in verses 34 through 35. Hear God's word. Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother, Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign that is opposed and a sword will pierce through your own soul also so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed. This is the word of the Lord. Now, we didn't have time to cover this prophecy during the sermon, but the answer to all of those when and how questions are found here at the table. When would God keep his promise to deliver his people from their oppressors? How could God possibly forgive his people for everything that they had done? What does it mean that Jesus would be appointed for the rise and fall of many? In what way would Mary's own soul be pierced? Well, all of that and more is what we have set before us now. That little 40 day old baby would need to grow up and conquer the enemies of God's people. He would need to be the once for all perfect sacrifice of sins for many, and he would need to make the ultimate dividing line of history, not one that hinges on ethnicity, but one that hinges on what any and every person does when they behold his being pierced on the cross, which no doubt pierced his own mother's soul to behold. At this table is where you see most clearly his tender comfort because at this table you see the lengths Jesus was willing to go to make sure all of God's promises would be kept for you and for me. Every week we are reminded of the fact that Jesus forsook all earthly comforts and being afflicted for us so that we in our own afflictions might receive his comfort. We typically think of those who will rise to power and sits in seat of comfort as the mighty, the powerful, the go-getters who rise above their peers. But that's not who Luke says will be lifted up and comforted. Luke, and indeed the whole Bible, says God lifts up and comforts, not the high and mighty, but the lowly, the forgotten. The high and mighty wouldn't dare embrace this kind of humiliation, this kind of patience, this kind of cross-bearing life. In their impatience, in their unwillingness to behold Christ with the eyes of faith, they would rather forsake eternal comforts and get comfort now. But those of you who are willing to look at Jesus, to see Him, to trust Him, to be patient, willing to follow Him, even when it's as uncomfortable as a cross, even when it can feel like your own heart is being run through, you can trust that He will lift you up and He will be your comfort, not just forever, but now. When you know that, when you see in Jesus your greatest comfort and fullest joy, then you can take comfort in Him above all else and indeed endure all else because in having Him and having been had by Him, you've got everything you could ever dream and more. So as our risen Lord feeds you with his blood bought bread and wine for you, receive his gifts with the eyes of faith. Be certain that in Christ you have the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction that by faith you will eventually see the things that you do not yet see. Taste and see that the Lord is good, and be filled with His Spirit so that you might continue to walk in patient, humble, obedient faith, even when it's hard, for the glory of God and the life of the world. Amen? Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed. For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus, on the same night that he was betrayed, took bread. Let us give thanks for the bread. We do not presume to come to your table, O merciful Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in your many and great mercies. We are not worthy so much as to gather up crumbs under your table, but you are the same Lord whose character is to have mercy. Thank you, gracious Lord, that our sinful bodies are made clean by Christ's body and our souls washed through his most precious blood so that we may evermore dwell in him and he in us. Amen. When he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me. These are the gifts of God for the people of God. Receive them as such.