feeder.
To the bright light we now add the collective voices of the attendants of God in a heavenly chorus. The angel is joined by “a multitude of the heavenly host (stratias) praising God” (2:13). The Greek word stratia, often translated as “host,” also means “army.” YHWH is a mighty warrior (1:51–52; cf. 10:18), thus the sending of the Davidic Messiah is both good news and the battle cry of God’s salvation.59 The angels sing of the effects of the Messiah’s birth, that God in heaven is glorified and exalted, and people on earth experience true peace (2:14). Recalling Zechariah’s prophecy, this Savior will guide “our feet into the way of peace” (1:79). This peace does not mean cessation or absence of war and strife, but reconciliation between God and those who receive by faith his gracious gift of salvation through Jesus. God’s peace will have its ultimate expression when God’s reign is manifested in the eschaton, so that life in that blessed eternity will be characterized by perfect security, harmony, abundance, and health. The coming of the Messiah is the beginning of a journey with eternal peace as its destination.
The Greek phrase, en anthrōpois eudokias, introduces some ambiguity (2:14b). Translated word for word, it reads “among men of goodwill (or favor).” Whose goodwill or whose favor is in view? On the one hand, human beings are blessed only because God bestows his favor upon them, as Elizabeth and Mary have testified (1:25, 48). On the other hand, the recipients of God’s blessings have to demonstrate an attitude of goodwill to be ready to receive God’s benign intervention (1:17, 77). In the end, God’s initiative meets human response to actualize eternal peace between both parties. Because God’s initiative always comes first, human responsiveness presupposes divine favor. Therefore, 2:14b is better rendered as “peace on earth among the people whom God has favored.”60
The angel departs, leaving the shepherds to decide what to do with what they have just seen and heard (2:15). Like Mary, they proceed with haste to follow the sign (2:12, 16; cf. 1:36, 39). When they find Mary, Joseph, and the infant, they relate everything that has been told to them, which Mary treasures and ponders in her heart (2:17, 19–20). The three-stepped pattern of hearing, seeing, and repeating the message becomes the means of bearing witness to the good news, from the shepherds to Mary and Joseph, and to others who are present.
Hearing or reading the story of Jesus’ birth, Theophilus and his community would probably notice subtle similarities with common inscriptions or writings concerning Augustus. For example, below is an inscription concerning Augustus’s birthday (italics mine):
Since Providence which has ordered all things and is deeply interested in our life, has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior, both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar, by his appearance, surpassing all previous benefactors, and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and since the birthday of the god Augustus was the beginning of the good news for the world that came by reason of him . . .61
Worldwide salvation, benefaction, and peace are attributed to Augustus, a suprahuman-like emperor sent by Providence as a gift to humankind. Is Luke’s description of Jesus’ birth intentionally polemical against the laudatory praise of Augustus? How will Jesus, Israel’s Savior-Messiah-Lord, compare with Rome’s Savior-God? Will Jesus’ kingdom be set on a collision course with Caesar’s empire? Luke’s readers are invited to contemplate such possibilities by holding in tension the welcome of Israel’s Savior on the one hand, and his rejection on the other.
Dedication of Jesus at the Temple (2:21–40)
A male child would normally be named before his circumcision on the eighth day, but Luke reports the two as a single event both with John and with Jesus (1:59; 2:21). “[The child] was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb” (2:21). God the Father, not Jesus’ earthly parents, names his Son “Jesus,” as implied by the passive voice of the verb. The name, meaning “YHWH saves,” is exactly what Jesus will come to embody and actualize.
A woman remains ceremonially unclean for seven days after giving birth to a boy (Lev 12:2). On the eighth day the infant is circumcised (Gen 17:12; Lev 12:3). His mother’s state of purification continues for thirty-three days, during which she may neither enter the temple nor come in contact with holy things. At the end of her purification period, she offers a lamb for a burnt offering and a pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering. For the poor, another turtledove or pigeons may take the place of the lamb (Lev 5:11; 12:1–8). In general, Luke’s account reflects closely the stipulations of the law except for two minor details (2:22–24). Only Mary, the mother, is in need of purification, but Luke speaks of “their purification,” perhaps because both she and Joseph are present. Also, the couple brings Jesus to the temple on the eighth day for his circumcision, but the sacrifice is supposed to be made weeks later upon the completion of Mary’s days of purification. It is not clear if the deviation from Leviticus stems from the author’s storytelling or changes to traditional practices in the first century. But one thing is clear: Jesus’ parents are law-abiding Jews even though they have modest means.
Every Israelite firstborn, whether human or animal, is consecrated to God (Exod 13:2; Neh 10:35–36). The notion of redeeming the firstborn is not in view here, as nothing is said of Jesus’ parents paying the priest any redemption price (Num 18:15–16). Rather, the presentation of Jesus at the temple parallels Hannah’s dedication of Samuel to the service of the Lord when she brought him to Eli the priest (1 Sam 1:24–28). While Jesus is not offered for lifelong priestly service, God has already laid claim on his life. Luke’s reference to the law, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord” (2:23), recalls Gabriel’s words to Mary, “the child to be born will be holy” (1:35), for indeed Jesus is conceived by the Holy Spirit and set apart for God’s service.
The next two scenes are complementary (2:25–38). Like Zechariah and Mary, Simeon and Anna form a male-female pairing to bear witness to the purposes of God.62 Both are depicted as pious and steadfast before God. While Simeon is explicitly stated as having the Holy Spirit resting on him (2:25–27), the work of the Spirit on Anna is implied, since she is a prophetess (2:36). Simeon is righteous and devout (2:25), and Anna, throughout her widowhood, “never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day” (2:37). Both of them hold fast to the promises of God by aligning themselves with those who are waiting patiently for the consolation of Israel and the redemption of Jerusalem (2:25, 38; cf. 23:51; Isa 52:9; 66:13).
The meeting between Simeon and Jesus’ family is orchestrated by the Holy Spirit (2:27), the fulfillment of a revelation from the Spirit to Simeon that he will see the Lord’s Messiah during his lifetime (2:26, 29).63 Holding Jesus in his arms, Simeon praises God and expresses his readiness to die, for God’s salvation, embodied in the person of the Messiah, has finally arrived (2:28–29). The verb apoluō, which means “to dismiss” or “to release,” is a double-entendre. On the one hand, it is a euphemism for death. God can now release Simon and let him die in peace. On the other hand, God the master is dismissing Simeon because the servant’s task of waiting for God’s salvation is now accomplished (2:29).
The vocabulary and themes in the next three verses are drawn heavily from Isaiah 40–66. Looking at the baby Jesus, Simeon declares, “My eyes have seen your salvation” (2:30; cf. Isa 51:5–8; 52:10; 56:1). Jesus is not merely the bringer or agent of God’s salvation; he is God’s salvation personified. He will embody God’s saving actions in his person—in life and in death, in word and in action.
Even as faithful Jews are waiting for Israel’s Messiah, ultimately
