, worshipping with fastings and supplications night and
day. 38 And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks unto God,
and spake of him to all them that were looking for the redemption
of Jerusalem. 39 And when they had accomplished all things that
were according to the law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee,
to their own city Nazareth.

40 And the child grew, and waxed strong, filled with wisdom: and
the grace of God was upon him.

The incidents of the infancy of Jesus recorded by Luke not only add human
interest to the story but they interpret the future career and the saving
work of our Lord. Thus when on the eighth day he was named "Jesus," a name
often given to Jewish boys, it was because he was destined to fulfill all
that the name implies, for he was to be the "Salvation of the Lord."

So, too, when five weeks later he was presented in the Temple, when his
mother offered for herself a sacrifice which indicated lack of wealth but
not abject poverty, the real significance of the scene is set forth in the
prophetic utterances of the saintly Simeon and Anna. The first of these
utterances was the song of Simeon, called from the Latin form of its
opening words the Nunc Dimittis ("Now Lettest Thou Depart"). To this
devout soul it had been revealed that he should not die until he had seen
the Messiah, "the Lord's Christ." Led by the Spirit to the Temple while
the parents of Jesus are there presenting their Son before the Lord, he
took the little babe in his arms and sang the sweetest and most solemn
song of the nativity, which, unlike the Magnificat or the Benedictus,
promises redemption not only to Israel but to all the world.

"Now lettest thou thy servant depart ... in peace;" the figure of speech
is full of beauty; it is the word of a faithful watchman who welcomes with
joy the hour of his dismissal, for he has caught the vision of the coming
One; now he is about to be sent away in the peace of an accomplished task,
in the peace of fulfilled hope; for his eyes have seen the Saviour
according to the promise of the Lord. The redemption which the Messiah
brings, as the song continues to declare, is for all peoples; it is a
light to reveal the way of salvation to the Gentiles; it is to be the true
glory of the favored people, Israel.

While this salvation is provided for all, it will not be accepted by all.
To the wondering mother, Simeon uttered a dark word of prophecy. The
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