TEXT: Luke 2:25-32; Isaiah 49:8-10,13
Have you ever had to wait for something good? I was going to just ask about waiting, but the first thing that came to my mind was the DMV, so I wanted to clarify: Have you ever had to wait for something good? I remember being a kid and waiting for Christmas morning… it was like time ran slower and slower and then I couldn’t fall asleep. I remember waiting to hear about college acceptances – a mix of not knowing who would say ‘yes’ and who would say ‘no’ and also not knowing for sure where I wanted to go. I remember waiting for our children to be born, though some came earlier than others!
Then there’s the kind of waiting where things are hard while you are waiting for some hopeful news. Maybe that’s waiting for test results from the doctor. Maybe that’s waiting for your family member to get home safely while there are storms or traffic backups on the road.
Today and over the next several weeks we are going to look at the story of two different people who knew what it was to wait. This is what Advent is about. It is about waiting expectantly for what God is going to do. We wait expectantly for the celebration of Christmas and Jesus being born into the world. We also wait expectantly for what God is yet to do. Waiting is hard, but it is one of the things most talked about in scripture. Psalm after Psalm talks about “waiting on the Lord.” I believe Simeon and Anna will help us with some of the waiting periods we go through as human beings.
What Faith Looks Like (vv. 25-26)
Today I am going to focus on the first two verses of Simeon’s story: a man in Jerusalem who was “righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” (v.25) It had been revealed to him by God’s Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ, God’s Messiah. (v.26)
From those verses I want to lift up three things about Simeon:
He was faithful with what he knewHe was hopeful for what God had promisedHe experienced God’s presence in his life
I think there is a logical order to those things. While God might re-arrange the order on occasion, this is the usual way faith manifests in a person’s life. Let’s consider them in order.
1. Simeon was faithful with what he knew
Luke describes Simeon as righteous and devout. He was a faithful Jewish man and kept the Law. He observed the sacrifices, kept the festivals, and frequented the Temple. He knew the Hebrew scriptures – the Law, the Writings, the Prophets. He knew the story of God and the covenant promises to Abraham. He knew the prophets, especially Isaiah, because we read that he was waiting for the “consolation of Israel” – Isaiah’s language for God’s Messiah.
2. Simeon was hopeful for what God had promised
Simeon’s faithfulness led him to trust and wait on the Lord for what God promised in the scriptures. God had made a covenant with Abraham to bless his children and through them to bless all the nations. God had renewed that covenant with King David to promise an eternal King and Kingdom. And God had spoken through prophets like Isaiah to promise an “anointed one” or Messiah who would at once be Deliverer, Redeemer, and a Servant who would save God’s people and the world. Isaiah, in particular, spoke of this Messiah as the Comforter or Consolation of Israel. I used one representative passage from Isaiah in our first reading today so you could see some of that language of salvation, help, covenant, restoration, release, compassion, and joy expressed as God’s “comfort of His people” (Isaiah 49:8-13). This was Simeon’s hope!
3. Simeon experienced God’s presence in his life
In this hopeful life of faithfulness Simeon experienced God’s presence, God’s Holy Spirit. Through the Holy Spirit God revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. And as we’ll see in coming weeks, the Holy Spirit seemed to lead Simeon and Jesus’ family together at the te
