The season of Advent for 2023 is officially over.  Each year, we wait until December for Advent to begin and then quickly Advent is over on Christmas Day.  We now must wait again until December 2024 to observe Advent once again. Waiting is one of the things in life we must come to accept.

          Learning to wait is an important part of the life of faithful people.  But, in our faith journey, we need to learn to wait long enough for God to lead us but not so long that God has moved on and is now no longer in our sight.  Our New Testament reading speaks of confidently waiting on God’s timing and knowing that God has a larger understanding of life’s picture than we do.

Today’s Scripture passage comes from the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2.  Luke is a superb storyteller who took testimony from a variety of sources and presented a unified account of Jesus’ birth, life, ministry, death, resurrection, and ascension into heaven.  One of the features that is unique to Luke’s gospel account is telling about Jesus through the pairing of accounts from men and women. For example, Luke began his gospel account with a visitation by an angel to Zechariah to tell of the coming birth of John the Baptist.  Shortly thereafter, Luke gave the account of the angel’s visit to Mary to tell of the coming of the birth of Jesus.  Today’s Scripture begins with the account of a man, Simeon, seeing Jesus in the temple and ends with the account of a woman, Anna, embracing Jesus in the temple.  All throughout the gospel, Luke weaves together the story of Jesus alternating between the interactions of Jesus with men and women. Luke’s telling Jesus’ story this way appeals to the modern mind of showing equality between men and women in Jesus’ reach to all people.  But Luke’s telling of the story of Jesus through men and women probably has more to do with prophesy than modern concepts of gender equality.  In sharing the story of Jesus through men and women, Luke is more likely showing the confident fulfillment of the Scriptures is occurring and will occur.  Luke’s opening words of his gospel says, “1 Many have undertaken to draw up an account of the things that have been fulfilled among us” (Luke 1:1).  Luke is concerned with helping people understand that the time of confidently waiting on God is over because God’s promises were fulfilled in their day. Specifically, Luke may be looking at the prophesy that in the day of the Lord’s coming, God would pour out His Spirit on all people and that sons and daughters of Abraham would prophesy, that is speak the truth about God.  So, Luke’s storytelling is perhaps more about God using men and women to proclaim the fulfillment of God’s own promises and to do so through the enablement of God’s own Holy Spirit.

And so as we enter this passage, we learn that Jesus was born to Mary and her husband. Joseph and the time had come to present this newborn baby at the Temple in Jerusalem.  The passage begins this way, “22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, Joseph and Mary took him [Jesus] to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 23 (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”), 24 and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons’” (Luke 2:22-24). We read these words, and we wonder what is going on here.  Is Luke describing some arcane rituals that now have no meaning to us?  Or is there something we can glean from Luke’s description of purification rites, presentation to the Lord, and offering of doves or pigeons?

          Luke is describing here two rituals that are very much a part of the Jewish history.  The first is the purification of Mary.  Under the law, the rules dating back to Moses, blood was considered the source of life. Animal blood was used in worship practices by priests to consecrate, make holy, the altar of God, and used in ceremonies to atone for sin.  Blood was very much a part of the temple practices.  Yet, at the same time, contact with human blood, the source of human life, was anything but a consecrating act.  In fact, contact with human blood would make a person ceremonially unclean for worship. Women who had given birth were considered thus ceremonially impure after giving birth because of the blood that is naturally released as part of giving birth to a child.  So, under the Law of Moses, a woman, 40 days after giving birth, was required to undergo purification by offering as a sin sacrifice a dove or pigeon.  Mary, being a devote Jewish woman, a daughter of Abraham, presented herself at the temple to offer the purification sacrifice.

          Secondly, under the law of Moses, the first-born male of woman was to be consecrated to the Lord, meaning to be given over to the Lord.  The father was then allowed to redeem the child back into their possession by given money to the temple priest or offering of a dove or pigeon.

          In our opening, Mary and Joseph were carefully following ancient rituals of the Hebrew law by Mary going through purification and the redemption of Jesus as Mary’s first-born male child.  Even though Mary and Joseph were aware that Jesus was the Son of God, they followed the laws carefully waiting upon God to further reveal what was going to happen in and through their son.

          With Jesus, Joseph, and Mary at the temple, Luke introduces to us the next pairing of a son and daughter of Abraham, namely, Simeon and Anna, with these words, “25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout” (Luke 2:25a).  I think most modern translations of the Bible make this sentence less forceful, less attention grabbing, than Luke intended. The opening Greek word of this sentence is ἰδού, id-oo, which is translated most often as “Behold.”  For example,

• And (ἰδού, id-oo) behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus (Lk 1:31)
• And (ἰδού, id-oo) behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid (Lk 2:9)
• Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for (ἰδού, id-oo) behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people (Lk 2:10)

Luke was using the word, ἰδού, id-oo, to grab people attention that something important and rich with God’s presence was about to take place or was taking place with Simeon.  So, if we read that last verse of Scripture again with translating ἰδού, id-oo, as “Behold,” instead of “Now,” we would read, “Behold there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout” (Luke 2:25a).  Luke was alerting his readers that something was going to happen through Simeon, this faithful son of Abraham, that they did not want to miss.

Readied for action, we move to the second half of verse 25, “He [Simeon] was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him” (Luke 2:25b).  And there we have the reason for “Behold.”  Simeon was under the influence of the Holy Spirit.  It was the same Holy Spirit that Luke said was in the baby John the Baptist while John was in his mother’s womb and the same Holy Spirit through which Mary conceived was present in this man Simeon.  The Holy Spirit was being poured out onto the sons and daughters of Abraham to equip them to speak God’s truth.  And Simeon, Luke said, was waiting patiently and confidently that God would send the “consolation of Israel.”  What is the consolation of Israel?  The consolation of Israel was not something at all, it was someone. The consolation of Israel that Simeon waited for was the person called Messiah.  The Messiah was the person sent by God to bring the kingdom of God to the people of Israel and to reveal salvation for all people.  There was nothing Simeon expected in life that could be greater than the Messiah.  If we asked Simeon, this righteous and devout man, “What are you waiting for Simeon?” he would have answered, “The Messiah.”  God blessed Simeon with the Holy Spirit to guide him and comfort him in his time of waiting. 

In verse 26, we read, “26 It had been revealed to him [Simeon] by the Holy Spirit that he [Simeon] would not die before he [Simeon] had seen the Lord’s Messiah” (Luke 2:26).  Simeon lived his life with great confidence knowing that God would keep his promises. God would send his Messiah and that Simeon would give testimony to the fulfilment of God’s promise in his days. Starting with verse 27, Luke brought us to a God arranged meeting.  “27 Moved by the Spirit, he [Simeon] went into the temple courts” (Luke 2:27a).  On this day, when the time was right, God moved Simeon to the Temple.  The Holy Spirit was saying to Simeon, “Get up Simeon and go to the Temple.  Drop everything else you are doing or care to do and get there this moment.”  Now Simeon could have said to himself, “I am too tired.  I was just there yesterday.  I need to rest.  I need to be at home today.”  There are countless reasons why Simeon could have done something other than going to the Temple.  We are all faced with Simeon’s situation.  We feel moved to do something and yet there is that tug on our life saying, “Why bother? Don’t you want to do something else?” 

One time I was counseling a man.  Toward the end of our planned time together, I felt moved to ask some deeper questions about the subtle differences in the way he was acting that day. I knew these questions would be hard for the person to answer and that the questions would extend our time together. But this time, I followed the movement within me, silenced the other concerns in my mind, and asked those deeper questions.  The person revealed they were having deep and dark thoughts.  They had decided it would be all right if they took their own life. The person had a plan to use a very specific knife to open their veins and bleed to death.  He was ready.  We talked a bit and I asked if it would be all right if I kept this knife for them. I would keep the knife at the church and whenever they wanted the knife back, I would meet them at the church and return it to them.  The person thought for a moment and said that sounded like the right thing to do. Plans changed.  In that moment, nothing else was more important than to walk with this person.  I believe it was one of those moments in life in which I followed the leadership of the Holy Spirit and silenced the lesser concerns I had about the day.  I am sure there were many other days I chose not to following the Holy Spirits lead.  Simeon waited until God acted and then followed God’s lead.  Simeon made sure he did not linger and miss God in action by paying attention to the lesser things of life.

Simeon followed the leading of the Holy Spirit, and Luke wrote, “When the parents [Mary and Joseph] brought in the child Jesus to do for him [Jesus] what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him [Jesus] in his arms” (Luke 2:27b-28a). Just briefly, here again, the English translations seem less than what Luke may have intended when it says, “Simeon took him [Jesus] in his arms.”  The Greek word from which we get “took him” is δέχομαι, dekh'-om-ahee, which is more commonly translated as “received.”  Luke uses the word δέχομαι, dekh'-om-ahee several times in the gospel as people received Jesus and as people received God’s word.  So, it seems more appropriate here to see the picture as Simeon “received” the child “into his arms” and so the promise of Holy Spirit to Simeon that Simeon should see the Lord’s Messiah was fulfilled.  Mary had placed into Simeon’s arms and Simeon becomes the bearer of Christ.  This same picture is true of us when we accept Christ.

Simeon’s response in holding Jesus, the Messiah, Luke said was to respond by “praising God” and then Simeon began to prophesy, that is to speak the truth openly and publicly, as Simeon spoke these words to God: “29 Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, according to Your word; 30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation 31 Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, 32 A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel” (Luke 2:29-32).  Simeon was confident in his waiting that God would fulfill His promise of not just sending the Messiah, but that Simeon would live long enough to see the Messiah.

Can you image Simeon’s feelings at this moment as he held baby Jesus? Simeon must have experienced a wonderful sense of closeness to God and privilege to hold the Messiah.  Now, here is the thing.  We can share that same experience.  Jesus offers to you and me the privilege of receiving Jesus.  That is why Jesus came to earth.  Jesus says to us, “20 (ἰδού, id-oo) Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me” (Revelation 3:20).  Even Jesus himself says, “Behold,” pay most careful attention.

As Simeon who had received the Messiah, cradling Christ in his arms, was returning the baby to Mary, Luke wrote, “36 Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; 37 and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. 38 And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (Luke 2:36-38).  Anna, the woman our storyteller Luke paired with Simeon, came upon the scene and she too was able to discern that Jesus was the Messiah and she too prophesied, that is spoke the truth about what God was doing.  Anna observed that Mary and Joseph came to the temple to redeem Jesus as part of the ancient rituals, but it would be Jesus who would redeem all of Israel.  Anna no longer needed to wait because the Messiah had come.

The example Simeon and Anna should be on our minds as one-year ends and a new one begins.  Rather than a series of new year resolutions that few, if anyone keeps, we should simply ask ourselves one question, “What am I waiting for?”  God’s desire is that we would rejoice in his Messiah and live a righteous and devout life.  So, what thing, event, or information do you lack, that you are waiting upon, before receiving Jesus and his Holy Spirit?  Perhaps you have received Jesus but you are not living out are life in Christ to the fullest.  Ask then, “What am I waiting for?”  Maybe feel like you are living your life in Christ but you have never been baptized. Ask then, “What am I waiting for?” Perhaps, we do not really have any reason for our inaction other than we do not feel worth of Jesus.  We might think, as I once did, we need to get our lives in order and be better before accepting Jesus.  I need to be good so that my accepting Jesus makes sense to others. Friends, Jesus died for us when we are sinners.  Jesus came because none of us are good enough on our own.  There can be no reason to wait to get good because on our own we cannot. Ask then, “What am I waiting for?”

Let’s start the year like Simeon and Anna, willing to wait on God for him to lead and then following the leading of the Holy Spirit that we could receive Jesus the Messiah.  Let’s deal with the question, “What am I waiting for?”  Think about the question.  Talk to God about it.  But do not wait too long before getting up and receiving Jesus, becoming empowered by Him to live and share a righteous and devout life before God and others as we wait for Jesus to come again.  Amen and Amen.