Simeon’s Song
Text: Luke 2:23–40
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord, Jesus Christ. On this First Sunday after Christmas which also happens to be the last day of 2023, Simeon’s Song puts the hope that we all have into words. We all know that New Year’s resolutions are almost always destined to fail, but we do often think about how we’d like the next twelve months to look and where we’d like to be by the end of the following year.
Simeon, though, shows us how to think about the long term rather than just the next twelve months. Simeon’s words of praise and expressions of hope remind us of the eternal perspective that the Holy Spirit gives us, and what kind of difference that makes to our short time on earth.
God’s salvation looks bleak.
In his gospel account, Luke is careful not to get too carried away with the positives of the Messiah’s arrival in the world. He doesn’t reflect a romantic or even a particularly optimistic view of Jesus’ life and mission.
Mary and Joseph bring Jesus to the temple forty days after he is born along with the appropriate offering of a pair of turtledoves, which Luke is very careful to point out. Just because he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of a virgin, and arrived in the world to angelic choirs and his very own star in the sky, Jesus’ parents recognised that their baby boy was not above the law.
As a new parent, I am very quickly learning that any parent raises their children based on how their parents raised them. We resort to what we know from our own experience and either reflect it in our own practice or react strongly against it, depending on how that experience was for you.
Mary and Joseph were a young couple (so young that they hadn’t even had a chance to be married yet) from a small town who were trying to do their best. You can imagine the pressure they probably felt in raising the Saviour of the world!
Even though Jesus arrived in the world to songs of praise, there were still the realities of everyday life to deal with. Luke is quick to point out for us that the same goes for Jesus’ life and mission.
As Simeon holds the baby Jesus in his arms, he praises him as God’s salvation in the flesh. The baby has done nothing at all so far except cry, feed, sleep, and poo, but the Spirit has helped Simeon to realise what this child will go on to do, not only for Israel, but for the whole world.
This work of bringing salvation to the world will not come easily. After blessing the child, which Mary and Joseph are amazed to witness, Simeon gives Jesus’ young parents a word of warning as well:
“This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
Lk. 2:34–35
These aren’t just Simeon’s ideas, but the truth behind so many of the prophecies about the Messiah, particularly from Isaiah. He will be the stone the builders rejected and the silently suffering servant. Jesus is destined to rise and become Israel’s glory, but only by falling first.
We all fall and rise with Jesus.
This is a reality check for everyone who calls themselves a follower of Jesus. Paul says that followers of Jesus are destined to die with him before also rising with him. Simeon and Anna rejoiced when they met Jesus for themselves, but only because they had been patiently enduring the suffering that the whole nation of Israel was experiencing.
Jesus’ arrival at the temple that day did not guarantee an end to that suffering right then and there, but it means that God has begun to deliver on his great promise to console and redeem Israel, along with the whole world. That is enough for Simeon to declare, “Take me whenever you want, Lord! You promised I would see the Messiah, and now I have. The purpose you gave me is complete.”
That is the eternal perspective that we all have as Christians. Jesus’ arrival in the world at Christmas and the cross and grave of Easter are all in the past historically—we know they have already happened—but we are also called to trust in God’s promise that he will return to complete all things. In the meantime, we wait with Simeon and Anna in patient hope.
While we wait, this life is a rollercoaster of falling and rising with Christ. You fell as soon as you were born because you were born in sin. You then fell even further when you were drowned in baptism, but then your first resurrection took place when you were reborn in Christ and gifted with his Spirit. Ever since that day, every day and every week is a story of falling and being raised again in Christ. Hence the importance of weekly worship where sin is forgiven, and you are reassured of God’s promises to you.
God’s salvation looked bleak at first because, for Jesus, it involved rejection, suffering, and even a criminal’s death. But we know the end of the Easter story: victory over death and Christ rising again in glory. We, as his baptised children, daily fall and rise with Jesus until he raises us up for the final time in eternity with him. That is the glory of Israel that Simeon sees in this child, Jesus. He knows what this child will bring not only to Israel, but all nations.
Everyone has a part in God’s story.
The beginning of Luke’s gospel introduces us to a whole cast of people with different stories and backgrounds. Mary is the young woman who faithfully agrees to being a part of a miracle birth and mothering God’s own Son. Joseph is the young man who is put in a tricky situation but also shows obedience to God’s will.
The shepherds are just minding their own business and doing humble work when they are abruptly included in the story and become the first witnesses of the Saviour’s birth. King Herod knows the power that Jesus has is threatened by it.
Simeon and Anna are the faithful servants who have suffered for a long time with the hope that God will deliver on his promises.
I like to think that Luke is trying to help his readers see that they can identify with someone and realise that they, too, have a part in God’s story of salvation. That salvation is not just a realisation or a nice thing to talk about. It is a calling on our life, or a vocation.
British theologian N.T. Wright puts it beautifully:
“For some, it will be active, obvious, working in the public eye, perhaps preaching the gospel, or taking the love of God to meet the practical needs of the world. For others, it will be quiet, away from public view, praying faithfully for God to act in fulfilment of his promises. For many, it will be a mixture of the two, sometimes one, sometimes the other.
Mary and Joseph needed Simeon and Anna at that moment; the old man and old woman needed them, had been waiting for them, and now thanked God for them. The births of John the Baptist and Jesus are already beginning their work, of drawing people of all sorts into new worship and fellowship.”
Whatever God’s salvation looks like for your life, know that you have a part in that story. It’s not all smooth sailing, just like it wasn’t for Jesus, but the end result of being in God’s presence for eternity is infinitely more important than any new years resolution, self-improvement plan, or career aspiration.
God has prepared his salvation in the presence of all people. By the Spirit, may we share in Simeon’s eternal perspective, knowing that Jesus comforts and redeems all his people, which is more than enough for us.
May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.
