We have just come through the Christmas Season and we have encountered all of
the familiar characters – the shepherds – the angels – and the Magi whom we learned
about last week. Today I want to introduce or reintroduce Simeon to you this morning. I
believe he is the ultimate unknown and unsung hero of the Christmas story.
You see - Simeon, forty days after the birth of Christ – was the first person – to
publically and verbally recognized that Jesus was the savior of both Israel and the
Gentiles. Simeon saw the Christ child months and months before the magi adored him as
King.
But Poor Simeon is never found on a Christmas card. There is never a picture of
Simeon holding the baby Jesus with a caption of Merry Christmas at the top and the
words in side wishing you the revelation of the Christmas Child.
– there is not one Christmas Carol about him. No God rest ye Merry Simeon – May
nothing you dismay – for Christ the son of Mary is revealed to you today.
Even in the more “upbeat” Christmas Carol – The First Noel – with all its verses where they mention Angels, poor shepherds, the Christmas star, Three wise men,
Bethlehem, gifts of gold and myrrh and frankincense, there is not one mention of poor
Simeon…although the end of each verse of the carol we sing “Born is the King of Israel!”,
the proclamation of the prophetic messiah…who Simeon declares in the temple.
But Simeon represents for us - the connection between Jesus and his Jewish
heritage, especially that of the fulfillment of the prophetic coming of the Messiah as
promised by Isaiah:
"I will ALSO give You as a light to the Gentiles,
That You should be My Salvation
to the ends of the Earth."
(Isaiah 49:6)
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Simeon was a man who was filled by the Holy Spirit. It was the Holy Spirit who had
revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he had seen Israel’s Messiah. It was also
the Holy Spirit that directed Simeon to the temple on the particular day that Mary and
Joseph brought Jesus to be presented to the Lord and it was the Spirit of God who
revealed to Simeon that this child was indeed the Messiah.
And on this day after a lifetime of looking, Simeon walks into the Temple and he
sees a poor couple, a carpenter from Nazareth and his wife. They had a child, a tiny one--just a little over a month old. Immediately the Holy Spirit set of an alarm off in Simeon's
head. THAT'S THE ONE! THAT'S HIM! Simeon did not question this by looking only at
the outward appearance. He did not say, "But, God, how can THIS be Your Messiah? I
expected somebody much more important than this!" No, he humbly accepted the
revelation as God gave it to him.
He walked over and, or maybe he ran over he was so excited, and introduced
himself to Mary and Joseph, asked, "May I hold the child?" OKAY – looking at one
another - they hesitantly agreed. Simeon knew what God was doing because he had
read what the prophets had written. Recognizing Jesus as the Messiah, this elderly man
took the child in his arms and blessed God. After a lifetime of seeking the Messiah, we
can hardly imagine his joy. Think of it, Simeon knew that God held him in the palm of His
hand, now he held God in his arms!
And then, with the Salvation of the world held in his hands, Simeon broke forth into
HIS SONG OF CHRISTMAS:
29"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
You now dismiss your servant in peace.
30For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
32a light for revelation to the Gentiles
And for glory to your people Israel."
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That was the Simeon Moment for Israel and the Gentiles.
Jesus was born in a Jewish religious setting to fulfill the expectation of devout
Jews, such as Simeon; and he was first and foremost the Messiah – the delivery of
Israel. But he is also as the Saviour for all mankind. Simeon, the devout one of Israel
confirms this here. The Messiah, as Israel’s King, who would “sit on the throne of His
father David,” was Israel’s glory, but the Messiah was also a “light of revelation to the
Gentiles.”
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Yet there are those who believe that God has revealed many paths to him, and that
because we live in a pluralistic religious world should recognize this. The argument goes
something like this – we live in a pluralistic society – there are many religions – those
who wrote the early accounts of Christ did so from a narrow Jewish or Gentile group
perspective – they did not see the whole picture revealed to us today. This is not the
case however.
The Roman Society of Jerusalem was perhaps even more religious pluralistic than
Canadian society is today. There were hundreds of Roman cults to various Gods, based
on similar numbers of Greek cults based on their own sets of Gods, there were Eastern
religions, and there were numerous tribal pagan beliefs around the border areas of the
Roman Empire. Roman religion came to encompass and absorb hundreds of other
religions. It is into this pluralism of competing faiths - God sends Jesus – Jesus enters
into this world with one simple truth.
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"I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through
me.” A promise for all – no matter their faith background – if they come to believe in
Jesus as their savior – will be with God.
Simeon recognized His Lord in an amazing way. If we believe as Simeon did that
Jesus is “our salvation,” we understand the transformational power of being a follower of
the Christ.
We can also see in the life of Simeon a man of faith and incredible patience. Let’s
think about this for a moment – here is a man – who was very elderly – who has spent his
entire life waiting for the Messiah to be revealed to him. His life speaks of the incredible
patience the man had for God to reveal his promise. Do we have the same patience? In
our world of instant gratification we are told three clicks on a mouse and anything can be
yours. Or go to a store and buy happiness. In Simeon’s example we see the innermost
spiritual truths – of a Messiah – have been revealed, in patience, in faith.
How many of you have heard of Israel Bissell?
How many of us know the words of this poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow:
Listen my children and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere?
But Paul Revere was not alone in that famous ride. Four men started the famous
ride in April 75 to warn of the coming redcoats – one if by sea and two if by land. Paul
Revere - well made it as far as Concord around twenty miles from his starting point.
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Bissell – however - got on his horse on April 19, 1775 and rode for four days
passing the word that the Red Coats were coming.
He rode from Watertown,
Massachusetts through Connecticut, down through New York, over to New Jersey, then
into Pennsylvania where he finally stopped in Philadelphia. A total of 345 miles. With the
word officially out to everyone, Bissell took a nap (he'd gone without sleep for nearly four
days). As for Paul Revere - the following morning in Concord he began his ride with two
others - Dawes and Prescott – but they were arrested just outside of town and sent back
to Boston. Israel Bissell, who was like Simeon – was Jewish, did not get the lead in the
poem – it did not go - Listen my children and you shall hear of the midnight ride of Israel
Bissell…it just didn’t sound the same or perhaps it was more than his name.
Nonetheless it was Bissell and not Paul Revere who warned the American Patriots
that the British were coming. But history does not mention him.
Likewise it is the Magi and not Simeon who our tradition presents as the first
gentiles to recognize Jesus as the savior of the whole world – but it was our unsung hero
- Simeon – who first confirmed and proclaimed Jesus as our Saviour.
But If Simeon, this stalwart of the faith of the Jews, was able, with the power of the
Holy Spirit to see Jesus as the Messiah, why were the priests of the temple not interested
– or why did others not see the same? The reason may be – as it would be for us if we
encountered the same event in our time and place, that if Jesus were recognized as the
Messiah this would make the hopeful believers accountable to the Messiah and more so
ultimately to God. This was perhaps why the priests of the temple resisted finding the
Messiah.
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And this brings us to the question – Do we recognize Jesus as the only meaningful,
enduring source of satisfaction and salvation available to us?
An even harder question for us to answer is – are we hungry enough for Jesus in
our lives? Are we as excited and satisfied for Jesus as Simeon was? Or are we satisfied
by something else –empty spiritual or consumer calories which make us feel good for the
moment and let us down at life’s end?
Do we recognize Jesus as Simeon recognized him? Do we have our own personal
Simeon moment’s?
Let’s us recapture the revelation of the unsung hero Simeon - the revelation of the
salvation of God. Let us open up to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives and may God
help each one of us find the revelation of Jesus Christ in our lives on each day of the
coming year! Amen
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