Day 2311 – Characters of Christmas-10 The Oldest Bucket List: Simeon and Anna

Welcome to Day 2311 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
The Characters of Christmas-10  The Oldest Bucket List: Simeon and Anna – Daily Wisdom
Putnam Church Message – 12/31/2023

The Characters of Christmas – The Oldest Bucket List: Simeon and Anna

Last week, during our blessed Christmas Eve service, we looked at The Misfits of Christmas with Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba, and Ruth and came to the understanding that in Christ, we are all designed to bring others into the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ our Savior.

This week, as we reflect back on 2023 and look forward with hope and anticipation to 2024, we will look into the lives of two devout persons who have been waiting all of their lives for the coming Messiah in a message titled, The Oldest Bucket List: Simeon and Anna.

Today's scripture passage is Luke 2:21-38 on pages 1591-1592, in your Pew Bibles.

21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Jesus Presented in the Temple

22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of> Moses, Joseph and Mary took him 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”[a]), 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.”[b]

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss[c] your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”

33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined

Welcome to Day 2311 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me.
This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom
The Characters of Christmas-10  The Oldest Bucket List: Simeon and Anna – Daily Wisdom
Putnam Church Message – 12/31/2023

The Characters of Christmas – The Oldest Bucket List: Simeon and Anna

Last week, during our blessed Christmas Eve service, we looked at The Misfits of Christmas with Tamar, Rahab, Bathsheba, and Ruth and came to the understanding that in Christ, we are all designed to bring others into the Kingdom of God through Jesus Christ our Savior.

This week, as we reflect back on 2023 and look forward with hope and anticipation to 2024, we will look into the lives of two devout persons who have been waiting all of their lives for the coming Messiah in a message titled, The Oldest Bucket List: Simeon and Anna.

Today's scripture passage is Luke 2:21-38 on pages 1591-1592, in your Pew Bibles.

21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise the child, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he was conceived.

Jesus Presented in the Temple

22 When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of> Moses, Joseph and Mary took him 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”[a]), 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.”[b]

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:

29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you may now dismiss[c] your servant in peace.
30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and the glory of your people Israel.”

33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

36 There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.[d] She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.

We all have hopes and aspirations that we want to accomplish. One such story is that at the tender young age of ninety, the late President George H. W. Bush strapped himself to Sgt. First Class Mike Elliot, a member of the Army's Golden Knights parachute team, and jumped out of an airplane near his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine.

 

Bush, a former World War II fighter pilot, was fulfilling a series of promises he had made to himself—this one a vow to go skydiving in his nineties. This jump was made a bit easier. After all, he was a veteran skydiver after taking the leap at ages eighty and eighty-five!

 

You are probably not necessarily dreaming of falling out of an airplane at a ridiculously high altitude, on purpose. However, some of you have done so. If I were to ask you, you probably have your dreams you'd like to see fulfilled by the time you leave this earth. I know I have a very long list of what I would still like to accomplish if God permits, or if Christ does not return to complete God’s kingdom. With the advancements in medical technology, it is not out of the realm of possibility of living to 120 or more. The question is, how can we impact the Kingdom of God in the next several decades?

 

Like President Bush, we all have a bucket list. Since the 2007 movie starring Morgan Freeman and Jack Nicholson, this idea of a list of high-value experiences, to be completed before we “kick the bucket," has become part of our cultural lingo. What is on your bucket list?

 

I’ll admit that my list has changed somewhat over the years and is now more focused on what significance I can bring to those in my world, as opposed to how much worldly success I can achieve.

 

In the first century, they didn't call it a bucket list, and Morgan Freeman wasn't there to narrate the high jinks, but the same poignant desires that inspired these dreams were present in human hearts. And in the Christmas story, Luke records the longings of two otherwise ordinary people.

 

A Common Ceremony

Simeon and Anna make their cameo appearance at an otherwise common Jewish purification ritual. Today, we put Mary and Joseph in spotlights,/ adorning our nativity sets and Christmas cards. But in this first century, Luke peels back the curtain on an otherwise ordinary day. No spotlights. No press releases. There is no TV coverage.

 

To outside observers, Mary and Joseph were just another Jewish family showing up at the temple for the purification rite. They were following the Jewish law. Eight days after birth, Jesus was circumcised, and thirty-three days after circumcision, Mary and Jesus were back here in the temple for the purification ceremony and the presentation of their child to the Lord for His service.

 

But here is where this moment is anything but ordinary. That baby, after all, is the Son of God,/ the One whose words breathed out creation,/ sculpted Adam and Eve from the dust of the ground, /and breathed into His own parents the breath of life. Jesus was publicly identifying with His people, Israel, by submitting to the circumcision. Jesus, perfectly submitting to the Law that only He could perfectly fulfill, the spotless One identifying with the impure so that Mary, Joseph, Simeon, Anna, and all true believers might one day become pure.

 

Mary and Joseph carried with them two turtledoves (pigeons) as part of the sacrifice offering. There is, of course, deep irony here. Though they carried the Lamb of God in their arms, they were too poor to purchase a lamb and had to settle for the lesser turtledoves. It reminds us of the kind of people among whom God chose to dwell. The kingdom of Christ breaks in, not in the palaces or private estates of the powerful, but among the common, the meek, the kind of people who had to dig for enough shekels to afford turtledoves. And the baby held so tightly in their arms would one day become the perfect sacrifice for sins that these slain animals symbolized, the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the world.

 

A People Who Were Ready

But here’s the thing. Nobody in the temple that day was looking for a Christ child. Nobody was seeking a Savior. Nobody expected, on this of all days, a moment that would be written down later in ink by Dr. Luke and preserved as Scripture for us to read today. There was a heaviness in Jerusalem that day, and most days. It had been centuries since God had spoken directly to His people. And every time Jewish people trudged past their temple (waving the Roman Flag), they had to see the Roman flag, flying high above their land, a visual slap in the face reminding them of their lost glory.

 

Would-be messiahs had come and gone. Now, they were ruled by men like Herod,/ whose corrupt ascension to power and ruthless leadership further disillusioned ordinary Jews. None of them realized the solution for the corruption in Rome, /the misconduct in Herod’s palace,/ and the sin in their own hearts /was resting in a carpenter's arms, just a few feet away.

 

Even the religious elites in this temple, who pored over the ancient books and prided themselves on knowing every last arcane point of theology, were oblivious to Jesus.

But among the crowds that day,/ not among the waiting parents,/not among the religious leaders,/ was a mysterious old man and a mysterious old woman. Unlike their peers, the cynics, and religious leaders, Anna and Simeon held on to a seemingly impossible wish (their bucket list) grounded in a radical faith in the Scriptures' promise of a coming Messiah. Would God appear in the flesh in their day?

Though most missed the signs /and the prophecies/ and the star./ Though many dismissed the frenzied tales of those shepherds./ Though even the authorities ignored the searching of the traveling Eastern mystics,/ Anna and Simeon waited and believed.

They studied the Scriptures and the prophecies. But more than that, they listened to the voice of God's Spirit.

Who Is Simeon?

So who is this Simeon character who appears from the shadows, into the gospel story? Interestingly, we still don't know who Simeon was over two thousand years later. Luke wrote his eyewitness account meticulously and thought only one thing mattered in Simeon's bio: (v25) “righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.”

We don't know anything about his family. We don't know what town he was born in. We don't even know his occupation. All the markers we use to describe ourselves and those we befriend are gone. Only one thing mattered to Luke: Simeon was a faithful follower of Yahweh who, unlike those around him, still believed God would work to save His people.

Simeon believed the promise of a coming Servant-King, /the son of David,/ threaded throughout the law and the prophets./ He may not have understood everything he read,/ but he knew enough to believe./ Simeon knew sufficient to listen to the Holy Spirit's whisper and was more in tune with God than the scholars paid to study and the scribes paid to teach.

 

Imagine the scene in the temple that day. An old man, stooped and graying, came daily to the temple, expecting the Messiah. The religious people probably think he's an eccentric. They make jokes behind his back. There's Simeon. He thinks the Lord is coming today!

Every day, he scans the crowd. Every day, he asks the Lord, “Is this baby the one?” The Lord says, “No, Simeon, this is not the one.”

 

And then, finally, one day, the Spirit of God whispers those words: This is the day. This is the One. You will meet the Son of God.

 

Perhaps Simeon was reminded of how Israel's last great king was chosen. A similarly aging man, Samuel, of faith, approached Jesse's lineup of young men, asking the Lord, Is this the next king? And the Spirit answers Samuel, each time, No, this isn't the one. Finally, David, the unlikely shepherd boy, summoned from the shepherds' fields, enters.

Yes, this is the next king of Israel.

 

Imagine how Simeon's aging heart leaped within him. “Can I hold your child?" he asks. And in his arms, Simeon carries the frail, newborn baby whose arms would one day carry Simeon from sin to salvation. He looks into the eyes of his tiny Savior, the same Jesus who holds up the universe with His power.

 

What wells up in Simeon’s heart were words he had been preparing to share his entire life. A prayer that has been memorized, sung, and framed from caves to cathedrals throughout church history from Luke 2:29-32:

“Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised.
I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!”

 

I can die because I've seen Your salvation. This, for Simeon, was no ordinary baby. He would be not only Simeon's salvation but the salvation of the world, people from every nation, tribe, and tongue. This is the One of whom God spoke to Abraham, when He promised that the patriarch's heir would bless the nations. This is the One of whom God spoke to David when He promised the monarch an everlasting kingdom. This is the One of whom the prophets spoke, a Lion of the tribe of Judah, a suffering Servant, a conquering King. Simeon had met Jesus, and Simeon was ready to die. (His bucket list was fulfilled)

 

Death, of course, is a strange subject for Christmas. It doesn't make for heartwarming holiday entertainment. But Simeon knew he could face death —something every one of us will face one day—because he met the One who has conquer death.

 

There is so much for us to learn from Simeon's life. His perseverance, attentive listening to God in a cynical age, and worship of the baby Jesus. But what is most important about Simeon—and you and me—was his relationship with Jesus. Simeon could die, not because he checked off the right religious boxes or performed all the outward rituals of the Jewish faith, but because he put his faith in the God-man.

As we reflect on this, I can't help but wonder and pray that we, too, have peace with God. You and I, like Simeon, can be unafraid of death because you can know and understand that this baby is the triumphant, conquering Jesus whose own death and resurrection defeated sin, death, and the grave.

 

Don't misunderstand: Simeon wasn't seeking death. And neither should we. But there is a sweet assurance in knowing that when our time comes, whether tomorrow or in fifty years, we can face death with peace because we know the Prince of Peace.

 

In my experience, the people who are most full of life, who walk through every day with joy and energy, are those who are most at peace with their own mortality, who understand that this baby in the manger we celebrate at Christmas defeated the grave. This is why Paul could say, of his contentment in Philippians 1:21, For to me, living means living for Christ, and dying is even better. Either way, he has peace, and Christ is glorified.

 

This is the central message of Christmas. No doubt today, as we conclude the warmth and busyness of another December, as we enjoy the season, let us remember that we set aside time, as believers, not merely to gather with family or to sip warm beverages, but to acknowledge the central truth of Christianity: Jesus has come to save us from our sins.

 

This Jesus, Simeon knew, wasn't just an ordinary baby. He may not have understood precisely how it would all play out, nor did he fully grasp the mystery of God becoming human (neither do we). But Simeon knew enough to know that Jesus would not only be the long-awaited Messiah every Jewish person longed to see; He would be “a light for the Gentiles.” This is often repeated in the gospel narratives of Jesus' birth./ In Mary's song. /In Zechariah's praise./ In the words of the angel to Joseph.

 

Jesus was and is a Savior for the entire world. We need to understand this truth. Sometimes, we are tempted to think Jesus came only to save people who look like us. Still, we are told, from the promise to Abraham in Genesis through the words of the prophets and on into the gospel narratives and on through the letters of Paul and into John's vision in Revelation, that the kingdom of God is made up of people from every nation, tribe, and tongue.

 

And let's not forget the tremendous cost of our salvation. This day in the temple was a day of celebration and dedication, but Simeon's words were not all pleasant for Mary to hear, especially his proclamation in verse 35 And a sword will pierce your own soul too. (Mary’s soul) This is not what new mothers want to hear about their motherhood, but Simeon knew that the promise carried joy and pain, blessing and anguish. The baby whom Simeon held, who cooed and kicked and delighted his young parents, would one day endure the unjust trial, motivated by bloodthirsty crowds. The very people He formed as Creator would laugh at His cries of pain. The world He came to save would send Him to His death. Most of all, the Father with whom He communed in all eternity would see His Son not as the pure and spotless Lamb, but as the embodiment of all the sin and anguish of a rebellious human race.

 

This sword was Mary's unique calling. One day, she would kneel at the foot of an ugly Roman instrument of execution: a cross. One day, she would weep, with the others, as He lay dead in a borrowed tomb. One day, she would question, fear, and doubt the angel’s promise.

 

Simeon's word to Mary was rooted in the prophet's vision of a coming King who would both suffer and conquer, who would reign over His enemies and yet be pierced for the transgressions of His people. This is why Christmas is wonderful yet violent, far from the sentimental holiday we often celebrate. The kingdom of God was to first come through the violent death of the Son of God.

 

But Mary, like all of those who believe, could find hope that the baby she held would not only pay for the sins of those who nailed Him to the cross, but would...