Simeon's Song
Luke 2:25-26 "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. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.”
There is a movie that has been out for some time called “The Bucket List”. A corporate billionaire and working-class mechanic have nothing in common except for their terminal illnesses. While sharing a hospital room together, they decide to leave, and do all the things they have ever wanted to do before they die. They wrote their dreams down and called it their bucket list. In the process of doing them, both find some healing with each other, become unlikely friends, and ultimately find joy in life.
That concept does have us wondering what would you like to see or do before you die? As we will be approaching a new year, many make of resolutions of things we might want to accomplish or things they want to change about ourselves and even dreams we want to fulfill. We know we will never accomplish some of the dreams we have due to finances, health, and some things that were once interesting to us are no longer. But other things become more important.
I’d like to visit the Grand Canyon and complete visiting every state in the union. We have only a couple of states in the South we haven’t seen yet.
This week I want to look at Simeon who had one thing on his bucket list. Before he died, God promised he would see the Messiah, the One promised thousands of years ago to the Hebrew people who would come to redeem them and be their savior.
Mary and Joseph went to the temple, the place of God’s presence, the most holy place for the Jews. They make this journey possibly from Bethlehem rather than travel to Nazareth for very good reason. A woman is considered unclean for seven days and must remain in the house for another 33 days after the birth of a male child. So, perhaps on the 40th day, since it was their custom to have a purification sacrifice. They made the five-mile journey from Bethlehem to Jerusalem with Jesus, to go through two ceremonies. The first was Mary’s purification rite following childbirth, (which is described in the Old Testament in Leviticus 12. There, a sacrifice was to be made. Often a lamb was sacrificed, but if the individual could not afford a sheep, two doves or pigeons could be offered instead.) Apparently because they didn't have much money, Mary and Joseph brought two birds.
The second reason for coming to the temple was to consecrate, dedicate, their firstborn son to God, just as it had been done in Exodus 13, and much like we do in our church today when we dedicate a baby to the Lord. It was in this setting they met the old man, Simeon.
This week we wind down our Christmas celebration of songs and look at Simeon's song in the temple when Jesus was dedicated unto the Lord in an official way. It was a song of praise that Simeon was granted such a tremendous honor of seeing the Messiah.
