Read: Luke 2:22-40
Simeon . . . was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel. (v. 25)
This is our eleventh and final day of reflections from Luke. We have spent more time here than in the other three Gospels because Luke has so much more to tell us about the months surrounding Jesus’ birth. Today we come to a story that pushes us out from the usual boundaries of Advent and Christmas, but we will look at it because it rounds out Luke’s narration.
Jesus was now forty days old, and Mary’s time of post-birth purification was complete such that she and Joseph could go to the temple to dedicate their child to God. They brought the poor person’s sacrifice of a pair of birds. All was proceeding as usual when suddenly an old man shuffled forward. Simeon was his name and, full of the Holy Spirit, he knew he would not die until the Messiah came, until the “consolation of Israel” would arrive.
I imagine Simeon’s eyes glazed by cataracts yet seeing more deeply than most what this child would mean for the world. He spoke words of promise but also of peril. A woman named Anna soon came too and seemed to know a lot about who this baby was going to be, speaking prophetic words to everyone there.
It was all quite remarkable. Mary tucked it all away in her heart and then waited to see how it would all unfold. —Scott Hoezee
As you pray, thank God for the consolation we all have through Jesus.
About the Author
Scott Hoezee is an ordained pastor in the Christian Reformed Church of North America. He served two Michigan congregations from 1990-2005 and since 2005 has been a faculty member at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he serves chiefly as the Director of The Center for Excellence in Preaching. He is the author of several books, including most recently Why We Listen to Sermons (Calvin Press 2019) and is the co-host of the “Groundwork” radio program.
