THE MAN AND WOMAN WHO LINGERED
Luke 2:25-38
READ AT BEGINNING OF SERVICE:
Luke 2:21-39 (NIV)
21 On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. 22 When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, 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"), 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." 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 upon him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 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 now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared in the sight of all people, 32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to 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 prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, 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. 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. 39 When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.
INTRODUCTION
During my preparation for the Christmas Perspectives series of messages I came across a letter that really caught my eye. I saved it for today knowing that it would be the eve of Christmas. I’d like to begin today by reading this letter.
A letter to Santa:
Dear Santa Claus: You’ll probably be surprised to receive this letter from an adult. You may be even more surprised as you read it to find that the writer is neither a maiden aunt nor a disgruntled bachelor. I’m a young mother.
It isn’t my intention, Santa, to hurt your feelings. You see, my family has paid tribute to you for many past Christmases: my husband and I, when we were in our childhood, and now our children who are 6, 4 and 1. They still care for you. How much they care has really proved a problem in recent years. It is threatening to happen again this holiday season. Our children worship you. They speak of you constantly. They watch diligently for your December 25 appearance.
Can you tell us, Santa, what you have done to deserve this faithfulness from two generations? Can you promise any future consideration in exchange for past loyalties? During a family crisis, have you ever told us. "Lo, I am with you always?" Were you ever with us during sorrow to comfort us with these words: "But your sorrow will be turned into joy"? And, Santa, there have been doubtful times. Where were you? We didn’t hear from you the calming message, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
We have come to the conclusion that you have been even less than a friend should be. And we have been shortchanged. My three children have stood in a windy, cold Main Street just to get a glimpse of your jolly face. They have written heartfelt yearly letters. They have gone to department stores to whisper in your ear. They have worked hard at being good in anticipation of your Christmas Eve visit. Yes, they’ve done all this – as their father and I did before them.
But there’s going to be a change this Christmas. There isn’t going to be any Santa Claus worship in our home. We’ve decided to focus our attention and adoration on another Being – One who has stood by us the other 364 days this past year; One who has comforted us during the sorrowful and doubtful times – and, yes, the times of crisis also. It’s true that your name will probably be mentioned around our house, Santa. Old habits are hard to break abruptly. But Someone Else’s name will be mentioned much more often. The children will probably work just as hard at begin good, but I hope they will do it for another inducement – one that will last the whole year long – to bring glory to Another’s name. That other One has given us so much more – and not just on Christmas Eve!
You may call our family fickle, Santa, but we won’t mind. On this December 25, and all through the coming year, we want a Comforter, a Healer, a strengthening King. We don’t want a myth any longer. You see, our Christmas thoughts will revolve around a manger and a tiny Babe wrapped in swaddling clothes. We’ve talked it over. This year we’ve decided to give tribute, honor, and worship to Someone who really deserves them – to the True Giver – our God and Saviour.
Farewell, A Young Mother.
(by Ann Lamp, The Greenville News, Dec, 1972 – quoted in Autoillustrator.com, CHRISTMAS)This letter helps to give some insight into why this series of messages I’ve prepared needed to be preached. We live in a part of the world that places more emphasis on receiving than giving, tinsel than time with family, and Santa than Jesus. In the midst of the "good" things about Christmas we miss the most important – the BEST thing about Christmas – the birth of the saviour of mankind that signaled in a concrete way the love God has for each one of us.
I hope that your perspective on the Christmas Story has been altered a little bit over the past few weeks as we’ve seen the Christmas Story through the eyes of Mary and Joseph, the Shepherds, the Magi and King Herod. I’m going to continue in a moment with this series but before I do I’d like to refresh our memories as to how perspective affects our actions, our reactions and sometimes even our lack of action to circumstances, experiences and relationships with others.
As a child, I could always depend on my father to put life’s disasters into perspective, whether it was a broken leg or a broken heart. Years later I was devastated by a series of personal crises. Feeling helpless and overwhelmed, I spent my last $300 on a trip to Florida to see Dad. On the final evening of my visit we stood at the end of a jetty, watching the sun settle into the Gulf of Mexico. I could no longer contain my bitterness. "You know, Dad, if we could take all the great moments we experience in our lifetimes and put them back-to-back, they wouldn’t last twenty minutes." He responded simply, "Yup." I turned to him, stunned. He was still studying the sun that sat on the horizon. Then, looking evenly into my eyes, he added quietly, "Precious, aren’t they?" (Sean Cox, as reported in Reader’s Digest and quoted in Autoillustrator.com, PERSPECTIVE)Though there may be few precious moments in our life – our perspective on those precious moments alters the way we face the challenges of the rest of our life. The birth of Christ is a moment that is to often veiled in the covering of history and the curtain of sinful humanity. Yet, this moment is truly a precious moment for all of humanity. With the right perspective – this precious moment will change your life both here and now in this world and through all eternity.
Today we are going to look at the Christmas Story through they eyes of two people, a man and a woman, Simeon and Anna. I like to call them the man and woman who lingered.
Their story is found in Luke 2:25-38 and since it has already been read this morning I’m not going to read it again. However I would encourage you to open your Bible’s to these passages, as I will be referring to them as I go on.
This particular incidence in the events surrounding the birth of Christ is found following Luke’s account of the visit of the Shepherds. The event itself occurs while Joseph, Mary, and Jesus are in Jerusalem according to the requirements of Judaic Law. Jesus had been circumcised on the eighth day and we find Joseph and Mary in Jerusalem at the temple presenting Him to God in fulfillment of the Law. We can assume that that this particular story takes place before the visit of the Magi as we know that Matthew is very specific in his account about Jesus and family fleeing to Egypt and then returning to Galilee. Whereas here in Luke’s account we find that Joseph and Mary returned directly to Galilee which allows for some time to be spent in Bethlehem where they were visited by the Magi.So it is in the courts of the Temple of God that we find this particular story unfolding - in a city that is unaware, and amongst people that have no clue, EXCEPT for two. A man named Simeon and a woman named Anna.
The thing that stands out most about these two particular people included in the account of the birth of Christ is that both of them can be described as "lingerers". Can you get your mouth around that word? Try saying it three times really fast!
What do I mean by that? I mean that Simeon and Anna lingered, or waited or dwelt, or hung out - in the presence of God. And I believe that it was because of this that they were privileged to witness His physical presence found in the babe, Jesus.
SIMEON
Simeon is described in Verse 25 as a man who was righteous (or "just" in other translations) and devout. That is someone who obedient in his relationship to God, and loved it!
Simeon’s righteousness was not superficial or artificial but was of the kind that spoke of the presence of God in his life. In fact, later in the same verse we find recorded that the Holy Spirit was upon him. Clearly here was a man who fully believed in the promises of God and was ready to obey His Lord’s commands.
It is also recorded in verse 25 that Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel – that is, He was waiting for the Messiah. Further illumination to this is given later in verse 26 where we find that Simeon had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before He had seen the Christ.
Let think about this for a minute. Here we have a man who has for years served God wholeheartedly and obediently and he is told that He will not die before seeing the Christ. We don’t know when the Holy Spirit told this to Simeon. It could have been early in his life – it could have the day before this event. But what we do know that in response to this promise – Simeon waited, lingered, expectantly for it’s fulfillment. Simeon’s life purpose was to see the promised Messiah. And there was nothing that would give him a sense of completion in life until the promise was met.
Verse 27 tells us that Simeon was moved by the Holy Spirit to go to the Temple Courts. No doubt, as he went to the Temple that day he had no idea what this would be about. However, remember that Simeon is a lingerer! He went with a expectant heart for the promise of God. And then, in amongst the people there in the temple his eyes were directed to a man, a woman and an infant child. When the child was presented – Simeon took him in his arms and verse 28 says He praised God!
The first words out of Simeon’s mouth were – "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared in the sight of all people."
Simeon’s life purpose was fulfilled! He had seen the messiah – he had witnessed the promise of God for his life answered, completed. Simeon’s waiting was now over! His expectations were met!
ANNA
If we fast forward a little bit – we learn that there was another person in the temple courts that day who was aware of the drama unfolding in Simeon’s life.
Anna is described in verse 36 as a prophetess and a widow. Some background is given that tells us she had been a widow most of her life and was well along in years. What stands out in her story is found in verse 37, "She never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying."
Anna too was a lingerer. She lingered in a place of worship, and a place of prayer. The scriptures don’t say why she did this – they don’t say why she remained a widow for her life. But there is an important point here. I believe it was because of Anna’s persistence in worship and prayer and fasting (the ingredients of one who loves God and seeks after Him) that she was blessed to see the child who was her saviour.
Notice that verse 38 tells us that not only did she thank God but she proceeded to speak about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. In other words Anna and Simeon were the first people in the city of Jerusalem, the first of those waiting for their redemption, the first of those expecting and hoping for their redemption, the first lingerers to know the fulfillment of the promise of God. BUT NOT FOR LONG!
CONCLUSION
What does this mean for us in today’s world? How is Simeon and Anna’s perspective supposed to affect our perspective of the Christmas story?
Simply put, those who linger will experience the fulfillment of the promise of God in their lives! Those who wait on the Lord, those who are persistent in seeking after God WILL FIND HIM!
When Simeon and Anna saw the baby Jesus they rejoiced at the completion of God’s promise in their life. When you hear the Christmas story realize that it signifies the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s promise for your life. That He will be your Saviour, that He will never leave you nor forsake you, that He wants to have an intimate relationship with you and that He LOVES you.
In this season of Christmas there are often many things that tend to overwhelm us in the midst of the gift wrapping, and tree decorating and snow navigating. But I invite you this Christmas to take some time to linger – to wait on the Lord – and let Him overwhelm you instead of the world, instead of your problems, instead of your challenges. Let God overwhelm you with the force of his LOVE through the presence of His Son and by the comfort of His Spirit.
And just as Simeon and Anna were lingering and waiting for the first appearance of the Messiah two thousand years ago – we too can linger and hope for the second appearance of Jesus Christ in our world today. For Jesus is coming again.
The Lord Jesus Christ whom we exalt at Christmas is not just a baby in a manger. He is not a character in a children’s story. He is far more. The first time he came, he came veiled in the form of a child. The next time He comes, and we believe it will be soon, He will come unveiled, and it will be abundantly and immediately clear to all the world just who He really is. The first time He came, a star marked his arrival. The next time He comes, the whole heavens will roll up like a scroll, and all the stars will fall out of the sky, and He himself will light it. The first time He came, wise men and shepherds brought Him gifts. The next time He comes, He will bring gifts, rewards for His own. The first time He came, there was no room for Him. The next time he comes, the whole world will not be able to contain His glory. The first time He came, only a few attended His arrival – some shepherds and some wise men. The Next time He comes, every eye shall see Him. The first time He came as a baby. Soon He will come as sovereign King and Lord. (Autoillustrator.com, CHRISTMAS)PRAY.
This sermon was preached by Darren Ethier at Hanover Pentecostal Church on December 24,2000. This message is Part 4 of the sermon series: Christmas Perspectives. All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated are taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, Copyright © 1873, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.
