Luke 2:25-35 – Narnia: When Aslan Comes in Sight
Tonight I’d like to continue on in our series on walking in the Spirit (#7 by now). In fact, the Bible says that the Holy Spirit was upon this man who happens to be our main topic for the evening. We are going to read Luke 2:25-33.
Now, in addition to continuing on in our walking in the Spirit series, it also fits nicely with something I spoke about last week, that is, the Chronicles of Narnia. Last week we ate chocolate – Turkish delight – and looked at the dangers of sin, with truths from the Bible and highlighted by parts from the book, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Let me go back and refresh your memory. Narnia is another world, separate from ours, and the doorway to it is a big walk-in closet. Four children, brothers and sisters – Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy Pevensie – all stumble into this place called Narnia. Now, the climate in Narnia is winter. It’s always winter and never Christmas, a very bleak place to be. That’s because the land is under the spell of the evil White Witch Jadis. She has kept the land under her icy spell for very long, and the Narnians have grown tired of her magic. They are longing to be set free from Jadis’ spell.
Well, help is on the way. The 4 children find a talking beaver, or rather, he found them. Mr.Beaver calls them to his side, whispering to them. And he says these words: “They say Aslan is on the move – perhaps has already landed.”
Now, I’d like to read to you from p67-68 from LWW, showing us the different reactions to the name “Aslan”.
Well, after this the 4 children go to Mr. and Mrs.Beaver’s house for supper. After supper, the beavers begin to tell the tale of Aslan. They say, “Aslan is on the move.” Aslan is the King and the Lord of the whole wood, Narnia, but he isn’t always there. But the word is, Aslan is back, or at least on his way back.
And he would fix the situation in Narnia. The Witch, whose favorite tactic is turning people and creatures to stone, can’t do that to Aslan. There’s an old saying, “Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.”
You see, Aslan is a lion. He’s the King of the Beasts. He’s a great Lion. Now, Susan asks the beavers, “Is he safe?” Mrs.Beaver says, “If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just sill.”
Lucy asks, “Then he isn’t safe?”
And Mr.Beaver says this famous line about Aslan: “Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”
This is the King. Certainly not safe, but most certainly good. And when he arrives, he will dispel the winter and bring in the spring and break the Witch’s curse and bring new life.
This sounds a lot like Simeon’s attitude in our scripture passage tonight. Now, we don’t know a lot about Simeon. Apparently there was nothing special about Simeon that qualified him to take up the baby Jesus in his arms and bless Him. As far as we know, he wasn’t an ordained religious leader, and he had no credentials or special authority.
What we know is that he was simply a “just and devout” man who had a close walk with the Holy Spirit. His name means, “God hears”, and it seems to fit who Simeon was. You see, God honors those who engage in lifetimes of quiet prayer and constant watchfulness. Simeon was a man of patient faith, yet his wait for the Messiah must have seemedas if it would never end. He likely had a lot of opportunities for doubt. After all, over the years, would-be Messiahs sounded false alarms in the land. Many people over the years would rise up from among the people, call themselves God’s gift to mankind, and try to overthrow the ruling government. They never succeeded.
So here was Simeon, slowly patiently waiting for God’s saving power to come into action. And somehow, when Simeon saw the baby Jesus, he just knew, “That’s the One!” He and the Holy Spirit had a special relationship, so when the Spirit told him the news, Simeon knew and believed. The Spirit prompted him to go to the Temple, and there was the Messiah, all wrapped up as a baby.
So Simeon praised God for answered promises, and Simeon said he was now ready to die. That reminds me of Paul who said, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.” Paul was ready to go, and so was Simeon.
The old man also knew that the baby would not make things easy on Mary and Joseph. He knew that things would be very difficult on Mary, and they were. Mary watched her own innocent son die a horrible death, for no apparently good reason. I mean, the reason was wonderful, but I wonder if Mary knew that at the time. When did she realize that her son Jesus would become the Suffering Servant of Isaiah 53? When did she know He would die for her sins? Did she understand it all as a new mom? Even if she knew her son was the Anointed One, the Christ, the Chosen One of God’s plans of redemption, did she know that meant death? Maybe, maybe not. Good questions anyway.
So here’s Simeon, holding the Christ child, blessing the baby Jesus, who would in turn bless the whole world. Now, I want to draw attention to one phrase about Simeon. The NIV says he was waiting. The English word doesn’t really do the phrase justice. The NLT says Simeon “eagerly expected” the Messiah. The Living Bible says he was “constantly expecting” the Messiah. The Phillips Bible says Simeon was “living in eager expectation of the salvation of Israel.” And the Jerusalem Bible says Simeon “looked forward” to Jesus’ comforting His people.
The phrase in Greek carries a lot of meaning. A literal translation makes it sound a little cluttered, but it sounds wonderful. The word in this passage is “prosdechomai”. The word literally means, “waiting forward.” Simeon was waiting forwardly for the Messiah.
Both words are important. It’s not about standing around and doing nothing – like a waiting room. Simeon was actively listening, watching, hoping, praying. He was not at the water cooler with his hands in his pockets, just standing around, hoping that something spiritual would happen to him. No, Simeon was waiting, and he was waiting forwardly, constantly looking ahead.
It’s the same word for us in Luke 12:35-37. Jesus tells us to be like servants who are waiting. The servants were ready and waiting. They were looking forward to being with the master. And Jesus says that we should be the same. Part of walking in the Spirit is listening to Him when He prompts us to do something. Part of walking in the Spirit is waiting forwardly for God to move around us. Keeping our eyes open and ears sensitive to what God might have in store for us.
After all, we believe that Jesus is coming back. We believe that Jesus will return in person from heaven. Some make it their whole lives to try to figure out when. They try to set dates and years.
I don’t personally buy into all that. I’m not an end-times buff. You probably know that I believe that Christians will be alive during at least part of the Tribulation. Even though I don’t really enjoy the thought, I believe it, but I don’t insist on it either. But either way, whether the Church leaves at the first, or in the middle somewhere, or the very end, at any rate, Jesus is coming back, and He’s taking His people with Him to heaven.
Some get so consumed with this that they forget the “here and now”. Simeon waited expectantly, yes, but he was still a good and godly man as well. He didn’t get so concerned with what was going to happen that he forgot what was happening around him. Don’t live so much for the future blessings that you skip out on being a blessing right here.
2 Peter 3:10-11a says (read). Well, what kind of people should we be? V11-12 give us the answer (read). That’s the same word. Waiting forwardly. We need to be patient and vigilant. We need to keep waiting, but not forget what we are waiting for.
But even more than what’s ahead of us in heaven, I believe that we need to expect things here and now, too. Could you dare to believe that Aslan, King Jesus, is on the move here and now? Can we believe that God wants to do something here, in Doaktown, nowadays? Can we believe that God wants to do something inside us again? Not just “out there”, but “in here” too? Can we believe that the Lion would like to roar?
Maybe this is even harder for us to wait forwardly for. Maybe it’s harder to believe that God could still our hearts today than it is to believe that someday we’ll be with Him in heaven.
Maybe we need to take some of Simeon’s qualities when we listen for the prompting of the Holy Spirit. Part of waiting forwardly is doing what He leads us to do today.
Part of the story of Narnia that I read earlier applies to Jesus, too. “Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.” Can we pray for spring again? Can we pray that Jesus will move in our midst and stone statues will be made alive again? Can we believe that Jesus wants to heal and forgive?
Jesus’ return is worth waiting forwardly for. Jesus’ work on earth here and now is worth waiting forwardly for, too. Let’s be sensitive to the Holy Spirit and His leading, and may we be alert to opportunities around us.
(I am indebted to Max Lucado for his wonderful book When Christ Comes.)
