Waiting with Simeon and Mary
Luke 2:33-40
December 29, 2024 anno Domini
The waiting is over. And Simeon is happy to die. Will you say the same?
The Greek word for waiting is a combination of the words to receive and the word toward, or simply to. A waiting person is waiting for something to be given to them. That’s why waiting is frustrating and difficult. It’s out of your hands. Just think of a little child at Christmas. You must rely on someone or something else. You cannot do anything to receive something quicker. You can’t call your own name at the doctor’s office. You cannot clear the accident that is blocking I-94 when you’re in a hurry.. You cannot do the pathology on your latest medical test to get the results immediately. Receiving involves waiting on the giver.
St. Luke tells us Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Forty days after the birth of Jesus, the Spirit led Simeon to the Temple, and pointed out that poor couple, the young mother, the little baby, the fretting father, and the Spirit said, “That’s Him Simeon. That little baby is the consolation of Israel. That dirty diapered boy is the Lord’s Christ. That is your Savior.”
That’s the other frustration with waiting you don’t know when and you don’t know what. We have no idea about Simeon’s life as he waited. What we know of Simeon is that he would see the Lord’s Christ, hold this little baby in his arms, and then he would die. That day? That night? The next week? We don’t know when, but likely death came soon because that’s what God promised him. Good for Simeon. That would be the way to go. See your Savior, hold your Savior, know that God has come to deliver you. Simeon received His Savior, and now he’s ready to defeat that last enemy death.
Mary’s wait would be different. Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
Mary receives what you receive, what the Church receives. She receives God’s Word, her Savior, the blessed news that God has come in the flesh, but she also receives affliction and sorrow because of Jesus. Why? Because the arrival of Jesus reveals what humans hold in their hearts. Mary would soon be whisked off to Egypt because Herod wanted to kill Him. Mary would mourn for the loss of little boys Herod slaughtered in Bethlehem. Those boys died because Jesus was born. Mary would hear Jesus would disown his family of birth by saying his real mother and brother and sisters were the family of faith. Her other sons, including James would call Jesus crazy. She would see Jesus threatened, betrayed, arrested, and she would be beneath His cross when he was crucified.
Mary received something eternal – Jesus the Son of God and something temporal – affliction and sorrow. That is Mary’s wait. That is what she received from God when she received the Son of God into her womb and then delivered Him to a waiting world.
What Mary received is what you will receive. The Christian life is more like Mary than Simeon. Most people don’t get to see Jesus in the last moments of their life and die shortly afterward without affliction. You get to see Jesus and then you suffer, then your heart is pierced, because Jesus reveals the hearts of men. You are not spared the sorrow and grief your children rejecting Jesus, your family and friends dividing over Jesus, or the world’s experts telling you on the History Channel that Jesus wasn’t god, that the miracles have an explanation, that you’re crazy to believe in Him.
Jesus is not an easy Savior to receive. His coming doesn’t bring peace but division. Why? Because He comes for sinners. While everyone (except a psychopath) admits he is not perfect, no one wants to admit he is totally corrupt, without a shred of goodness in him. Surely since everyone is bad God must grade on a curve. I’m not a terrorist or a murderer or child abuser. I’m bad, but I’m not as bad as a few people I could name.
When Christ came into the world that is not how He regarded people. The best people in the world, the Pharisees, the religious, were worse than the worst because they didn’t believe they were that bad. In their hearts they had a special place for themselves. That the Son of God came into the world to save you means God doesn’t grade on a curve. He grades on the cross. The wages of your sin is your death. You deserve hell. That’s why Jesus came. He came to save sinners, completely, fully, all by Himself and sorry, you don’t have a special place in that, except to wait on Him.
That’s the other part of Jesus that isn’t easy to receive. No other god lays down His life for people. No other faith calls for trust in a God who dies for you and rises again. Christianity calls for you to wait on this alone, on this man’s life, death, and resurrection, even when you don’t see any outward evidence. Even when you have to flee to Egypt, even when little babies are murdered by the government, even when you think God has abandoned you. Christianity does not promise a good and pleasant life. It calls for you to wait for the glory while you suffer the cross as Mary suffered. It calls you to trust God’s Word even when God’s Word doesn’t bring everyone to faith. People can so no to Jesus, even people you love, even people who have heard the good news. They love themselves too much to need God’s love. God’s Word doesn’t guarantee that you and Jesus will be liked and loved (even in your family.)
God’s Word does promise that you will not be disappointed by waiting on Jesus. Think of Mary standing beneath the cross of Jesus. Seeing her firstborn son accused of crimes He didn’t commit, declared innocent three times, yet still receiving the death sentence. Before her eyes her son hung naked, nailed to the cross, blood pouring from his tattered back, mocked by the crowds, ignored by the soldiers. She heard His final cry, “It is finished” and saw his final breath, and then her own soul was pierced as the soldier thrust his spear into Jesus’ side to confirm His death. The blessed Virgin who bore the Savior of world suffered more than any other mother. But her sorrow was short lived, from Friday night until Sunday morning – around 36 hours. Then her sorrow ended. Her wait was over. Jesus was risen from the dead. We can only imagine the joy when Mary laid eyes on Jesus again. I bet she was happier than Simeon.
Simeon waited a lifetime, Mary waited 36 hours, and the wait was worth it, because God is faithful, because the Christ has been born, He has died, and He has been raised again. Wait on Jesus. It won’t be easy, but in the end, you’ll be happy you waited. You’ll have forgiveness and life everlasting, and that will make your wait seem short. In the name of Jesus. Amen.