29"Sovereign Lord, as you have promised,
you now dismiss your servant in peace.
30For my eyes have seen your salvation,
31which you have prepared in the sight of all people,
32a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel."
Perhaps you sing the Song of Simeon in your church. If not, it's used often as a song right before church is dismissed. Have you ever been at church and it seems like the sermon took an hour, and those hymns have all had five or more verses and then there was communion, maybe a WELS connection, and church announcements and you're seated near the back waiting for the usher to finally dismiss your pew? It's true, there might have been some sinful actions in those feelings. Perhaps for Simeon too as he waited. We know that Simeon had a revelation that before he would die, he would meet his Savior face to face.
We don't know exactly how old Simeon was, or how long after his meeting with Jesus he continued to live for, but we do know that Simeon was ready. Jesus' birth was unremarkable, or if it was, it was remarkable in how unfit it was for a king or for that matter the God of Israel. Jesus was just a baby, going to get circumcised just like any other Jew. Mary was unremarkable, Joseph was unremarkable, this baby, no matter who He was, was just that, a helpless baby depending on a couple of regular people to take care of Him. But Simeon looked at this baby filled with the Holy Spirit and said, "That's it, my life is complete!"
How often in our own lives do we bargain with God? I just need a little more money for this situation. I just need a little time to do this. Lord, please take this disease away, there's so many things I haven't done yet. Much like Simeon, we have a promise from God, "I will reveal My Son to you, and you will be ready to go home." We love so much about this world, even if it's not a sinful love, we don't want to be separated from loved ones. We love our work, we love going to church, or doing some sort of activity. We strive to accomplish goals, we strive to build something for ourselves through hard work. But at the end of the day, are we of the mindset, I have seen you Lord, I'm ready to go Home to you?
Now certainly if we could see Heaven, see Jesus, it would be a no brainer. Lord, I need to be there now we would beg. Paul had a similar experience. But how often do we think to ourselves, we're done, God's Will is done, there's nothing more I need to do but wait. How often do we comfort a worried friend with the advice "it's going to be ok?" It's a nice sentiment, and mostly true, but why? Because we know that Jesus came to this world for our sake. Simeon is a lot like that thief on the cross. He saw innocence and believed that Jesus was the Lord, despite being beaten to the point of nearing death. Simeon saw a baby, he saw his parents who were no more than common folk and if he died a minute later, went straight to Heaven.
I know we're going to Heaven as believers and I know sometime you and I put things before Christ in the name of worry or love of a sinful world, but when we're feeling unsure of our standing with the Lord and His place for us, remember the remarkable position we're in. We saw the birth and angels the shephards witnessed. We saw the circumsized baby that Simeon witnessed. We saw the death on the cross the thief witnessed. We saw His resurrection and ascension His disciples witnessed. We saw His glorious return and the home we have with Him that John witnessed.
Simeon saw a baby, we don't know what else made it to him of Jesus' works if any, but we do know that a short time later, Simeon was able to celebrate Jesus' defeat of sin and death along with that thief and Mary, John the Baptist, Zechariah and Elizabeth, the shepherds and the angels and even Jesus Himself. In a short time, we will too. We set our eyes on Jesus, we are ready to be dismissed, we trust in Him dismissing us when He's ready.
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