Watching and Waiting

The Rev. Dr. Skip Ferguson

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

December 28, 2014

Watching and Waiting

Luke 2:25-38

He was an old man,

his skin weathered and leathery,

his hands dry and rough.

Simeon had seen many years,

and the words of the Psalmist

grew louder with each phase of the moon:

The days of our life are seventy years,
or perhaps eighty, if we are strong;

(Psalm 90:9-10)

His eyes still glimmered, though,

glimmered with hope,

sparkled with life,

glowed with faith;

faith that God would let him live long enough

to see the fulfillment of the prophecy

spoken by Isaiah centuries before:

Look, the young woman is with child

and shall bear a son,

and shall name him Immanuel.

(Isaiah 7:14)

Those words played over and over in Simeon’s mind,

“the young woman…”

“…is with child…”

“…and shall bear a son.”

But what woman?

Where? When?

How would he know?

How would he know that the Messiah,

for whom he and so many others

had been waiting,

had been born,

had come into the world?

Simeon knew that most were looking for

a duplicate of King David,

a mighty warrior,

one who would stand strong against the Romans,

and defeat them with sword, spear, and shield.

But Simeon also knew that while God promised

a successor to King David,

God never spoke of the one to come

as a warrior.

                          

No, the Messiah who would come

would be a child born of a woman,

a root from the tree of Jesse,

just as the prophet had said so long ago:

“a child has been born for us,
a son given to us;
authority rests upon his shoulders;

and he is named Wonderful Counselor,

Mighty God,

Everlasting Father,

Prince of Peace.

His authority shall grow continually,

and there shall be endless peace

for the throne of David and his kingdom.

Not a warrior, but a child,

who would grow into the Prince of Peace.

Still, the questions held Simeon tight in their grip:

what woman would give birth to the child,

and how would he recognize the mother

much less her son?

Simeon feared he would miss seeing the one

he had hoped for all the days of his long life.

In his calmer moments, though, he knew:

God is faithful;

God would tell him;

God would not let him

“see death before he had seen

the Lord’s Messiah.”

And when the time was right,

God honored his promise

through God’s Holy Spirit,

guiding Simeon to the Temple,

guiding him past all the others

who were there to offer sacrifices;

all the others who were there to do

as God had commanded of all God’s children

since the time of Moses:

“Consecrate to me all the firstborn.”

(Exodus 13:2)

Joseph and Mary, obedient in their faith,

brought Jesus to the Temple

40 days following his birth,

in accordance with the Law.

And as they entered, Simeon’s gaze,

guided by the Spirit,

turned to them,

turned past all the others;

Simeon saw only Mary and Joseph

and the baby.

Simeon approached them

and looked in Mary’s eyes,

and Mary could see immediately

that Simeon knew;

Simeon knew what she’d known in her heart

since the angel Gabriel had first spoken to her.

                                   

She didn’t hesitate a moment,

handing her newborn son to the elderly man,

who took the child in his arms,

tears of joy flowing from his eyes,

embracing the child, as he said,

“Master, now you are dismissing

your servant in peace,

according to your word;

for my eyes have seen your salvation,

which you have prepared

in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles

and for glory to your people Israel.”

The promise made so long ago finally fulfilled:

Salvation had come into the world

for all peoples;

Jesus born for all,

all the world,

not just the people of Israel, the Jews,

but for all:

And he shall stand and feed his flock

in the strength of the Lord,

in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God.

And they shall live secure,

for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth;

and he shall be the one of peace.  

(Micah 5:4)

The poet T.S. Eliot, captured Simeon’s joy,

Simeon’s peace, Simeon’s faith,

with his words:

“Lord, the Roman hyacinths are

blooming in bowls and

The winter sun creeps by the snow hills;

The stubborn season has made stand.

My life is light, waiting for the death wind,

Like a feather on the back of my hand.

Dust in sunlight and memory in corners

Wait for the wind that chills towards

the dead land.

Grant us thy peace.

I have walked many years in this city,

Kept faith and fast, provided for the poor,

Have given and taken honor and ease.

There went never any rejected from my door

…Grant us thy peace…

Let the Infant,

the still unspeaking and unspoken Word,

Grant Israel’s consolation

To one who has eighty years and no tomorrow.

…Grant me thy peace…

Let thy servant depart,

Having seen thy salvation.”

(“Song of Simeon”)

Simeon’s old eyes saw the future;

Simeon held the future in his arms,

the future not just of Israel, but of all,

Jew and Gentile alike.

Simeon held and saw the future

that the Lord God invited all the world

to embrace.

And moments later Anna too,

filled with the Spirit of God,

saw the same future,

light flooding a dark world,

through the child of a carpenter and his young wife.

Anna and Simeon had lived their lives

in faithful watching and waiting,

hoping and trusting,

obedient to the word and will of God.

Anna and Simeon saw God’s hope

for his children,

God’s future for his children.

They both saw,

as John would later write in his gospel,

that what had come into being in the child

was life,

and the life was the light of all people.

And they knew that the light would

shine in the darkness,

and the darkness,

as everpresent as it always had been,

and always would be,

would never be able to overcome the light,

for this light, the true light,

had come into the world to bring light to all.

The end of the Christmas story,

is the beginning of life,

new life for you and me.

We are like Simeon and Anna

living lives of watching and waiting,

lives of expectancy;

or at least we should be -

isn’t that the message, after all, of Advent?

The One born for us

is the One who will come again in glory,

Advent reminding us that we live

in the “in-between times”.

                 

But we are not to wait idly, of course.

We have work to do,

work we are called to do by our Lord Jesus Christ.

work reflecting the light of our Lord,

work bringing hope, peace,

light, and love

to every corner of the world.

We’ll do that in the year ahead,

individually and together,

just as we did in the year that’s about to end.

We’ll do it in countless ways,

each of us led by the Spirit,

each of us energized by the Spirit,

just as Simeon and Anna were so long ago.

We are invited by our Lord Jesus

to embrace God’s future,

for “Jesus brings us God’s future”

(J. Moltmann)

sets it before us,

invites us, bids us come.

It is a future where all are reconciled to God,

where all are reconciled with one another.

“See, I am making all things new”

are our Lord’s words from the book of Revelation,

but they are also words

our Lord speaks to us even now,

as he invites us to be transformed,

“in righteousness and holiness,

personally and in community…

with all the energies of the Spirit in us,

and in all the possibilities which God opens up for us.”

(J. Moltmann)

We, like Simeon and Anna,

have seen God’s salvation,

the light of revelation,

and glory for all the world.

We have received our Lord’s invitation

to God’s future.

Now, as we stand in the edge of the New Year,

we are ready to be dismissed,

so we can joyfully accept it.

AMEN