The wait is over

The Holy Spirit told Simeon, “You will not die before you see the Lord’s Christ.”

So Simeon waited, eagerly expecting the Christ.

In the synagogue he had heard the promises so many times that he knew them by heart. That the Messiah would be stricken, smitten, and afflicted, and by His wounds we would be healed. Simeon rejoiced as he heard the promise to Adam and Eve: that One would come to crush the head of the serpent, even as the serpent would strike His heel. He heard the promise that to those living in the land of darkness, a light will dawn. He heard the promise that the great descendant of David would rule on David’s throne and that it would be an eternal kingdom.

And Simeon waited.

He waited, as his friends grew up with him, as they got married, as they had children, as they died. They needed salvation. They needed deliverance. And he waited.

He saw the brokenness of the world, the weeping women, the poverty-stricken children, the evil men. He saw so many who lived in darkness. They needed light. He needed a light. And he waited.

And then, the Holy Spirit said to him, “Today. Go to the temple.”

So Simeon got up and went. He saw the huge crowds of people. Mothers and fathers and children, old men and old women.

Then he saw them. There. That family. That infant! Just circumcised – squirming in discomfort. That was him. The one that Simeon had waited for for so long.

He pushed his way through the crowd to Mary and Joseph and he took the child in his arms and he praised God with words so beautiful they sound like a song, “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, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”

He handed the child back to the mother. He looked at the mother and he said, “This child is destined to cause the rising and falling of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul, too.”

Then Simeon walked away rejoicing. He told everyone he met: “The wait is over! The Christ has been born! Salvation has come to us! The light has dawned! The wait is over!”

The wait is over.

Simeon was waiting for the Savior to enter humanity. Waiting. That’s something we usually don’t consider to be a very good thing. In fact, to most of us, WAIT is a four-letter-word. We are forced to wait in checkout lines, to wait at the doctor’s office, and to wait if the internet is working slowly. We think microwave popcorn takes too long, so how can we be expected to wait?!

Advent forces us to wait. Four weeks of waiting. The rest of our nation is physically, emotionally and monetarily spent by the time December 25 finally rolls around, because they’ve been celebrating Christmas since the day after Thanksgiving. We in the Christian Church are just getting around to celebrating Christmas. Waiting encourages us to slow down, notice what is going on around us, look forward, look backward, anticipate and wait to celebrate. Waiting gives us opportunities for conversation and meditation that we might not otherwise have in our busy and hectic lives.

But when the waiting is over, it is time to rejoice! To break forth in jubilation! When we finally reach the front of the line, when our name is called, when we finally get the internet back. And now our Advent waiting is almost over. Next week Monday and Tuesday we get to rip into Christmas presents, visit with our relatives, and break forth in Christmas carols. Our waiting is over because we are celebrating Christ coming to us in the flesh.

We can learn a lot about waiting from aged Simeon, because you’ve probably noticed how short-sighted we all are. We are like children: “I want it now!” Waiting, patience and thinking ahead are all learned behaviors, skills that need to be taught. It is easy to live for just right now, to indulge our sinful nature and gratify our natural cravings. Students start drinking alcohol or having babies out of wedlock or creating huge credit card debt because they can’t wait. Adults use colorful language, shout at poor drivers and give negative reviews at restaurants because they can’t be bothered to wait.

Think about what you do anytime you have to wait for something. You whip out your phone. You can’t just stand and wait without checking what’s going on with Instagram and Snapchat if you are young or Facebook if you’re old.

We are by nature impatient people.

Patience ought to be a way of life for the Christian. Sadly, it’s not. That’s why St. Paul writes, “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly love, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12). We need to be taught to be patient. The best way for God to teach us patience is … wait for it … is by waiting.

Waiting is not a weakness. It comes from the serene confidence that God will keep all His promises, that our future is going to be way better than our past, and that God is managing all the events of our lives to get us to the finish line of faith intact.

What joy must have filled Simeon’s soul when His waiting was over! His heart must have skipped a beat when Mary and Joseph walked into the temple carrying their Son. The Holy Spirit whispered into Simeon’s spirit, “This is the One you’ve been waiting for.” And Simeon gathered the little Child in his old arms and lifted his weary eyes to heaven and broke forth in song.

Simeon’s time of service has come to an end for God has kept His promise. You can almost hear the relief in his voice, for he is at peace. His tired, old eyes have seen the Lord’s salvation. Though Jesus has yet to be visited by the Magi, step into the Jordan River, do battle with the devil in the wilderness, preach on the Mount or be betrayed, arrested, scourged, crucified and laid in the tomb – it is as good as done.

The waiting was over.

I often use these verses with a homebound member who can’t come to church anymore. They might be in their eighties or nineties. I have one lady who is 102! Their minds are tired. Their bodies are worn out. They are ready to depart to be with the Lord. I remind them that with the eyes of faith they have seen the Lord’s salvation. They have received this salvation over their heads in their baptism so many decades earlier. They have tasted this salvation in every celebration of the Lord’s Supper. They had heard this salvation in their Sunday School and confirmation classes, in the sermons they heard from the pews and the family devotions they led around the dinner table. They have sung this salvation in their hymns and liturgies, and when they sang this particular Song of Simeon after Holy Communion or at the end of a service of Evening Prayer.

I want them to see their salvation through Simeon’s eyes. They have held the Lord’s salvation in their arms, over their heads, in their mouths, and in their hearts. Now they can die and depart in peace. They are released from life’s sentence and are free to die. They have seen their salvation in that little Child in the manager who grew up to die on Calvary’s cross.

But that message is not only for the aged. It is also for you – the young. You are free to depart in peace at any time. For you have worshiped the Child in the manger, the Man upon the cross and the Redeemer risen from the tomb. You have beheld His glory, hidden beneath word and water, bread and wine. You have heard His proclamation of forgiveness and received His blessing upon you. You, too, can depart in peace.

Our wait is over. Amen.

Luke 2:22-40 ²² When the time came for the purification rites required by the Law of Moses, 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 on him. ²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 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 may now dismiss your servant in peace.
³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation,
³¹     which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:
³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and the glory of 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 prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, 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. ⁴⁰ And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was on him.