Sermon for 8/28

Two Seniors Citizens meet Jesus

Luke 2.21-40

          All through the Bible there are people who loved and served God but we know little about them. We know about Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses and many others. In the time of Moses there were thousands of Jews some of whom I believe were fully committed to the Lord. We do not know about them since the Bible could not contain all the stories about all these people. At the time of the birth of Jesus we know about Zachariah and Elizabeth, the parents of John the Baptizer. This couple were committed to God and he rewarded by giving them a son in their old age – the joy of their lives – a strange but wonderful young man who prepared the way for the Messiah. There are two other senior citizens at this same time who were as committed to God as any of the famous people of their time. Let us look at them and learn from them.

          In Luke chapter two we see that Mary and Joseph had gone to Jerusalem from Bethlehem to present him to the Lord at the temple.  Every firstborn male was dedicated to the Lord and a sacrifice of two doves was made for him. These new parents were faithful to God in doing what the law required. They did not know, but this would be a surprising and wonderful day for them.

          Read Luke 2.25-26. There could be a more complimentary description of any man. We know little about Simeon except what is written here. At first I thought he must be a retired man from Jerusalem but the people back then did not retire. He might have been a butcher, baker or a candlestick maker or maybe a priest at the temple at one time. We do know he was an absolutely committed to God. He was righteous in his lifestyle and devoted to God completely. These are characteristics that all of us should want in our own lives. They do not come as we passively sit back and do nothing. Simeon was also looking for the fulfillment of the promise of God to send the Messiah to the people of Israel. I don’t know if all the people in Israel were looking forward to the coming Messiah, this man was.

          An amazing thing is recorded about Simenon here – The passage says the Holy Spirit was upon him. As Chrs we know the Holy Spirit is upon us, but Simeon was alive before Christianity was established. (He was a pre-Chr charismatic.) There were few if any in his days, who were filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die before he saw the Lord’s Christ or the Messiah. What an honor that was for him, and maybe that was because he was so devoted to God. We are not necessarily rewarded like this for our commitment to God, but sometimes God gives these special gifts. (I wonder if he had ever told anyone about this. He could have gone around bragging about this revelation, but I think he just quietly waited, prayed and worshiped God.) (There are many people who think they have a revelation of God about living until the Lord returns a second time. I wonder if that is true.)

          Read with me vss. 27 – 32. The Holy Spirit moved him to go to the temple that day and there he saw a poor couple holding a new-born baby. He rushed up and took the child in his arms and was overcome with joy as he praised God. The Sovereign Lord had fulfilled his promise of the Messiah in this tiny, fragile, baby. Here is the Messiah, the source of salvation for all people, for the Gentiles and for the Jews. The promise God made to the Jewish people centuries before was fulfilled that day and the blessing would not be just for the Jews, but for us, the Gentiles of the world. Do you see this? The one thing that gave Simeon his purpose in life – the promise of seeing the Messiah – was fulfilled completely. He could die now knowing that God had been faithful and truthful to him – he had held in his own arms the Messiah – Jesus Christ, the Lord God himself. (I wonder if he was surprised by this Messiah being a newborn baby instead of a man.)

There was one more message Simeon had for Mary and Joseph – read vss. 34-35. They were told this little baby would cause a tremendous change in the Jewish nation. Some would be lifted up to God by him, and others would turn away from God because of his teachings and his death on the cross. Even this couple would be pierced with a sword – figuratively – by this wonderful child.

As they were standing there marveling at what Simeon had said, another senior citizen came up to them and startled them – this was a lady named Anna. Read vss. 36-38. Again we do not know anything else about this wonderful lady than what we have here. She was very old – 7 years married and 84 years a widow – she must have been 110 or so. That is very old when people had a life expectance of 40 or so. This lady it says never left the temple – she lived there – she was homeless in a sense, but she lived in the best possible place – the house of God. Anna worshiped God night and day, fasting and praying. She is the first nun if you will, living not in a convent, but in the temple in Jerusalem. She was a holy lady who loved God with all her heart. She was a prophetess and there had not been prophets or prophetesses in Israel for a long time. As a prophetess she foretold the future and preached to the people, telling them what the Lord wanted from them in their lives.

Anna I think took the baby Jesus in her arms and praised God, thanking him for sending the promised Messiah. Can you see the scene? The worshipers in the temple were walking around in the temple area as they had done every time they came to the temple. But on this day first Simeon and now Anna was praising God because of Jesus. He was proclaimed as the one who would provide salvation and redemption for all people in the world. I do not think many really knew what was going on here. This was the beginning of the movement of God to start Christianity, the means of salvation for all. Her life was fulfilled – she had seen and held the promised one of God, the Messiah.

What do we learn from these two senior citizens?  First, we learn how to live – the greatest lifestyle is to live for the Lord. They were both righteous and devout believers, living for God. They were also knew God intimately.

He was the center of their lives, and he needs to be the center of our lives. Anna worshiped God day and night, fasting and praying.

These two knew the love and faithfulness of God, and they knew it for a long time. At camp a couple of weeks ago, I preached in chapel about the love has for kids. In the sermon I said I was older than anyone at camp and a lot older than most of them. That meant I had felt the love and faithfulness of God longer than anyone else there.

In their old age, God at times blessed with a very special holy gift – they got to see the Messiah, and hold him. In the midst of our struggles with pain as we get older, God blesses us with his presence, his love, and the absolute hope of eternal life when we will not only see the Messiah, but live with him forever. 

This morning we invite you to come and give yourself to the Lord.