Luke 2:22-40

Redeemed by God

            We’ve all sat in a waiting room at some point in our lives. We’ve all had to wait for various things. When we did, I’d wager that most of us didn’t just sit there the entire time while staring at a wall. Waiting rooms are often full of magazines to read, toys for children to play with, maybe even a tv to watch to help you pass the time. As it’s said, “Time flies when you’re having fun.” We all understand that it’s easier to wait when we have something to do, especially something we enjoy. But step outside of a waiting room, take the immediacy out of the picture, and now waiting becomes much harder. It’s one thing to wait in a doctor’s office, or wait in line for an amusement park ride, but waiting for things we can’t immediately see is different. Imagine a child waiting for Christmas, or birthday, or a vacation. Now, I know people don’t just sit, staring at a wall for such things. Maybe instead, we keep a calendar to cross off the days as they go by or set a countdown to help us keep track. As difficult as waiting is, I think the bigger problem is that most of us just don’t know how to wait. No one really teaches us how to wait properly. For waiting doesn’t mean sitting quietly. It doesn’t mean anxiously pacing back and forth to pass the time. Waiting, rather, is simply being content with the ordinary pace of life. For instance, we wait for vacations by continuing to work, continuing to go to school, continuing to do all the normal things until the special time comes. So too, is it with faith. 

            For today, in our Gospel lesson, we meet the two people who have waited for many long years, Simeon and Anna. We have a thing or two to learn about their patience and faithful waiting. Yet, as we continue to celebrate Christmas, we’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel. So, we learn today: 

WAIT NO MORE, FOR THE REDEPTION OF GOD COMES IN THIS CHILD!

I.

            To Mary and Joseph, this was just any other ordinary day. They were following the Levitical law concerning their firstborn. As we read, “Consecrate to me all the firstborn. Whatever is the first to open the womb among the people of Israel, both of man and of beast, is mine,” Exodus 13:2. This was done so that Israel would always remember their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. Indeed, their reason for going to the temple was important, but simple. Yet, little did they know that there were those at the temple that had been waiting for this very special moment. Simeon was a priest in the temple who had been waiting. Simeon received a special promise from the Lord, as we read, “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,” Luke 2:26. How long do you imagine he waited for this moment? Was it days? Months? Years? I can tell you I doubt it was short. No matter how long Simeon personally waited, Israel had already been waiting a long time. 

            We have to learn how to live with waiting in the ordinary time. For this is what waiting is. It’s living life through the monotonous, regular, and ordinary moments. It’s going to work day in and day out. It’s going to school and doing homework. It’s ultimately learning contentment with life not being exciting every single moment of every single day. Like Simeon, we too have been given an amazing and wonderful promise. But we have to wait for it. It won’t come quickly. It’s not something we sit and stare at. Rather, we’re called to wait for it by living in the mundane and ordinary times. For so, Paul offers this advice, “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him,” Colossians 3:17. Simeon had to wait… so he served regularly in his vocation. Anna had to wait so she devoted herself to the ordinary. We wait by devoting ourselves like Anna to the things of the Lord, and like Simeon to serving within our vocations. 

II.

            Yet, when we wait, we must also know exactly what we’re waiting for. We don’t wait for the sake of waiting. No, we wait for the consolation and redemption of the true Israel, of God’s people! Like Simeon and Anna, we’re not to let this sight pass us by. Rather, in fulfillment of all God spoke to Simeon, he sings, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel,” Luke 2:29-32. By holding baby Jesus in his arms, Simeon knew that this child was his redemption. Jesus would redeem Israel from their slavery. Jesus would redeem the world from its chains. Jesus would redeem Simeon, and you and me. For redemption means to buy back. God would buy us back from our sins and corruption. God would give us Jesus who would offer the full price of our sins, that we may be fully his.

            Wait no more, then, for we see our redemption in this child, the one born of Mary, raised by Joseph, and proclaimed by the angels! Everything we’ve waited for is before us. Everything we’ve watched for is right before our eyes. Consider that Simeon never got to see Jesus grow up, or begin his ministry. Simeon never saw Jesus offer up the price of his sins upon the cross, yet evermore knew his redemption was in his hands. This is the miracle of the incarnation, that God “made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God,” 2 Corinthians 5:21. As New Testament Christians, we get to look back at the redemption of God offered us on the cross. But we get to see this is in a different place also. We see it here on the altar. Jesus comes to us to offer us forgiveness and redemption by his body given for us and his blood poured out on our behalf. For consider the words we sing after receiving this holy meal. Lord, now you let your servant depart in peace… for we have seen your salvation. Like Simeon, we hold Jesus in our hands. We see him with our eyes. Thus, even while we wait for the full revelation, the redemption of the world at Jesus’ return, we need not wait to see our salvation and redemption before our eyes.

            Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, this is how we wait. We live ordinary lives, doing ordinary things, and watch. We watch as the divine breaks into our lives and the ordinary gives way to the extraordinary. We watch as Jesus comes to us in bread and wine, until we shall see our redemption come near to us in Christ’s return. In Jesus’ name! Amen!