Simeon

Luke 2: 21-39

I wonder how the day started out for Mary and Joseph the day Jesus was circumcised. If it's hard to get babies out the door today, what would it have been like in their day? Did they walk the four miles from Bethlehem to Jerusalem? Or did they stay overnight with a friend in Jerusalem? Did they come alone or did they bring relatives? There is so much we don't know.

I also wonder what it was like for Simeon the day Jesus was circumcised. Did he take a cold bath in the early morning dark? What did he pray about? Did he pray that morning for a Messiah? How did the Spirit stir his heart? At what point did he know Mary and Joseph were the couple he must approach?

I wish I could have been there to see it. I wish I could have seen what Mary and Joseph looked like as they walked through the courtyard. (They must have looked so young and ordinary.) I wish I could have seen Simeon get up from where he was sitting in he courtyard and walk toward them, and I wish I could have heard his prayer:

"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" (Luke 2:29-32).

The prayer is profoundly touching. For Simeon, holding Jesus was the fulfillment of a lifetime of prayers and longings. I imagine how sweet his joy was in that moment. Then there's the first line of the prayer, "dismiss your servant in peace." He's ready; he's done. He can now die.

I love how God works. This moment in the temple is an intersection between the young and the old. Those who have prayed and those who will live those prayers. Simeon told them that "a sword will pierce your own soul too." No doubt his prayer offered a balm to Mary when the sword cut her so deeply.