There are not many more pivotal and important stories in the Bible than the birth of Jesus. Even if we don’t know all the details, we grew up knowing the basic concept through movies, Christmas plays, and cute little nativity scenes.
We know Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem, Jesus was born in a barn, and three wise men showed up after following a star and brought gifts. We also know that through this, our Savior was born, and that very important detail changed everything.
Perhaps what most people don’t know, though, is the way God strategically positioned some pretty normal people in this narrative to fulfill his promise. I wonder if you would take a look with me at this story through the eyes of one of those people: Simeon.
Imagine being a faithful Jewish man who sees a world full of brokenness, darkness, and pain. This is a man who loves and trusts God and yet he waits. He waits for God to fix this mess. He waits for God to show up.
Imagine this man, Simeon, being told by the Holy Spirit that he would see the Messiah, the help for Israel and the world, before he dies. The waiting had to be particularly difficult as he clung to the Hope he had in the coming of the Messiah.
I think many of us can see this through Simeon’s eyes because it feels very familiar to our own lives and the world we live in now. Maybe you have been in a long season of waiting—waiting through pain, darkness, and brokenness. Maybe you, like Simeon, are faithful in your belief and, at the same time, wonder if the answer will ever come.
Imagine how it must have felt for Simeon to be prompted by the Holy Spirit then to go to the Temple that day after years of waiting. What happens next is the mind-blowing promise of God coming to reality …
Mary and Joseph bring baby Jesus to the Temple to carry out the rituals required by law, and who is there to receive Jesus into his arms at the temple? Simeon himself! In that moment, after all that waiting (generations of waiting, actually) and finally the Messiah had come. The promise God had made to Simeon, Israel, and the world had happened.
Let’s soak that in. This is Simeon’s story, but it is ours too. God is again faithful. God, in his love for us, always shows up. God uses us in beautiful ways to bring his truth into the world.
Questions for reflection:
1. What has your season of waiting been like?
2. Where have you seen God show up through unexpected people?
3. Read through the Christmas story again. Ask God to show you what you’ve been missing in the story. Spend some time leaning into the places God highlights for you.