Simeon | Pursuit

SIMEON

. . .. waiting, watching, and working.

Luke 2:23-35

The Quiet of the Land—that’s what Simeon and a few others in Israel were called. Simeon represents a worshipful, humble, faithful expectation that God will come in the time of his choosing to bring comfort to a troubled people. For him, there were no dreams of a great one who would come to crush all Israel’s enemies or drive out the hated Romans. It was enough to be “just, devout, and waiting,” not a bad job description!

What seemed like another tiring, monotonous day at the temple. . . people coming and going, some sleeping against pillars. . .smoke and incense blurring every room. . .the dull, ceaseless crowd noise with people talking and feet shuffling. . .got turned upside down with the shrill cry of a baby being circumcised, and perhaps a whisper in Simeon’s ear: ‘it’s him!” This makes a pretty good case for always going to church, for one has no idea who might show up. Look what Simeon would have missed had he slept in that morning (or watched online)!

Simeon had no idea whom to expect. . .a child, a youth, or an adult, but he had been given the special gift of knowing Messiah would come in his lifetime, that he would know him the minute he saw him.

Why Simeon. . .and not someone else, like Nicodemus or a priest or a famous leader?

What set Simeon apart was his “waiting.” And not merely waiting. . .but “waiting forwardly.” Expecting. Waiting on his tiptoes. Simeon looked, and he never stopped looking. One can imagine his making eye contact with everyone who passed. . .studying every face. . .looking for a standout in the crowd. . .listening for a baby’s cry. . .because on any given day, out of nowhere, the Lord’s Christ might spring up unannounced.

Simeon was just a harmless old man no one paid much attention to, something of a daily pest, and whom temple authorities might have felt had a runaway imagination. But Simeon had a heart for God, was precious to God, and for that reason he was told to stay on full alert.

If Simeon looked for the first coming of Christ, it is for us to look for the second coming. It’s no secret this time; we’ve all been told plainly: “I am coming again.” And if Christ chooses not to show up, at least in my lifetime, am I any the worse for it, if I have been found faithfully waiting, watching, and working?