God Prepares Our Advent Hearts to Wait
Luke 2:25-35 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace.30 For my eyes have seen your salvation,31 which you have prepared in the sight of all nations:32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel.”33 The child’s father and mother marveled at what was said about him.34 Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, 35 so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
What’s the most boring part of your life? Is it the chores you do around the house? It’s certainly not your classes in school. That’s not boring, right? How about sitting in waiting rooms? Where does that rank? That’s pretty high up there for me. At least with chores you’re getting something done. Usually you’re not a waiting room for fun reasons either. Most likely, you’re waiting for a doctor or a dentist. If you do a Google image search for the words “waiting room,” you will get very depressing results. It’s lots of skeletons sitting in chairs. Lots of sad people looking down at their phones. Waiting is boring, but the way we wait makes a difference for better or worse, doesn’t it? If you’re waiting to audition for something, you can do some last minute preparations or you can convince yourself you’re going to bomb. At the doctor’s office, you can mentally prepare to deal with bad news or you can drift into an uneasy sleep. You might even get frustrated with waiting, and get up and leave, missing your appointment altogether. In Luke 2, God turns the temple into a waiting room for a man named Simeon.
Mary and Joseph brought the 40 day old Jesus to the temple in order to consecrate him to God, as the Old Testament law instructed them. So, we should note, that even as a baby, Jesus was already fulfilling God’s commandments on our behalf. We know very little about this man named Simeon. Luke calls him “righteous and devout,” which really means that Simeon was a believer in God and took his faith seriously. He was not perfect, but he believed that God would forgive him. Somehow the Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon that he would see the Messiah before he died. What were Simeon’s days like? How could you possibly wait for something like that?
It might be hard for any of us to have been in Simeon’s position because we struggle with waiting. Part of that is we get impatient for what we want, but I’d like to focus more on how we get distracted from waiting patiently. The devil uses earthly circumstances, appointments, activities, and even relationships to distract us. We are so busy in 2016. There’s work, and tryouts, and bills, and the lunchroom, and parties, and social media, and celebrities, and elections, and friends, and family, and stuff, so much Black Friday type stuff to research, and buy, and enjoy. It all seems so IMPORTANT.
As sinners, we run the risk of failing at our simplest God-given tasks because there are too many things pulling at us. If were in Simeon’s position today, would we have been in the temple area when Jesus showed up with Joseph and Mary? Or might we have been busy with something else, something like texting a funny picture to our friend? There are days that drift by us without true preparation and readiness. Some days we are very bad at waiting. Sometimes these days slip by us without any real spiritual consequence; our faith doesn’t really show through in our interactions with other people. We struggle to be focused like Simeon. You and I can get lulled to sleep in the waiting room that is our lives. That’s not a small thing. There were a group of Ohio State students who almost had their lives come to an end in early December, if not for some quick thinking. I’m sure they didn’t get up that morning thinking that it might be their last day on earth.
You see, one of the goals of Advent is to let God prepare our hearts through his Word. Genesis 3 helps us get ready to recognize the problem, which is sin and the devil. The devil is still good at pulling our eyes away from God, just like he did with Adam and Eve. Did God really say that you need to study the Bible regularly? Are you sure you want to dedicate so much time to this spiritual stuff? Aren’t there more productive things you could do on a Sunday morning? Don’t you know most of it already?
God promised that one of Eve’s descendants would come to crush the devil’s head. The Holy Spirit revealed to Simeon that the head crusher had arrived, and he was…a baby. Carried in his mother’s arms. What went through Simeon’s mind when he saw Jesus? Have you ever been waiting for some relatives to come to your house? Maybe you were staring out the window, watching for family car to arrive. Maybe you were scanning an airport terminal, looking for a familiar face. When you finally saw what you were looking for, did your heart skip a beat? There’s a moment of recognition that our brains almost can’t handle; it’s like a little glitch. I wanted something, and now it’s here. Imagine Simeon’s emotions as he crossed the temple court to see Jesus.
This baby, not even two months old, was the fulfillment of the ages. He was the center of God’s masterpiece, a plan of salvation. This baby Jesus was the Sistine Chapel ceiling, a beautiful project painstakingly crafted, piece by piece. Simeon got to see the Messiah with his own eyes. It overwhelmed him, and he burst into song. With eyes of faith Simeon recognized that this baby looking up at him would one day be a man hanging on a cross. He was the Consolation, or Comfort of Israel. He came to remove the guilt of sin and fear of death. Jesus was God’s way of preparing salvation for the entire world. He was a powerful shining lighthouse in a world that would otherwise shipwreck us on the rocky, terrible shores of hell.
Even though the devil did his very best to distract him, Jesus never lost focus. He was like a surgeon, perfectly locked in on the job at hand, nothing could pull him away from his mission. Jesus was perfectly patient. He was never frustrated at his Father’s timetable; instead Jesus constantly pointed out that God’s way was the best way, even if that way led to Jesus being rejected, spat upon, and crucified. Jesus perfectly handled the waiting room of life, which answers all our failures in that waiting room.
Simeon was not done yet. He prophesied that Jesus would cause the rising and falling of many in Israel. To put it more simply, many people would believe in Jesus as the Savior and would be lifted up from their guilt into the victory of forgiveness and eternal life. Others, however, like the people in Jesus’ hometown of Nazareth, would not be able to believe that Jesus, this regular looking guy, could possibly be the one God sent to save the world. Their pride would cause them to stumble and fall over Jesus.
Studies show that high school and college are a time of major rising and falling for young Christians. Some of them are distracted by the pressures of classes, finances, or feeling forced by their peers to be someone they’re not. Some of them might be distracted by well-spoken faculty members who find it impossible to believe in the God of Christianity. Falling doesn’t have to happen in some big grandiose or violent way. Failing to notice Jesus in the temple ultimately has the same net result as intentionally turning away from him.
God gives patience and steady footing as a fruit our faith. Waiting doesn’t really require some extraordinary skill. At its heart, it’s listening to God and letting Him encourage us with His promises through the power of the Holy Spirit. God’s Word proves to be a valuable resource when we’re waiting…to see how we did on a test…for a job offer…for a diagnosis…for marriage…for life to mean something. We can wait for anything, because the Consolation of Israel has already come. Already have the comfort of sins forgiven; that allows us to wait patiently for everything else.
Through His Word God also gives us the ability to focus and avoid the distractions the devil wants to place in front of us. We can be intentional about our spiritual growth; we can have a plan made up of simple things, things like making church and Bible study a priority, like carving out time for personal devotion, things like thinking through our day and being ready for possible confrontation or chances to serve someone in need.
God gives young people peace like Simeon had. You can handle anything, frustrations, tragedies, people attacking your faith and character, if you remember what peace you have in Christ. There’s a reason we often sing the Song of Simeon after we celebrate Communion. It’s because, like Simeon, we have seen Jesus, and he has changed us for the better.
Simeon saw Jesus and burst into song. What will your song be? Will it be a good day at school? A day when you stayed focused, respected your teachers, and provided loving support to your friends? Will it be a good day at home? A day when you thanked your parents or grandparents? A day when you loved, served, and forgave your peers, as the promised Jesus loved, served, and forgave you. Will your song be saying no to peer pressure, whether you’re a kid, a young adult, or a for real grownup? Will your song be one of freedom, freedom to serve God by listening to Him?
In the past summer’s Olympics, the camera caught the great swimmer Michael Phelps sitting in the waiting area before one of his races. One of his competitors stood a short distance in front of him, shadowboxing and apparently trying to intimidate Michael Phelps before their race. Phelps, however, doesn’t even appear to notice. He has his sweatshirt hood pulled up and he stares straight ahead with intense focus. He’s totally confident in his ability. As we wrap up Advent, ask God to help you see His Son and get ready. May He help you to recognize the problem of sin and find reassurance through His promises. May He help you to be reminded of His love like Israel in days of old. May He give you confidence in Christ to ignore the distractions shadowboxing around you and stay intensely focused on waiting patiently.
