20/20?

Luke 2:22-40 with Hebrews 2:14-18 in b.g.

Will you trust me to do an experiment with you this morning? I promise that it won't hurt you physically, that no one will plunder your earthly goods, that I will not manipulate you for my own advantage. Will you trust me? ... I want you to close your eyes for a minute, sixty seconds.... I will time track the time. I will let you know when to open your eyes again. (At about 30 seconds in, have them try to imagine living this way. What would it be like to walk – without sight? What would it be like to go through the rest of your days and nights with this kind of darkness, blindness? (More silence). Then open them..... (Have them talk about – what that was like)

 

Sight is precious. Sight is precious for many reasons – to behold our loved ones, to visualize beauty in creation, in art. To know wonder – of the vistas of color in trees, water, sky – in your loved one's eyes. But not only that sight both literal and metaphorical, allows us to be enabled to see a way ahead or the way ahead. Without vision, there can be no hope. Or, as one famous quote puts it, 'WITHOUT VISION, THE PEOPLE PERISH!"  For followers of Jesus, to have hope is to envision God's coming rule, God's dream on earth and in heaven. To have such hope is to be enabled to always live with God's promised rule/reign in mind, to then resist despair and apathy to keep on working to love and be loved, to forgive and be forgiven. (Pause)

 

So imagine, envision, old Simeon. Sometimes, old people learn and realize what matters. Sometimes, old people through their experience have finally been able to let go of that which doesn't matter and appreciate that which does matter, that which endures and frees, both now and forever. Simeon is not naive. He knows that his life is drawing to a close. But Simeon does not shut himself off from life. He looks around. Simeon sees his people, the people he holds in his heart, a nation he loves. So many things are not right, out of whack. The rich people and poor people are not truly aware of one another.  They are not helping each other. The practice of religion is segregated to a few parts of life, seemingly out of touch or irrelevant to commerce and the realities of so many people. Simeon's country is under the thumb of and throne of Rome. There are some good things about that. But there are many ways of the Roman Empire that are destructive for God's good and gracious intention. So as Simeon nears the end of his life, he needs consolation.

 

But Simeon does not give in to despair. INSTEAD, Simeon clings to God's promises, that somehow, someway his own people will be a blessing to the nations, that God's love will be a light to all, including the Gentiles. 

 

So, Simeon comes regularly to the temple to pray, to be in conversation with God, to pour out his heart and mind, to listen. On this particular day as Simeon comes to the temple, with expectation, he beholds the fulfillment of his anticipation!

 

There, in the temple are this young man and  young woman. They are coming to present their first born son to the Lord – as thousands had done before. They are coming to have the mother purified 40 days after her having given birth. Somehow Simeon is enabled to see in this wee babe, all of God's promise being fulfilled. With joy and maybe some trepidation the old man Simeon takes the young baby Jesus in his arms. NOW HE BEGINS TO SING! Simeon is ready to face death. As he cradles the baby Jesus in his arms he realizes that his life, his hopes, his prayers have not been in vain. In this wee babe God is doing God's good and gracious thing – FOR THE WORLD! So Simeon breaks out in song, my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.

 

Mary and Joseph are amazed at what Simeon is saying and singing about their son.

 

Are we amazed at what Simeon is saying and singing about Jesus?

 

How's your "sight"? Are we looking for God's consolation of the world? Are we open to seeing that, to give ourselves to be part of that ourselves – in the everyday "stuff" of our lives? Is the Spirit of God upon us, even as God promises in our baptism? Are we listening for God in us, around us, in others?

 

Today the Word comes to us! That very Word of God in written, spoken and enfleshed form. We are blessed to receive that Word with our ears, with our hands, with our eyes, and our hearts. The Lord be with you.... Take that blessing in. Share it, give it away. The body of Christ given FOR YOU, the blood of Christ shed FOR YOU. Take him in, cherish him, live from him. Sing for and of him...See those around us. Don't be afraid to hear them,  to care about and with them. You are not alone. As we receive Christ again and again, like Simeon we can be dismissed with peace, with abiding hope to go, tell, live.

 

To be sure, such living is not easy. Many others do not, will not see God at work. Sometimes we ourselves don't see. We are so easily overcome by worry, by fear, by selfishness, by greed, by betrayal, by pain, by the many forms of death. But God still comes seeking us, seeking to love us, to deliver us and the world from all such entrapments.

 

Right now, see old Simeon, holding baby Jesus and singing joyfully, hopefully.

 

May God open our eyes to see Jesus, the light of the world, the One who overcomes death and hatred in all their forms, so that we might follow.  Seeing and following make all the difference, not only for us but in us and through us, through all who may see, for the world.

 

Oh yes, open our eyes Lord, so that we may see you to sing, to love, to hope, now and always, even for the sake of the world you love so much! Amen.