“Things Accomplished Among Us” (Luke 1:1)

Selected Reflections From Luke

 A Good Old Man Who Was Ready

Luke 2:25-35 

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” (Luke 2:25).

In reading the gospels we meet many people we don’t really like. There were priests carving up sacrifices, but for many it was just a heartless job. Levites were perceived to be experts in the law of Moses, yet many did not live as that law directed. There were rabbis who worked the synagogue system but failed to see the big picture of God’s plan to be fulfilled by Christ. Then, the Pharisees. Sticklers for their favored procedures and zealous protectors of their religious empire. Sadducees “fattened their purses off the concessions that cluttered up the Court of the Gentiles in the temple.”[i] Militant zealots and others whose behavior is documented in the gospels – we just don’t like.

But there are some very special people in Luke’s narrative, like Simeon. A good old man who was very simple in his purpose; therefore, found no place among the religious parties and agendas of his day.

He was “righteous and devout,” but there was a holy impatience that never left his mind, until that day when “things which angels desire to look into” came into his view. He was “waiting for the consolation of Israel,” and “it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.” He was expecting God to deliver on His promises and it happened as “he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for Him, according to the custom of the law, he took Him up in his arms and blessed God.”

One special morning, what the old man had been “dreaming” about for years – what he had heard the prophets reveal; what he knew God would do – HE HELD IN HIS ARMS.

He said, “Behold, this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against.”

Don’t be intimidated by the religious or cultural climate, that is indifferent to the promises of God. What God has said, He will do. What God has promised, He will fulfill – according to the conditions He attaches to those good promises. Simeon knew God. He reminds us, be faithful and just wait. When you are waiting for God, it is always worth the wait.

“It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them,” (Lk. 12:37, NIV).

– Warren E. Berkley

[1] P.#48, EXPLORING THE PEOPLE OF THE NEW TESTAMENT, by John Phillips.