
Aren’t
you and I a lot like Simeon? Aren’t we
also people who are waiting for God’s consolation, waiting for God to make
things right in a world that is torn by violence, catastrophe, war, and
injustice, a world that threatens us with illness and injury: heart disease,
depression, car wrecks, AIDS, hurricanes, cancer. Simeon, like all of us, has waited and waited
for consolation for his land and for his people, and when he sees this baby boy
who has been carried by his parents to the temple, Simeon says “now God, you
may dismiss your servant in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.”
That is
what hope is about. Simeon’s appearance
in the gospel story is brief. He does
not see the ministry of Jesus. He does
not see people healed and fed and made whole.
He does not see Christ rise from the dead. But he sees enough to know that God will
bring salvation, consolation, and redemption.
God’s word will be last, and the last word is love.
Aren’t you and I a lot like
Simeon? We know that we will not live
long enough to see all things made new.
We will not see the end of war and disease and suffering in this world,
but by the grace of God, you and I will experience enough of God’s presence to
trust that our hope for these things will be fulfilled. Hope is the best of things.