Christians don’t need a bucket list. We’ve got the whole bucket: the Word fulfilled, life fulfilled, and life in full.
A dear colleague of mine nearly ruined Simeon for me once. He noted that we do not know for sure that Simeon was old. I knew the text didn’t say he was old, but I’d never imagined Simeon anything but old before. I like old Simeon. I’d never thought about a young Simeon, and now I can’t read the passage without thinking about the possibility.
What do we know about Simeon, then? We know he’d been waiting for the consolation of Israel. This is why we tend to think of him as old. We assume he’d been waiting a long time. We also know that he was righteous and devout. He was a believer. Finally, we know that he was the fifth person in the New Testament filled with the Holy Spirit (following John, Mary, Elizabeth, and Zechariah).
We meet Simeon on what became the festival of the Presentation of Our Lord, also sometimes called the Purification of Mary. In accordance with the law, Mary and Joseph had come to the temple to present Jesus as their firstborn and for Mary’s purification forty days after childbirth. Luke tells us this right after he tells us about the circumcision of our Lord, when Jesus first shed blood for us, and when the child was given the name Jesus, “Savior,” to make clear for us what he’d come to do. Joseph and Mary brought for the sacrifice the prescribed offering for those who were too poor to afford a lamb. They weren’t wealthy, but they were faithful. Even more, although they only brought a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons, they also presented to God his own Son, who was the Lamb of God, who would take away the sin of the world. The infant God thus came to his temple.
Although we don’t know if Simeon was an old man, I’m going to continue to picture him that way. What we do know is that he was delighted to see Jesus. New parents have perhaps experienced having their baby grabbed from their arms by a friend or relative excited to meet him or her. Mary experienced that now. Simeon took Jesus in his arms and sang one of the most wonderful songs in Scripture. His life was now complete. Anything more was free time.
In the Sacrament of the Altar, we receive Jesus and sing. Life is complete. Anything more is just free time.
In many Lutheran liturgies, Simeon’s song, known as the Nunc Dimittis, has been sung right after the Lord’s Supper. I’ve long thought that a marvelous practice, and it’s given me many special moments with saints preparing to go home to heaven. Simeon took Jesus into his arms and sang. So also, in the Sacrament of the Altar, we receive Jesus and sing. Life is complete. Anything more is just free time.
Simeon could now depart in peace. He could depart in peace because he had the Word fulfilled. His eyes had seen salvation because they had seen Jesus. And this salvation wasn’t just for him. This salvation was for all peoples, Jew and Gentile alike. This child, the glory of Israel, would unite all peoples in his person and work. Simeon was content. Simeon was ready. Simeon was at peace.
The Presentation of Our Lord is one of the oldest feasts in the church calendar, one of the twelve great feasts in the East. In the West, Candlemas, as this festival has been called, brought the Christmas season to an end. Candles were lit in the darkness of winter as a reminder that even then, the light of Christ shone, the light that even death can’t extinguish, the light that Simeon took in his arms, the light that moved him to song. It was and is a big deal. And you celebrate it every single time you receive Christ’s body and blood yourself.
Have you ever heard of a bucket list? Do you have one: a list of things to do or see before you die? Something on mine would be a Lions Super Bowl victory. Like Simeon, though, I’ve been waiting a long time, and I’ve certainly become an old man. What about you? What’s on your bucket list? What will make your life fulfilling? What will make you ready to die? What will give you the peace of knowing you’ve lived the life you were meant to live?
Christians don’t need a bucket list. We’ve got the whole bucket: the Word fulfilled, life fulfilled, and life in full. That doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy other things in life. I certainly will enjoy it if my Lions win a Super Bowl sometime. But it does mean that all the rest of life is free time, a bonus, gifts on gifts on the Gift. It means that we can enjoy those things rather than turning them into idols. We can receive them from God instead of turning them into gods because God has become Man and come to his temple, because he shed his blood for us, because his name is Jesus, “Savior,” and because, like Simeon, we have taken hold of him in Word and sacrament.
How about that? Life isn’t a treadmill. Life is a walk in a garden planted by another for us, full of the blossoms of the great Vine. Simeon realized that when the Holy Spirit got hold of him. I pray the Spirit grants us the same realization and joy.
How old was Simeon? I don’t know, but his song never ages. And one day, when we meet him, in that Christ he held, in that Christ we’ve held, we will all be forever young in the place for which the temple was but a shadow.
Simeon told Mary a sword would pierce her soul. I remember seeing a striking statue depicting this in Germany. A giant sword afflicted Mary, and she looked duly sorrowful. However, if I were a sculptor, I think I would do it differently. There would be an almost mischievous smile on her face, and her eyes would be looking, not down at the sword, but with joy to the resurrection. Yes, Mary did witness what I am sure was sadness beyond anything I can imagine at the death of her Son on the cross. But she also saw the consolation of Israel, the redemption of mankind, and God did not close her eyes then but left them open for Easter Sunday, for the light that never goes out.
I pray every day is Candlemas for you. I pray that the joy of Simeon at holding the Christ never wears off, even in the midst of sadness. I pray we all grow old, but remain forever young, in this Child, Jesus, he who saves, Word fulfilled and the light undiminished.
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