'Eyes Wide Open'
“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, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God saying… ‘Sovereign Lord…my eyes have seen your salvation.’” (Luke 2:27-28)
How could he know who Jesus was? So few people had witnessed Jesus’ birth, the angels, the shepherds’ stories, or saw the magi. After 40 days, this would be old news as people got back to their lives. How did Simeon see that Jesus was God’s salvation?
Simeon had not seen an angel like Zechariah and Mary. He wasn’t given a dream like Joseph was. He didn’t have a heavenly chorus sing to him like the shepherds. He didn’t see a star in the sky like the magi did. Simeon wasn’t a priest or a Levi. He didn’t work at the Temple, but he did pray there regularly. The story of Simeon begins by describing him as a ‘righteous and devout’ man. Being righteous meant that Simeon sought to live out God’s commands of obligations, justice, and mercy. His life was ordered around the will of God. Being a devote man, Simeon tended to the practices of the faith – hearing the scriptures read, memorizing them, meditating on them, making sacrifice, worshipping, fasting, giving to the poor, etc. In the practices of the faith, Simeon would be transformed and begin to see more fully who the God of his ancestors was. It was precisely because he was a righteous and devout man that the Spirit moved him to recognize that this baby would cause the rising and falling of nations and reveal the hearts of people. Simeon was able to see God’s salvation in a baby. He saw what God would do. In a sense, he saw and celebrated God’s powerful work in the future. Simeon probably didn’t see it fulfilled, but he trusted what the Spirit said to him.
Most of us are like Simeon. We will never see an angel or have a dream that was undeniably from God. We won’t see a star in the sky that sings the glory of God and declares God’s great work. Don’t get me wrong, some of us will have those experiences and are blessed to have them. However, the main way we are ‘moved by the Spirit’ and hear God’s voice is through being righteous and devout. The primary way in which we hear God’s voice is when we do what God asks of us in scripture. We begin to understand the heart of God when we do so. When we are devout and participate in the practices of the faith, we hear God’s voice most clearly. Do you want to hear the voice of God and be moved by the Holy Spirit like Simeon? It is simple, organize your life around the will of God and engage the ordinary, daily practices of faith.
May God’s Spirit move you in 2025.
Blessings,
Jonathan