Word of Salvation – January 2025

 

AGEING WELL GOD’S WAY (4): HOPE (Simeon and Anna)

 

Sermon by Rev Steve Voorwinde on Luke 2:25-38

Scripture Reading: Luke 2:25-38

 

Introduction

What does the Bible say about ageing well? This is the question we have been considering in this mini-series of messages. What are some of the lessons we can learn from the people that the Bible refers to as being ‘old’?

• From the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, we learned that their stand-out feature was faith.
• In Samuel’s case it was having a good conscience.
• And from the Proverbs we learned about wisdom.

In the Bible these are some of the essentials for ageing well. We need faith in God. We need a clear conscience. We also need wisdom.

But now what about Simeon and Anna, who we have just read about in Luke 2? What can we learn from them?

All we know about them is from the passage that has just been read. They are mentioned nowhere else in the Bible.  Clearly, they were both old. There is every indication that Simeon is coming to the end of his life, although we are not told exactly how old he is. Anna is 84 and she is described as “very old” (v. 36). She had been married for only seven years and then remained a widow. Now how long would that have been? When you think that in the first century Jewish girls usually married when they were still in their teens, let’s imagine that Anna married when she was 17. That would make her 24 when her husband died seven years later. That meant she had been a widow for sixty years! A number of you here are widows, but are there any here who have been widows for sixty years? That’s a long time to be on your own.

Apart from both being old, Anna and Simeon are quite different. He was a man; she was a woman. Simeon is introduced simply as “a man in Jerusalem” (v. 25). That’s all he was – no titles, no office, just a man. Anna, on the other hand, is introduced as “a prophetess” (v. 36). She did have a title and an office. She was one of the few women in the Bible who is called a prophetess – someone through whom God spoke to his people. Simeon is just an ordinary man. Anna is someone special.

But in their lives, Simeon and Anna had three very important qualities in common:

1. Firstly, they were both genuinely godly people.

 

1. Simeon is described as “righteous and devout” (v. 25). ‘Righteous’ describes his relationship with other people. He was on good terms with others. He treated them with respect. In his dealings he was fair and just. He behaved well towards his fellow human beings. Horizontally his relationships were what they should be. But he was also ‘devout.’ He was devoted God. He was a God-fearing man. He honoured God in his worship, through his prayers, and throughout his daily life. His vertical relationship with God was also as it should be.

This old man Simeon should also be an example for us. Are our relationships in a good state – both vertically (with God) and horizontally (with other people)? Are all our relationships what they should be? That’s another factor in ageing well – to be on good terms with God and, as far as possible, to also be on good terms with our fellow human beings.

2. Then we have Anna. In her own way, she was also ‘righteous and devout’. We are told that “she never left the temple but worshipped night and day, fasting and praying” (v. 37b). This may mean that she had her own quarters in the temple area. But it could also mean that she was very faithful in attending worship. She never missed a service. She was like many of you here who come to worship services week after week without fail. It says, she “worshipped night and day.” In other words, she went to morning services and to evening services as well. She never missed a beat.

It also says that she was “fasting and praying”. Now, I’m not sure I should recommend fasting in a context like this. It may not be good for your health. You may be on too many medications that say, “Take with food.” But even if you can’t fast, you can always pray. Maybe you are lying awake at night and can’t sleep. You can always pray. Your eyesight may be too far gone to read the Bible for yourself. But you can always pray. You can pray for your family. You can pray for all the people here. You can pray for these services. You can pray for all of us who lead these services. You can pray for everybody you know. There are no limits to prayer.

We all know that as older people we have a reputation for complaining a lot and being grumpy. But it doesn’t have to be that way. As a friend of mine once said, “If only people prayed as much as they grumbled, they would soon have nothing to grumble about.” So, be like Simeon and Anna, who were “righteous and devout.”

1. Secondly, they also had the Holy Spirit.

 

1. Simeon was endowed with the Holy Spirit in what looks like a permanent way. It says of Simeon that “the Holy Spirit was upon him” (v. 25). Then, in the very next sentence, we are told that “it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (v. 26). Somehow the Holy Spirit had told him that he would live to see the promised Messiah with his own eyes. Then at just the right moment he was “moved by the Spirit and went into the temple courts” (v. 27). There he saw Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus. In his excitement he took the baby into his arms.

Now let’s pause here for a moment. What do we say when we meet a newborn baby for the first time? Now maybe it’s because I’m a man, but I have never quite known what to say. You might hear people say, “O, isn’t she just gorgeous!” Or if it’s a boy, “Mary, he’s got your beautiful brown eyes!” But what do you say when you first see an ugly baby? When our son was born, he was quite ugly. His head was so big, he had to be pulled out by ventrouse suction. Then when he came out, his head was all misshapen, and he looked a mess. The poor little guy was a sight to behold. My wife even said to the doctor, “Can you put him back and I’ll try again?” But then it was interesting to hear what people said when they came to visit: “What a boy!” “O, doesn’t he look like a real boy?” “You’ve got a real footballer there, Steve.” That gave me some ideas for the next time I met an ugly baby boy. I still don’t know what to say when I see an ugly baby girl. Some women I have spoken to insist there is no such thing as an ugly baby girl. Maybe they’re right.

But Simeon doesn’t have problems with any of this. He has no time for niceties or pleasantries. He says some of the most meaningful things that have ever been spoken about a baby. With the Spirit upon him, he begins like this:

“Now, Lord, you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word” (v. 29). In other words, now he is prepared to die. He’s ready for death. He’s asking God to take him. But why?

“For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all the peoples” (vv. 30-31). How can he say that? All he has seen is two poor, ordinary parents and their baby. All he has done is hold that little baby in his arms. So how has he seen God’s salvation? He has seen it through the eyes of faith, because the baby boy he is holding in his arms is none other than the Saviour himself.

Then Simeon goes on to describe that Saviour as “the light of revelation for the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel” (v. 32). Jesus is the light of the world. The people who lived in darkness have seen a great light. Because Jesus is that light, he is also the glory of his people Israel. How perfectly Simeon describes Jesus. He is God’s salvation; he is the light of the Gentiles; and he is the glory of Israel.

But what Simeon says is not all sweetness and light. He now turns to Mary and has some words especially for her:

“This child is destined to cause the rising and falling of many in Israel” (v. 34). Not everyone will believe. Many will reject him. Simeon continues, “he will be a sign that will be spoken against” (v. 34). He will have to cope with a lot of opposition. So much so that Simeon says to Mary, “a sword will pierce your own soul too” (v. 35).

Those of you who are mothers here, has your soul ever been pierced? As a mother, have you ever been stabbed in the heart? It usually happens when your child lets you down in a big way. Or perhaps when they have done something really bad – when they cheated on a spouse, when they’ve lied to you and deceived you, or when they have committed a crime. All of those disappointments would really hurt, and hurt deeply. But of course, that’s not why Mary was stabbed in the heart. Do you know how her soul was pierced? It was when she saw Jesus being nailed to the cross. That’s what it cost him, that’s what it cost her, for our salvation to be won.

It is through his blood shed on the cross that we are saved. It is on that cross that Jesus became a light of revelation to the Gentiles. Is on the cross that he also became the glory of his people Israel. This was the salvation that God prepared in the sight of all the peoples.

2. Simeon had the Holy Spirit, so he could prophesy what would later happen to the baby Jesus. Anna was a prophetess. So, she also had the Holy Spirit. As a prophetess, she stood in a tradition that went all the way back to the time of Moses. His sister Miriam was a prophetess (Exod 15:20). Then there was also Deborah, the warrior woman at the time of the judges (Judges 4:4). Another prophetess was Hulda in the days of the kings (2 Kings 22:14; 2 Chron 34:24). Finally, there was also the wife of Isaiah the prophet (Isa 8:3). They must have been quite the couple, “a power couple” we might say. He was the prophet, and she was the prophetess.

These were the only prophetesses in the Old Testament. Anna is the only prophetess in the New Testament. And in one important sense, Anna is different from all the others. They had all looked forward as they prophesied. Anna had the great privilege of announcing the fulfilment of prophecy. She “spoke about Jesus to all those who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (v. 38). She was announcing that this little baby was in fact the Redeemer they had been waiting for.

1. Thirdly, Simeon and Anna both lived lives of hope. Someone said to me recently, “If you don’t have hope, you have nothing.” And how true that is, especially for the seniors in our community. Now, in the Bible Simeon and Anna are great examples of older people who have hope.

 

1. Let’s begin again with Simeon. Luke tells us that he was “waiting for the consolation of Israel” (v. 25). A couple of weeks ago, our family went to hear Handel’s ‘Messiah’. It was performed by the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and it was simply beautiful. Some of you may remember how it starts, “‘Comfort ye, comfort ye, my people,’ says your God.” It’s from the prophecy of Isaiah in the Old Testament (Isa 40:1), which then goes on to foretell the coming of Christ. Jesus is the Messiah who will console and comfort his people. So, Simeon is one whose hopes would be fulfilled by the coming of the Messiah.
2. Then there was Anna and those around her who were “waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem” (v. 38). Again, this was the fulfilment of a prophecy by Isaiah,

“Break forth, shout joyfully together,

You waste places of Jerusalem;

For the LORD has comforted his people,

He has redeemed Jerusalem” (Isa 52:9).

Simeon was waiting for “the consolation of Israel.” Anna was “waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.” When you look at both in the light of Isaiah’s prophecy, then what they were both waiting and hoping for was the same. It was the coming of the Messiah. It was the arrival of the Christ. It was the birth of Jesus.

People who have hope are people who are prepared to wait. That’s what you see at this time of year in young children: “Mum, Dad, how many sleeps till Christmas?” They know something good is going to happen. They live in hope. They can’t wait for the day to come, but they learn to wait, because they know for sure that it’s coming.

That’s what it was like for Simeon and Anna. They had spent their whole lives waiting for the Messiah, and when they saw the infant Jesus, they knew that the Messiah had come. This is what they had been hoping and praying for. They had hoped for the coming of Christ and now that hope had become a reality.

3. So, let me ask you: What are you hoping for in life? Or should I perhaps be asking; do you have any hopes left at this late stage in your life?

• Are you perhaps hoping that you will see all your family this Christmas?
• Or are you perhaps hoping for the doctor to come up with a cure for your chronic illness and unbearable pain?
• Or maybe you are simply hoping that 2025 will be happier and healthier for you than 2024.

If you are hoping for any of these things, then I hope that your hopes will be fulfilled. I have similar hopes myself. But did you know that there is one hope that will never disappoint? Simeon and Anna were hoping and waiting for Christ’s first coming. Our hope is in his coming again. That’s the greatest hope that anyone could ever have. When Jesus returns, that’s when all things will be made new. That’s when every tear will be wiped away. That’s when there will be no more mourning or crying or pain. The Saviour who loved us enough to die for us on that painful cross will come one day to take us home. That’s when our hopes will be fulfilled. Our dreams will come true. Our waiting will have been worth it. Jesus will give us our new bodies, bodies that don’t ache anymore, bodies that won’t hurt anymore, bodies that will never die.

Conclusion

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had faith.

Samuel had a good conscience.

The old people in Proverbs had wisdom.

Simeon and Anna had hope.

Faith, a good conscience, wisdom and hope – if you already have them, you can always ask for more. If you don’t have them, ask God for them today. It will be the best Christmas present you ever received in your life!