Simeon
“And suddenly there will come to the temple
the LORD whom you seek,
And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.
Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.”
The Jewish people had been waiting thousands of years for the coming of the Messiah. I’m sure some of them gave up, but most of them just kept waiting. They had great faith.
In today’s Gospel we meet Simeon. Simeon may be my favorite character in the entire Bible. More than any other character in Scripture, Simeon represents us. Like the other good Jews, Simeon was waiting for the Messiah to come. But, he KNEW that he would actually see him. The Holy Spirit had told him so. So, when he saw Mary and Joseph and the baby in the temple, he knew that it was Him.
He held the child and then said “that’s it. I’ve seen Him. Now I’m ready to leave this world.”
You have to wonder how many times Simeon’s faith was tested. How many times was he tempted to give up hope? After all it had been thousands of years. He’d personally waited his entire life. Surely Satan whispered in his ear many time, “Why do you keep waiting? He hasn’t come in all these centuries, what makes you think He’s coming in your lifetime? God has tricked you. Give it up.”
Aren’t we all like Simeon? We face temptations and challenges to our faith every day. It seems like the more faith we have, the more our faith is tested. People with little or no faith are never tested because there’s nothing to test.
If we look around us we see that Satan’s alive and well. He’s everywhere. Nothing makes him happier than to challenge someone’s faith and win. We all have to be on our guard, every single day because we can’t fight evil off by ourselves. We need God’s help. That’s why our faith is so often challenged. If we lose our faith, we’re helpless against evil. We’re helpless against sin. The devil wins.
Simeon held onto his faith and was rewarded by seeing Jesus face to face. Like I said, Simeon represents you and me.
the LORD whom you seek,
And the messenger of the covenant whom you desire.
Yes, he is coming, says the LORD of hosts.”
The Jewish people had been waiting thousands of years for the coming of the Messiah. I’m sure some of them gave up, but most of them just kept waiting. They had great faith.
In today’s Gospel we meet Simeon. Simeon may be my favorite character in the entire Bible. More than any other character in Scripture, Simeon represents us. Like the other good Jews, Simeon was waiting for the Messiah to come. But, he KNEW that he would actually see him. The Holy Spirit had told him so. So, when he saw Mary and Joseph and the baby in the temple, he knew that it was Him.
He held the child and then said “that’s it. I’ve seen Him. Now I’m ready to leave this world.”
You have to wonder how many times Simeon’s faith was tested. How many times was he tempted to give up hope? After all it had been thousands of years. He’d personally waited his entire life. Surely Satan whispered in his ear many time, “Why do you keep waiting? He hasn’t come in all these centuries, what makes you think He’s coming in your lifetime? God has tricked you. Give it up.”
Aren’t we all like Simeon? We face temptations and challenges to our faith every day. It seems like the more faith we have, the more our faith is tested. People with little or no faith are never tested because there’s nothing to test.
If we look around us we see that Satan’s alive and well. He’s everywhere. Nothing makes him happier than to challenge someone’s faith and win. We all have to be on our guard, every single day because we can’t fight evil off by ourselves. We need God’s help. That’s why our faith is so often challenged. If we lose our faith, we’re helpless against evil. We’re helpless against sin. The devil wins.
Simeon held onto his faith and was rewarded by seeing Jesus face to face. Like I said, Simeon represents you and me.
posted by Mike at 10:28 AM
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