Leaving the Year in Peace- Simeon Lk 2:25-35 12/27/09
We are slap in the middle of college football bowl season. It dominates the airwaves this time of year, along with the best of and the worst of articles and shows. There are 34 College Football Bowl Subdivision bowl games between December 19 and January 7. At each game, one team leaves the field in peace and joy with hope for the future, and the other leaves the field in mourning and a “Maybe next year” on its lips. Some say that when a team wins a bowl game they not only have better recruiting for the future but they work harder in the off season. Our games mimic our lives. Some will leave this year- 2009 with hope, peace, and joy; others will look back on this year with deep regret and despair. The difference, in life is it is not how you play the game- but are you on the winning side. Are you on God’s side- or are you trying to slog and fight your way through life on your own? Simeon gives us a glimpse of an answer. He was able to leave things in peace. His soul was satisfied. Let’s look at why.
Simeon was faithful- So God was faithful to him. Simeon was waiting it said. Waiting faithfully for the Lord.
The Bible says that those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength and shall mount up with wings like eagles.
There are two kinds of peace the world gives- it is the peace of ignorance- sometimes on purpose people hide their head in the sand and pretend they will live in this life forever The second kind of peace is the peace of silence or death: not disturbing anyone or anything; isolating ourselves in our spiritual coffins so we don’t hurt anyone and no one hurts us- being a rock or an island. When the world says “rest in peace” it just means you’re dead. I don’t know about you but that’s not the kind of peace I’m looking for. Simeon was looking for a child of peace. He was not living for the here and now. He was not in despair, but was waiting. Simeon was one of the rare people- one of the remnant of his day. All the Bible says about him was “Behold there was a man”- it’s saying – stop and look (kai idou) a man who had two qualities- he was righteous and devout. He was rare indeed, and would be rare in our day as well. He was waiting- and he was waiting in peace. What does it mean to wait on the Lord- two thing: 1) Not giving into the world; and 2) believing that God rewards the righteous. Today there are many people who are tired of waiting on the Lord- they don’t believe God hears or sees- and when you stop waiting on God- you wait for nothing- your life has just become a nothing- your own private hell. They are not waiting on God but wallowing in despair. Maybe some of you here today are like that. Maybe some of you are on the edge of giving up. One of the movies I watch every year is “It’s a Wonderful Life” and it reminds me of two important things- that we shouldn’t give up, and that God is watching out for us, and is not blind to our problems or the good we do.
Simeon prophesied a hope for joy- Joy to some and undoing for others. Pharisees would not let Christ be their joy because wanted to be too controlling. Joy in the Lord comes from knowing God intimately. The joy of the Lord is our strength- and we need some strength. If you had a choice of having joy or having despair, what would you purposefully choose. But when we choose to not trust in God- to not hope in Him, we choose despair. Yesterday, the winningest coach in the FBS (84%), Florida football coach Urban Meyer, resigned. He is 45 but he has health problems. He has reached the pinnacle of his career but he said he needed to refocus on his health, his faith and his family. CNN commented on this story by saying, in contrast is 80 year old Bobby Bowden who, when asked how he lasted so long said, “Never make football your God.” While we don’t presume Meyer did, hopefully we see the danger of investing ourselves solely in good things- like work- instead of the best thing- our true God.
Today we are at the end of a year. It is a tough year in so many respects, and for so many families. It has been the worst year economically since the great depression. I probably will always remember this as the year we did the swine flu bump in church. Whenever there is stress, people tend to get angry, lost their temper, and say or do things that they regret later. I am not going to ask, “How many of you have irritated someone over the holidays?” So,.. don’t raise your hands. But it is important as you leave the old year behind, that you can leave your past behind, and let the old year depart in peace. The way we have hope for the coming year in our relationships is to forgive those who have hurt us or ask forgiveness of those we have hurt in the past. The Bible says that we should seek forgiveness, and seek to be forgiven. Simeon was ready to depart in peace because he was pious, righteous and had a clear conscience.
Simeon found peace. Not that all was right with his world, but that he had found hope. If you were on your death bed, what would take away your true peace? What would keep you from saying, “Now your servant may depart in peace?”
Every believer has a right to depart this life in peace. Every believer has seen/experienced God’s salvation. Every believer has experienced the same peace Simeon has. Simeon had a promise that he would depart in peace, and we have that same promise. There have been people who have kept tract for years of famous saints and famous sinners and their last words.
Peter Cartiwright was perhaps the greatest preacher on the American frontier. His widow was speaking in church, and said that she missed her husband but she was at peace. She said the last three weeks were the best of her life, and she talked about how much her faith meant to her. She said she was only now “waiting for the chariot.” When worship was over, everyone got up to leave but Mrs. Cartwright. The minister went to check on her and then told those gathered around, “The chariot has arrived.” If you knew you were going to die today could you depart in peace- or is your soul still not at peace with God? We have progressed technologically, and in communications and our knowledge of how things work and have worked. But it is a shallow progression, that needs the depth of spirituality and a moral compass—and a basis for eternal hope.
Andrew Delbanco in The Real American Dream: Meditation in Hope argues that “our hope is a measure of our greatness. When our hopes shrink, we ourselves are diminished.” Delbanco thinks our hopes have shrunk a lot recently, to the point where we are self-pampering. Psychologists tell us that hopelessness is the seedbed of depression and destruction. On an international level we see this in some rejoicing over the destruction of the twin towers in 2001. But our hope is not based solely on our ability to have tall buildings and a strong economy and stock market. If that is where our hope lies, then we can have our hopes snatched from us- just as the Grinch thought he could steal Christmas by stealing presents. But the hope of the world lies in God. It is most evident in a baby being born. Simeon saw that hope, and he declared Jesus as the light of the world. As we end one year, let us go into the new one with our heads held high in hope. Not hope that the government will save us, or just a naive optimism for the future- but hope in what cannot be taken away- hope in the living God.