Saturday, January 3, 2009
Luke 2:33-40

I’m wishing I had another week to blog on this one text. (You’re probably glad I don’t!) There are two things that catch my mind and heart. The first is verse 34 as Simeon blesses them. We think of a blessing as having all good and pleasant things in it yet Simeon’s blessings harbors a chilling note. It’s what he said to Mary at the very end of his blessing: “And a sword will pierce your own soul too.”

I don’t like blessings like that. I like Mr. Spock from Star Trek blessings “Live Long and Prosper”. The sound of that one’s much more appealing. The reality is that even if one lives long and prospers there will be some really hard places along the way.

For Mary, she would come to know not only unspeakable joy but unfathomable sorrow. Indeed at the foot of the cross watching her son die would have brought the pain of grief that now sword could equal. I wonder too if that piercing sword would have been present as she watched people turn away from Jesus’ offer of life and even turn on him with betrayal and denial.

At the moment of Simeon’s dark blessing another figure interrupts. It’s Anna. She’s another “goldie oldie” that hangs out at the Temple. It’s clear that she is one of those “saints of God” that every congregation has. She has a heart for God and God’s ways and wants nothing but God’s purpose to be fulfilled on earth. She’s heard about Simeon’s recognition of this child’s divine destiny and has come to see for herself. Giving thanks to God she then tells others about what she has experienced.

That’s the second thing that catches me. She shared her experience with others. It didn’t matter whether they believed it or not. What mattered was that she shared it. That was the faithful thing to do.

Simeon and Anna Both challenge me. Simeon challenges me to expect the “soul piercing sword.” Life is hard. Living a life faithful to God is harder still. There will be hard times, set backs, disappointments, discouragements, maybe even betrayals and denials. We aren’t promised that a faithful life will be easy. We are promised power to endure and overcome.

That’s where Anna came into view. She knew what it was to face the hard places and she didn’t deny them. She, in the face of them, still looked for what yet God would go. When she experienced it, she shared it. Maybe true faithfulness is sharing all of life: the good, the bad, and the ugly, and how we’ve experienced God in all of it.

Prayer: While I don’t pray for the challenge to come, I know they will. May I look first and always to you God and then share my journey – the good, the bad, and the ugly – that others may know God through me. Amen.

Blessings,
Ken