Each time I hear these words [of Simeon], I – as I imagine Mary and Joseph did – grow strangely uncomfortable. Listen to them again: “Lord, now you let your servant go in peace; your word has been fulfilled. My own eyes have seen the salvation which you have prepared in the sight of every people, a light to reveal you to the nations and the glory of your people Israel.” Beautiful words, to be sure, but also troubling, for let’s not kid ourselves, when Simeon asks that he be allowed to go, he’s asking to die.
And so, I wonder, why does Luke record this strange scene and song? Why would he move from the beauty and light and joy of the nativity straight to Simeon’s morbid request for death?
Take note: St. Luke is clear that Simeon is able to speak of death so honestly only in the light of the coming of the promised messiah, only, that is, by the confidence that in this helpless child God has come to redeem Israel and save all the world… Simeon perceives that in the Christ-child God has kept God’s promises; that in this babe, set for the rising and fall of many, God has acted once and for all to address the question and specter of death with the promise of life.
And so, Simeon does not ask for death; rather, he accepts it courageously and confidently in the light of God’s promised salvation. And he does so only upon seeing and holding God’s promise in his hands, only after touching and feeling the promise of life which God granted to him through Christ… and which God grants also to us.
And so, we continue singing Simeon’s song simply because it tells of God’s great love for us, a love that even death cannot destroy. For, like Simeon, we also need to hear and see and touch and feel God’s promise, the promise that God will be with us and for us forever, the promise announced in the birth of that innocent babe.
--David Lose
Image source: http://ohclectionary.blogspot.com/2014/02/presentation-of-jesus-in-temple-feb-2.html
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