Word for the day by Christian Education Forum

 A dream Realized and a prophecy fulfilled by the presence of the Baby Jesus.

Luke 2:  Verse 28-30 “Then took he him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said,
29 Lord, now you are letting thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: 30 for mine eyes have seen thy salvation,”

Luke’s Gospel has been called” the Gospel of little folk will always love best’. In chapter two he reveals five individuals who obeyed God’s word and were blessed because of it. The first two were Mary and Joseph. They obeyed the law of God. They were poor, and yet they obeyed the law and custom according to the law of Mosses. The other two couples who obeyed God’s word were Simeon and Anna.
    Simeon obeyed God’s word and waited for Jesus. In Luke 2: v25a. “And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon,” Here we can see two of his physical characteristics.1. He lives in Jerusalem .2. His name was Simeon, which means, God has heard. God has heard his prayer.
    The spiritual characteristics of Simeon were more important. Luke2:25b” and this man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” 
The word righteous just shows his obedience to the Word towards other people. The word devout expresses his obedience to the Word towards God.
Secondly, Simeon was waiting for the consolation of Israel. The consolation of Israel is a reference for Jesus and is a frequent message found in Isaiah 40-66. Isaiah says, the Messiah would come and Simeon was waiting for him.
The third spiritual characteristic of Simeon was that the Holy Spirit was upon him. This man was guided by the Holy Spirit, which was not common for all at that time. At the time of the crucifixion of Jesus, he promised that he will send the Holy Spirit to dwell upon us and He came upon the people on the day of Pentecost. The Holy Spit revealed to him that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.
In this gospel portion, we can see that Jesus was undergoing three ancient Jewish ceremonies, which should be observed by all Jewish males.
Circumcision. Every Jewish male was circumcised on the eighth day after his birth and on that day boy received his name.
The redemption of the firstborn.  According to the law (ex.13.2), every firstborn male in human and cattle are sacred to God.
The purification of childbirth. After the childbirth, the lady has to do the purification ceremony offering, if it is a boy after forty days, if it is a girl after eighty days, prior to entry in the temple (Levit. 12). All these three ceremonies are strange but show that the child is the gift of God.
                Simeon had been told by God that he would not die until Jesus Christ, the Messiah came. Simeon was waiting for the fulfillment of God’s promise. This is what we can see in the words of Simeon in verses 28-30. He recognized that his life of waiting for the Messiah was according to the word of the Lord. In verse 30, Simeon is ready to depart because he has seen the promised salvation and his dream has been realized.
         Let us examine our lives in the light of the life of these couples. Are we righteous and blameless in front of God and others? God choose the righteous and blameless for the proclamation of His message to the world. Do we have the guidance and control of the Holy Spirit? Let the good Lord help us to experience the presence of the Messiah in and through our lives.


                                                Prayer
O God our creator and sustainer enable us to experience your presence in our lives each day and express your love in and through us to the world. Amen.

                                     Thought for the Day

“The birth of every child shows the utmost care and concern of God towards His creation” (a declaration of the world children’s day)

                                       P.T. Mathew,
                Mar Thoma Church of Dallas, farmers Branch

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