Daily Scripture: Luke 2:33 Yeshua’s father and mother were marvelling at the things Shim‘on was saying about him. 34 Shim‘on blessed them and said to the child’s mother, Miryam,
“This child will cause many in Isra’el to fall and to rise,
he will become a sign whom people will speak against;
35 moreover, a sword will pierce your own heart too.
All this will happen in order to reveal many people’s inmost thoughts.”
36 There was also a prophet named Hannah Bat-P’nu’el, of the tribe of Asher. She was a very old woman — she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage 37 and had remained a widow ever since; now she was eighty-four. She never left the Temple grounds but worshipped there night and day, fasting and praying. 38 She came by at that moment and began thanking God and speaking about the child to everyone who was waiting for Yerushalayim to be liberated.
Reflection Questions:The elderly Simeon was full of joy that the Savior had arrived. But he was perceptive, too, and he warned Mary that there were powerful people who would resist even a Savior sent from God. Another elderly saint, Anna, “approached at that very moment and began to praise God.” She and Simeon formed one of the first (and one of the smallest) “praise choirs” ever.
- ***Did you know? The Church of the Sepulchre in Jerusalem holds a sculpture of Mary pierced by a sword, a literal rendering of Simeon’s somber words. Click here to see this haunting image, which conveys the human price Mary paid to be the Messiah’s mother.
- Simeon warned Mary that she would see many reject Jesus, that pain like a sword would pierce her heart. We can only wonder if she may have remembered his words as she wept at the foot of Jesus' cross. What helps you trust God and live out God’s purposes when it’s not easy or popular? When has following God brought you pain, as well as positive benefits?
- Luke called Anna a prophet (verse 36). “Prophet” meant not so much one who tells the future as one who sees present spiritual realities clearly and speaks for God. When has “confirmation from the body of Christ” (the kind Simeon and Anna gave Joseph and Mary) given you the courage to move forward? When have you been able to encourage another Christ-follower?
Lord Jesus, just a baby in a Temple—and yet, just to get there, you were hurling yourself from the glory of heaven into a dark, dangerous world. And you did it to rescue and redeem me from that broken world—thank you. Amen.
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Wednesday, 30 December 2015 – Insights from Pastor Molly Simpson
Angela LaVallie is the Worship Logistics Program Director at Resurrection. However, her after-Christmas schedule prevented her from writing today.
Instead, we offer you a reflection that Pastor Molly Simpson wrote for Dec. 28, 2010, when she was the campus pastor for Resurrection’s West campus. This may take on even more meaning now, as the West campus is hard at work expanding the building to which Pastor Molly referred in her post 5 years ago.
It is often said that few people really understood the kind of king Jesus was to be. Most anticipated a Messiah with military might and a commanding presence so powerful that none would challenge his authority. I wonder what Mary and Joseph were anticipating. When they looked at their son, did they have ideas and dreams about what his future would hold? I wonder if Simeon’s words rattled them? Not necessarily his first words at recognizing the Lord’s Messiah, “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel,” but the words in verse 34, about Jesus causing the rising and falling of many and the sign to be spoken against.
There have been a few moments in my life in which I have had a profound experience with the Holy Spirit in a manner that follows this pattern–joy and blessing, followed by the lump in the back of my throat that is related to the weightiness of going where God leads. One of these moments was when I was praying for confirmation that we ought to proceed with a capital campaign and building project at our West campus in Olathe. There was the extreme joy of getting the opportunity to lead our congregation through such an awesome time… but along with that came the weight of responsibility of taking on a multi-million dollar project and the realization that this was going to demand more of my faith than perhaps anything I had ever been a part of. (We anticipate moving into that building in December 2011, by the way!)
Have you had an encounter like this with God? Have you experienced both the comfort and the discomfort that the leading of the Holy Spirit can cause? Excitement and trepidation?
Simeon’s blessing reminds us, even in this Christmas week, that the road that Jesus takes is both the most blessed and challenging way and that we have the opportunity to follow.
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The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Instead, we offer you a reflection that Pastor Molly Simpson wrote for Dec. 28, 2010, when she was the campus pastor for Resurrection’s West campus. This may take on even more meaning now, as the West campus is hard at work expanding the building to which Pastor Molly referred in her post 5 years ago.
It is often said that few people really understood the kind of king Jesus was to be. Most anticipated a Messiah with military might and a commanding presence so powerful that none would challenge his authority. I wonder what Mary and Joseph were anticipating. When they looked at their son, did they have ideas and dreams about what his future would hold? I wonder if Simeon’s words rattled them? Not necessarily his first words at recognizing the Lord’s Messiah, “a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel,” but the words in verse 34, about Jesus causing the rising and falling of many and the sign to be spoken against.
There have been a few moments in my life in which I have had a profound experience with the Holy Spirit in a manner that follows this pattern–joy and blessing, followed by the lump in the back of my throat that is related to the weightiness of going where God leads. One of these moments was when I was praying for confirmation that we ought to proceed with a capital campaign and building project at our West campus in Olathe. There was the extreme joy of getting the opportunity to lead our congregation through such an awesome time… but along with that came the weight of responsibility of taking on a multi-million dollar project and the realization that this was going to demand more of my faith than perhaps anything I had ever been a part of. (We anticipate moving into that building in December 2011, by the way!)
Have you had an encounter like this with God? Have you experienced both the comfort and the discomfort that the leading of the Holy Spirit can cause? Excitement and trepidation?
Simeon’s blessing reminds us, even in this Christmas week, that the road that Jesus takes is both the most blessed and challenging way and that we have the opportunity to follow.
---------------------
Download the GPS App
The United Methodist Church of the Resurrection
13720 Roe Avenue
Leawood, Kansas 66224, United States
913.897.0120---------------------
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