There is someone I love very dearly who has asked me . . . repeatedly . . . to stop by for an important meeting. It’s to plan her funeral. Oh I know she has it all planned and I know most of the details. But she wants to talk it through and to be honest, I’ve been avoiding the conversation. She is a bit more ready than I am.
Today we meet one of the Christmas stories greatest characters. He’s an old man. Loves children. And appears as happy and jolly as anyone to celebrate the arrival of Jesus. No. Not that guy. I’m talking about Simeon in our Gospel today. Simeon was an old man who was at the temple in Jerusalem the day Mary and Joseph brought the infant Jesus to offer the sacrifice that was required after the birth of their first born son. And once Simeon had seen with his own eyes that Jesus was born, he was ready to die.
See Simeon and God had an arrangement. The Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Messiah. As he was getting older, I’m sure Simeon thought to himself, “it could be any day!” Not knowing where else to go, he probably assumed that the temple – the place where God’s presence was revealed – would be the place to wait for him. Or perhaps he just happened to go there that day. We are told he was “guided by the Spirit.”
Simeon was waiting for God to keep his promise and when he saw Mary and Joseph come into the temple with an infant in their arms, the Holy Spirit whispered to Simeon, “That’s him!” And so Simeon grabbed the child and sang, “Lord, now you can let your servant go in peace. You kept your word. And I’ve seen it with my own eyes.” I wonder if Simeon died that very night. We’re not told. But he was ready. He was at peace.
Are you ready to go? Are you ready to be dismissed? No one wants to think about dying. Especially at this time of year. Christmas is all about a birth! But it’s about more than that. It’s about God keeping his promises to us. And it’s about being free to live . . . and prepared to die.
I’ll never forget my first meeting with an AAL insurance agent when we were first married. He was trying to sell me a life insurance product and he said, “Let’s say, God forbid, that you would go out on the road tonight and get hit by a truck and die. Have you provided for your family? Are you prepared for that?” At that moment I was not ready for that at all. At least that’s what I thought. He scared me, so I bought the Horizon plan which I still have today. But being ready to die in peace does not mean do you have enough life insurance coverage.
Simeon is ready to die because he found peace in Jesus, the fulfillment of God’s promise — much like many of the older people in our lives whom we all know and love. When Simeon saw Jesus he was at peace because he knew in this child, everything would be taken care of — not just in his birth, but ultimately in his death.
Simeon prophesied about the death of Jesus when he saw the baby, he said to Mary, “this child is destined for the falling and rising of many . . . and a sword will pierce your soul, too.” Yes, Jesus has a destiny that would take him to the cross and Mary would grieve for her Son, but in his death, everything would be taken care of. Every regret, every worry, every burden, every debt. God and sinners reconciled! And Simeon was given a glimpse of the complete fulfillment of God’s “salvation which he had prepared in the sight of all people.” After seeing Jesus – after holding Jesus in his arms – he knew all was accomplished and he experienced peace.
With Jesus in our world and in our lives and in our arms, we can be ready to die but Jesus also gives us freedom to live! That’s the good news! Not only has he accomplished everything to prepare us for our deaths, he has taken care of everything so that we can LIVE in peace. For some of us, it’s not death that spooks us, but life.
It’s living with unfinished business in our lives or work that feels too difficult or problems that feel too big. Some of us don’t worry about being ready to die but being ready for living through tomorrow or next week or the next year with worries of it’s own and scarier things to deal that for which we feel unprepared. But what Jesus did in fulfilling his destiny is for our life – it sets us free knowing that whatever we have to face we do it knowing that nothing we can do or fail to do will stop God from keeping his promises to us. Whether we live or die we rely on God’s love in Christ. Whether we live or die we hold on to Jesus knowing he is ours and we are his. God’s work is enough for us whether we live OR die.
What gives us freedom to live and peace to move forward is the fact that we belong to Jesus and he never lets us go. Paul says in our first reading, “God sent his son to redeem us from the law. So you are no longer a slave, but a child.” Jesus frees us from fear of death and the fears of living by making us his beloved children. It’s not so much that we have him in OUR grasp but that he has US in HIS. And so whatever we wake up to, whatever path the Spirit guides us on, whatever purpose he calls us to, we have his promises to support us and love us.
You are surely familiar with the prayer, “Now I lay me down to sleep” which includes the line, “If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.” For some kids, that might be a scary thought! Doesn’t make you want to go to sleep with the thought in your head that might die before you wake up! Or that someone is going to take your soul!
But here’s another version of that prayer that might remind us of God’s promises for us in life and death:
If I should die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take
If I should live another day
I pray the Lord to light my way.
And now may the God who always keeps his word, light your way and give you peace.
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