A Life of Waiting

Introduction

So what’s it like for you now that the waiting for Christmas is over?

Granted this is just the third day of Christmas. We still have nine days left before the Christmas season is over.

Was Christmas everything you had waited for?

waiting comes with expectations. You don’t wait for something unless you have expectations about what that something will be like.

Waiting for a child comes with expectations of what it will be like to have that child in your home. Think about all preparations people do to get a nursery ready. They are expectations tied to that nursery.

Waiting for the pandemic to get over comes with expectations.

Waiting for the Broncos to field a good team comes with expectations.

Your waiting for Christmas had expectations too. However, as is so often the case, not all of our expectations are met and there is this let down at the end of the waiting.

In the next few days we’ll do a lot of putting things away. We’ll take down the tree, put away the lights and decorations, only to wait for Christmas to come again next year.

Waiting is very much a part of Gospel reading today. The waiting was done by a people like you and me, only they weren’t waiting for Christmas. They were waiting for the consolation and redemption of Israel.

Transition: Let’s start by looking at a man who was waiting for the consolation of Israel. Let’s go back and read the story about Simeon (Luke 25-32)

Waiting for the Consolation of Israel

What do we know about Simeon? Let’s start by talking about what we don’t know. We don’t know how old he is. But we do know three things about him.

He was a righteous man. In other words, he lived his faith. He was a person of integrity. Those who know him in the temple probably knew him as a man of integrity. It might even be that many of the people admired him for his integrity.

He was a devout man. The difference between righteous and devout probably has more to do with his devotion to God. His faith was seen in his devotion to God, his reverence of God.

Luke also tells us that he was waiting for the consolation of Israel. What does that mean.

Let’s go to Isaiah 40:1-2

Many of us are waiting for the same thing that Simeon was waiting for. We are waiting for someone to speak tenderly to us.

waiting for our warfare to be over. Internal as well as external warfare.

waiting for pardon for the stupid mistakes that we’ve made.

Simeon found the answer to his waiting in the baby he now holds in his arms.

This baby is your consolation. Like Simeon we are invited again to take this baby in our arms and cradle him who comes as our consolation.

Transition: Simeon is not the only person who takes the child in his arms, but there is a widow who standing in the temple. The text doesn’t say that she literally took Jesus in her arms, but she understood who this baby was and couldn’t help but tell people who were waiting for the redemption of Israel. (Read Luke 2:36-38)

Waiting for the Redemption of Israel

As we did with Simeon, we need to take a moment and get to know this woman, this prophetess named Anna.

She was old, I mean really old. The ESV reads that she was 84. However, it is quite possible that she was actually around 105. Married as a teenager is possible that after her husband died she lived as a widow for 84 years.

She was known for her worship. If you made a trip to the temple in Jerusalem there would be a good chance that your would find her daily in the court of women in the temple grounds.

She was fasting

She was praying

She was waiting

Verse 38 gives us the impression that she heard Simeon or noticed the commotion that was being made by what he was saying. It was at that very hour that she points to Jesus.

She couldn’t wait to tell people who were waiting for the redemption of Israel about this child.

Who would those people be? Most everyone that was in the temple that day. Those who came were people like her waiting for Israel’s redeemer.

The wait is over. Israel’s, the world’s redeemer has come and it is found again this year in a baby.

Conclusion

It’s okay to put the decorations away. It’s okay to feel even a little bit disappointed that this Christmas didn’t turn out the way that we had expected it to. A year from now we’ll take out the decorations again. We will start the process of waiting again. You see, we live a life of waiting. We’re still waiting for this baby to return, only this time not in the arms of his parents, but in the splendor of his glory. May we take courage in our waiting knowing that our consolation and redemption has come. Amen.