The Meeting of the Lord
2nd of February, The Meeting of The Lord
Hebrews 7:7-17; Luke 2:22-40
"Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word; For my eyes have seen Your salvation, Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples, A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel." (Luke 2:29-32)
This is what the righteous Simeon said when, guided by the Holy Spirit, he met and took the Child Jesus in his arms. Physically, bodily, Simeon saw only a child, but the same Holy Spirit made him feel and recognize that he was holding the future Saviour of the world.
The Jews were waiting for the Messiah, an earthly, powerful king who would free their land from the domination of foreigners, but that group of Jews directed all their desires to regaining state and national independence, and stopped thinking and striving for spiritual renewal and salvation in God. Thus, Simeon was a certain exception from the midst of his people.
He sees in the Child Jesus the Saviour from moral and spiritual destruction, the Saviour from the domination of sinfulness over people. In the person of Jesus, Simeon sees with his spiritual eyes the One who has prepared the salvation of all nations, not just the Israelite nation. Glory will be due to that nation, but, looking ahead, we no longer know how to define that glory given their attitude and actions toward that Saviour, Jesus Christ.
Yet, despite the cruel actions of the god-fighters, the opponents of Christ, He did become a light to the enlightenment of the nations, as Simeon prophetically testified. The light of Christ, the divine gospel teaching of Jesus Christ, continues to enlighten different nations of different continents of the world.
When Simeon spoke about the saving role of Jesus, his parents were surprised. The Gospel states:
"And Joseph and His mother marveled at those things which were spoken of Him." (Luke 2:33)
But the great righteous man delves into his spiritual vision even further and says to Jesus' mother:
"Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against, (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed." (Luke 2:34-35)
That fall and the controversy about Christ went beyond the geographical boundaries of Israel, they reached the whole world.
The Saviour came for all, but not all will benefit from Him. Some will believe and find in Him a great spiritual treasure for their souls, but for the unbelievers He is a stumbling block and a temptation (1 Peter 2:8).
Some will rise and be saved; others will fall and perish. Some will believe that
"He is good," while others will say... "No, on the contrary, He deceives the people." (John 7:12)
Some will say:
"This is the Christ," and others: "Will the Christ come out of Galilee?" (John 7:41)
Unbelievers and hypocrites will hand Him over to death, but even after His death He will rise on the third day and those who believe will be saved.
Those who believe but are faint will come to Him, and He will comfort them, as He promised (Matthew 11:28), while the unbelievers go on, heading for their destruction.
Christ continues to be the subject of controversy, and many people fall in that controversy; those who try to humiliate Christ will certainly fall.
Sometimes people ask: How long will this dispute last and why?
- We do not have a ready answer, but we can only say that all the time it is being fulfilled, what was said and predicted by the righteous Simeon. There is controversy because the struggle between good and evil, between truth and falsehood, between light and darkness, continues.
The forces of evil sometimes triumph, just as they triumphed and rejoiced when Christ died on the cross... Once upon a time, the Arians rejoiced, who denied Jesus Christ as God, who propagated that He was not begotten but created from God and therefore could not be equally glorified with the Father. The Arians had achieved great power - they had taken over the imperial court in Constantinople and the shrines in the empire - but who hears about them now?
The contemporary so-called Jehovah's Witnesses are to some extent a branch of Arianism, for even if they admit that Jesus Christ is God, they concede that He is a lower-case god, a god of a lower degree, something equivalent to the archangel Michael
In the end, I wish to draw your attention to the spiritual beauty of the righteous Simeon, who could say "Now you release..." with calmness and with faith in the fulfillment of the mission of salvation by Jesus Christ, even though at that time He was still a baby. In all his words and actions, we can feel great dignity, dignity in the fulfillment of his duty.
We are not interested in what kind of lips, hair, or legs the righteous Simeon had; we are struck by his spiritual beauty. Likewise, in our day and age, we are pleased when we encounter older persons who do not retouch their gray hair, their wrinkles, but endeavour to be truly themselves...
Similarly, may we too not create simulations of ourselves, either in body or in spirit, but rather, fulfill our calling and our responsibilities to God and our people in every age. A great scholar, Dr. Alexis Carrel, wrote:
"The beauty of youth comes from the natural harmony of the face. In an older person, beauty radiates from his soul."
The beauty of youth and young people is a gift from the Creator, while the beauty of an older person is reflected in the result of his life and worthy activity. Let us also try to acquire the beauty that radiates from our souls.
Amen.
Very Rev. Fr. Taras Slavchenko
Taras Slavchenko was born on March 8, 1918 in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk region in Ukraine. After graduating from school and the Pedagogical College, he entered the language and literature faculty of the Scientific Pedagogical Institute. Having successfully completed it in 1938, he served as a teacher in a secondary school.