Simeon and Anna Encounter The Babe – Jesus
- The picture Luke is drawing in Chapters 1 & 2 is of Jesus as the true world ruler:
- the Lord, the Messiah, the saviour,
- the real king of the world instead of Caesar.
- The People are awaiting the Messiah,
- But are picturing him as glowing, in royal colours,
- One who looks to conquer and bring glory to Israel,
- world dominion, power and majesty.
- But Luke does the opposite.
- He chooses sombre colours;
- and the more he fills in the picture the more we realize
- that Jesus’ Kingdom is different to that of Caesar Augustus.
- It is indeed the Messiah God had promised;
- But Luke wishes to forewarn that he doesn’t look like what people were expecting.
- Within this different picture to what the people expect
- People will always fail to recognise the true nature of the baby Jesus in the Temple.
- Yet what fascinates me in this story is that
- Simeon and Anna recognise who Jesus is.
- The question we need to ask is why/how?
- And why did the High priests, priests and scribes fail…
- The answer is there in the text…
- They waited on the Lord and seeked him with all their being…
- And like the 3 Divine beings who visiting Abraham… (Gen 18:1-21)
- God could not bypass Simeon and Anna, just like he could not bypass Abraham.
- God does not hide anything from his friends.
- Let us look at what type of a Saviour and Messiah we are looking out for.
- Is this clouding our understanding of God’s heart and truth?
- Do we desire God as Friend or as a master…
- Lets seek God with all our heart, mind and desire…
- Like Abraham, Simeon and Anna.
