Looking for Jesus

 It seems to happen every year.

Summer comes to an end, and we feel the freshness of fall. Maybe we recall the start of a new semester when September was filled with the excitement of another school year of friends, field trips, ball games, special events, and more season changes.

The weather grows cool, and we pull out sweaters and jackets while watching the leaves turn vibrant shades of red, orange, and yellow. Some parts of the country see snow flurries (or even a storm). Preparations are made for Thanksgiving Day with turkey and stuffing, cranberry sauce and rolls, pumpkin and pecan pies. (I’m hungry just thinking about it.)

Before we know it, the season we’ve anticipated is finally here. Christmas decorations go up and we’re planning for parties and a tree lighting, special rehearsals for church programs and school concerts, groups gathering for gift exchanges, baking cookies, singing familiar carols…and the list goes on and on.

Suddenly, it’s January and we wonder how it all came and went so quickly. Over the next several months, we hear people (and ourselves), say, “This Christmas let’s make plans to do this or try to do that,” already looking ahead to the wonderful season at the close of the calendar year.

Having grown up in church and participated in many Christmas programs, the story of the birth of Christ is so very familiar to me. Yet recently I read a passage from Luke 2 that often is not considered part of the traditional Christmas story, and I found myself revisiting it again and again.

This scene takes place when Jesus was only eight days old. In obedience to Old Testament Law, Mary and Joseph brought their firstborn Son to the temple in Jerusalem to be circumcised (Ex. 13:2, 12; Lev. 12:3; Luke 2:21-24). They were greeted by Simeon, one who was “righteous and devout...looking forward to the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him” (Luke 2:25).

Simeon is not identified as a priest or a Pharisee; he is not a teacher of the Law and is mentioned nowhere else in Scripture. Yet he must have been in tune with God because “it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ” (Luke 2:26).

In the midst of the Roman taxes and oppression, the apathy of his fellow Jews, the heavy burdens placed on them by religious authorities to follow man-made interpretations of the Law, and the absence of prophecies for 400 years as Israel was under the leadership of one foreign nation after another, Simeon was looking for the day when God would intervene and bring comfort to His people (Isa. 49:13; 52:9; 66:13). He waited for God’s promises to be fulfilled in the coming of the Messiah. 

There must have been something different about that particular day, for the Holy Spirit led Simeon to the temple where he saw the young couple who brought their newborn Baby to be circumcised. Simeon took the Child in his arms and blessed Him and told Mary some of the harsh realities that awaited her Son (and her) because of the call on His life. 

And at the moment Simeon was speaking, another first century saint, the widow Anna, approached the young family. Anna “did not leave the temple grounds, serving night and day with fasts and prayers” (Luke 2:37). She offered praise to God and spoke to those nearby who looked for God’s redemption of Israel about the Baby who was in the temple that day.

What is so interesting is how Simeon and Anna recognized this was the promised Messiah, even though Jesus had not taught any great lessons or preached a powerful sermon. He had not performed miraculous signs and wonders. There had been no one healed by His word or His touch, no divine revelations; He had not uttered His first word or taken His first step. Jesus was still a newborn baby, only eight days old. But the Holy Spirit revealed His presence to Simeon and Anna because they were looking for Him. They waited in expectation for God to send their Savior, as the prophets foretold for hundreds of years. And now, He was finally here!

This has caused me to wonder…what are my expectations for the future? Do I anticipate what this year will bring? The news reports on the rise in crime; I must make decisions about my own finances based on changes to the economy. There are reports about laws to be included on the next ballot; and shifts in the culture have serious effects on my job. In all of this, I wonder what will happen when next Christmas comes. I am forced to navigate life based on what is temporary, yet I know the importance of keeping focused on what has eternal value.

As we launch into a new year, I pray, Lord, help me slow down and make more time for reflection, for studying Your Word, and for prayer. May I consider what it must have been like to have experienced Your first coming. Then keep me in tune with You, each day, sensitive to the Holy Spirit’s leading, so like Simeon and Anna I anticipate Your Second Coming. May I be found looking for Jesus.