Simeon's Song

Wrinkled hands reach out. A young mother hesitates, then gently passes her baby across. And an old man holds, at last, the one he has waited for all his life.

We are in the temple courts in Jerusalem, about forty days after Jesus' birth. Mary and Joseph have come to present their firstborn son to the Lord and to bring their offering of two young birds. And a man named Simeon has just arrived, led by the Holy Spirit. Simeon is just and devout. For years he has waited for God to comfort his people. And God had promised him he would not die before he saw the Lord's Messiah. Now, among all the families in the crowded courts, Simeon has found the child.

Luke says Simeon took him up in his arms, and blessed God. Not a word about a crown or a throne. Just a baby, a few weeks old, small and warm and sleepy, cradled by a man near the end of his life. Picture the quiet around them as the noise of the temple seems to fade. Simeon looks down at the little face. And then, with his voice trembling, he begins to pray. And his prayer becomes one of the best-loved songs in the whole Bible.

“Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word.” Simeon calls himself God's servant, and he talks to God as his master. It is like a watchman who has been on duty for years, and who has finally seen what he was posted to watch for. Now, Lord, you can dismiss me. My watch is over. I can go in peace. He is not sad. He is not afraid. God has kept his word, and that is enough. Simeon is ready to die, because he has seen the one God promised.

“For mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” Simeon is holding God's salvation in his arms. Not an idea, not a plan, but a person. And that salvation, he says, God has prepared before the face of all people. Not only for Israel. “A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel.” The Gentiles were all the other nations of the world: Romans, Greeks, Egyptians, everyone. Here, in the very heart of Israel's temple, an old Jewish man announces that this baby will bring light to the whole world, and glory to his own people too.

Simeon's words echo the prophet Isaiah, where God says of his chosen servant that he will be a light to the Gentiles, so that his salvation reaches the end of the earth. Simeon's song has been sung by Christians ever since. It is known by its first words in Latin, Nunc Dimittis, meaning now you dismiss. In the Church of England's Book of Common Prayer of 1662, it is one of the songs appointed for evening prayer.

Simeon's song is in Luke chapter two, verses twenty-eight to thirty-two. A man who waited, held God's promise in his arms, and could finally rest in peace. So here is a question to carry with you. What would it mean for you to say, like Simeon, my eyes have seen your salvation?