Struck With Wonder
Rembrandt, Simeon In The Temple, 1669
During Advent I am attracted to the story of Simeon. Though this story comes slightly later in the sequence of the stories, it fits so beautifully into the unfolding drama. The Simeon story is appealing because he too faces so many challenges, just as we all do, and yet, when Simeon holds the baby Jesus, he is overwhelmed with wonder. Everything now makes sense.
There was at that time in Jerusalem a man called Simeon. This man was upright and devout, one who watched and waited for the restoration of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit he came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the law required, he took him in his arms, praised God, and said:
“Now, Lord, you are releasing your servant in peace,
according to your promise.
For I have seen with my own eyes
the deliverance you have made ready in full view of all nations:
a light that will bring revelation to the Gentiles
and glory to your people Israel.”
Simeon anticipated that things would not be rosy from that point on, saying to Mary the mother, “this child is destined to be a sign that will be rejected; and you too will be pierced to the heart.” Indeed Mary’s heart was pierced, at the foot of the cross, even before. This baby is not promising a joy that will blot out all sorrow. No, he will will lift us out of sorrow, sometimes through sorrow. That’s the mystery.
Simeon, of course, shared with all fellow Jews, the expectation of a coming deliverer. At their dinner tables and in their morning prayers, for centuries, this story was told over and over: One day God will come to set things right! They had lived under brutal oppression from a succession of surrounding rulers: Egypt, Babylon, now Rome. Someday God will be king over all the world. They would be free at last. How will this happen? In this baby? Really?
The shepherds, the wise men, Mary and Joseph themselves, all felt something earthshattering was going on. Could this be the time? When Simeon finally held the baby in his arms, he knew, he just knew, it was now. A new light was shining from the face of this very baby.
In the seventeenth century, the great Dutch painter Rembrandt painted Simeon at least twice, once early on when he was twenty-five years old, the other, a much better painting, in 1669, the year he died. In the painting, the face of Simeon glows. He is filled with amazement, wonder, joy, hope fulfilled. Simeon’s hands do not so much cradle the baby as they seem to be gesturing: “See, our deliverer has now come. Here he is!”
We sometimes read the Christmas stories from the outside-in. Inevitably we come to the stories with the typical skepticism of our day. A baby in a virgin’s belly, celestial choirs, visions and dreams, light glowing from a newborn’s face? Thomas Hardy thought even the oxen bowed down in worship. Really? We’ve got to admit these stories are also full of hardship and fear. There is a real Roman regime marching about, ready to pounce with sometimes brutal force. There is Augustus who considered himself the son of god. Herod wants to kill all baby boys in his region.
Rembrandt’s baby, so radiant and calm, or Simeon so utterly captured by what he now holds—this gets the story from the inside-out. Our skepticism seems small and petty. We are introduced, as we always are in the biblical story, to mystery. The only thing we can do is what the shepherds did in the fields that night. With both awe and terror they stepped right into this mystery of great joy: “Come, let us go straight to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened.” We hear that “Mary treasured up all these things and pondered over them.”
Simeon was capable of entering into mystery and wonder. That’s how we start over again, with this baby in our arms, from the inside-out, pondering, dropping our skepticism, overcome with wonder. We’re changed. Our world is changed. Lord, help us to be like Simeon, holding this baby, struck with wonder and joy.