Quick Backdrop:
Quick thought exercise: Besides Mary, Joseph and Jesus, who are the other people who immediately come to mind when you see the words nativity or manger scene?
Jesus’ birth attracted some interesting and diverse folks—each giving a different perspective about Jesus’ birth and the nature of His mission. The simple contrast of regal wise men and humble shepherds is a great commentary. However, a few days after Jesus’ birth, the Gospel writer Luke introduces us to two people, Simeon and Anna, about whom we don’t hear much when people talk about the nativity. Yet these two people tell us a lot about Jesus.
This devo is Part One of Two. We’ll look at Simeon now and Anna in Part 2.
The Word:
Read Luke 2:22-35 from your Bible and look for detail about a man named Simeon (pronounced SIMM-ee-un). Do the following in the pages of your Bible for quick reference later, or you may want to print the passage from a Bible website:
1. Circle anything that describes Simeon.
2. Draw a cross above anything Simeon says about Jesus or His ministry.
The What:
Now look at what you marked and see what you learn about Simeon. Use these questions to create a profile for Simeon. You may want to journal your responses on a separate sheet of paper or type them into a document.
• What kind of lifestyle did he lead?
• What tells you about his close relationship with God?
• What was important to Simeon?
• What does Simeon tell us about Jesus?
• What big things was Simeon expecting Jesus to do?
Seal the Deal:
There is a good bit of deep theology introduced in this passage, such as Jesus’ relationship with Israel and including Gentiles (anyone who is not Jewish) in God’s big plan. (We don’t have time to delve into those subjects now, but you may want to check them out on your own). This passage does, though, give us a couple simple points of application: 1) Jesus is a game-changer; 2) The change in the game will cost us something. Further, we get to live in the game-changing era of salvation that Simeon was hoping to see—and was blessed to see.
Seeing Jesus as a game-changer, Simeon had high expectations of Jesus’ ministry and life. The list below contains several areas of life today in which Jesus can change the game—transform a bad situation into a good situation, restore a relationship, adjust our thinking to be more Christ-like. Take a minute to think through each situation and then list a Simeon-sized expectation of something big Jesus could do in each situation.
• Your family (siblings, parents, step-siblings/parents):
• Your youth group:
• Your church:
• Your friends:
• Your temptations:
• Your attitude toward teachers and coaches with whom you don’t get along well currently:
• Your reactions to things that don’t go your way:
• Other:
What can you do in each of these areas that would help facilitate Jesus doing something big? Here’s where the rubber hits the road. Remember, Simeon pointed out the big works of Jesus are costly. So let’s rephrase that question: What can you do that will cost you something in each of these areas that would help facilitate Jesus doing something big?
Finally, think about doing this: Whenever the subject of the nativity scene comes up, be an advocate for Simeon. Ask something such as, “Isn’t that Simeon thing wild?” and let the conversation go from there.
