“"Now you are releasing your servant, Master, according to your word, in peace; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared before the face of all peoples; a light for revelation to the nations, and the glory of your people Israel." ... Coming up at that very hour, she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of him to all those who were looking for redemption in Jerusalem.”
Two old people are the last characters in the Christmas story, and almost nobody puts them in the pageant.
Simeon had been told he would not die before he saw the Lord's Christ. Imagine living with that promise for decades. Every day in the temple, scanning faces. Anna was a widow of many years who barely left the temple, worshiping and fasting and praying. Luke says she was eighty-four.
Then one ordinary morning a poor young couple comes in with a baby and the offering of people who could not afford a lamb. Nothing about them would turn a head. Simeon takes the child in his arms and says, in effect, now I can go. My eyes have seen it.
What strikes me is the length of their faithfulness. Not a dramatic moment of belief. Decades of showing up. Anna prayed in that temple for years with no evidence anything was coming. Most of it would have felt like nothing at all.
There are people like this in every church and every family. The grandmother who has prayed for the same grandchild for thirty years. The man who has quietly served for decades. They rarely get thanked and they mostly do not expect to.
And notice what Anna did the moment she saw him. She went and told everyone who was waiting. A lifetime of patience, and then she could not keep it to herself.
Faithfulness over a long stretch is not glamorous. It is how most of the important things actually get done.
Talk About It Together
Name real people if you can. Say their names out loud.
- Who has been faithful in your life over a long stretch of years?
- What is something worth being faithful in even if you never see the result?
- Is there someone you should thank for praying for you?
Tonight’s Challenge
Thank an older person who has prayed for you or quietly served for years. Tell them specifically what it meant.
Prayer
Father, thank You for the people who wait on You for a lifetime without applause. Make us that kind of faithful. Give us patience for the long stretches with no evidence, and joy like Anna's when we finally see what You have done. Help us thank the ones who carried us. Amen.