simeon's blessing

This Christmas season, there is a scripture that will probably not be used much in the myriad of Christmas sermons that are preached. It will probably not make it on the front of any Christmas cards. Neither is it likely that it will be the subject of songs that are sung.

They are the words of Simeon, an old prophet in Jerusalem at the time that Joseph and Mary took Jesus to the temple for His dedication ceremony. I quote:

Then Simeon blessed them, and said to Mary His mother, "Behold, this Child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign which will be spoken against (yes, a sword will pierce through your own soul also), that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed."

What an interesting "blessing" - yes, a sword shall pierce your soul. What kind of blessing is that? A Child destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel - we are okay with a Child destined for the rising of many in Israel but we are less comfortable with the fact that a fall must precede the rising. A sign which will be spoken against - instead of unifying the nation, it sounds like the Child will be opposed and resisted. All this so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.

In all of this blessing we find only one "positive" word - that this Child will bring the "rising" of many in Israel. Yet even that rising is preceded by a fall. Because of the image of God which we bear, we instinctively know that the realm of God is one of righteousness, joy, and peace. We desire to rise above the mundane to a place of significance. However scripture is clear that the realm of God is accessed in proportion to the decrease of self.

The pattern of the Child Messiah opposes much of our humanistic image of entering the realm of God. I am convinced both from the words of scripture and experientially that the rise from the muck of this world into the realm of God only occurs after we fall to a place of helplessness. We inherently resist any kind of fall. I find it interesting how often the work of God causing people to fall is labeled as the work of the enemy. In our aspirations of glory and significance while opposing the "fall" work of God, we create an illusion of living in the realm of God. In a self-centered false paradigm, we violently oppose all that appears insignificant. We resist the hand of God that brings us to the place of nothing, stubbornly clinging to our self-created false realities.

Yet we must fall from our lofty self-inspired places of glory to a place of nothingness, to a place where we are completely helpless to help ourself. Our self-sufficiency runs very deeply in our psyche. We struggle with submission to the hand of God as He attacks what we have become, as He reveals the thoughts of our hearts.

The way we respond to His hand causing us to fall reveals a great deal about our inmost thoughts. If we resist Him, rebuking His work as that of the enemy, the depth of our ungodly selfishness is revealed. We are destined to a life of resisting Jesus (perhaps all the while deeply embracing religion) as long as we cling to self. On the other hand if we allow Him to bring us to the end of ourselves, we can also expect that He will also transform us into citizens of His kingdom. His promise is that as we trust Him through the valley of shadow of death, He will cause us to rise to new heights.