Tag Archives: Simeon

The Wait

December 1, 2023 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.
Luke 2:25 (NIV)

Here at Vander Well Manor, it’s beginning to look a little bit like Christmas. Wendy fractured her foot a few weeks ago, had surgery to repair it, and has been rolling around the house on a scooter. So, the decorations are not up yet, but there’s seasonal music playing in the kitchen each morning and boxes of toys and books and other Christmas gifts for the kids have begun to arrive daily. Our crew in Scotland is moving back to the States and will be with us, which has Yaya and Papa pretty excited for this year’s Christmas celebration.

As I looked at the latest delivery of children’s gifts on the counter yesterday, I thought about our grandson and the giddy excitement he must be feeling about Christmas. I suddenly had a nostalgic flood of memories from my own childhood. Back in the day, the Sears Christmas Wish Book catalog that arrived each year would be tattered and dog-eared as the toy section was perpetually reviewed daily. The list for Santa was endless. The anticipation of Christmas morning was excruciating.

This past Sunday, I gave a message among my local gathering of Jesus’ followers. My message was an unpacking of what’s known as the season of Advent. Among my local gathering are people of very diverse religious backgrounds, and many have no experience with or understanding of Advent. Among followers of Jesus around the world, there are those who follow a liturgical calendar in which there are seasons coinciding with key celebrations throughout the year. The season of Advent is the traditional season that leads up to the celebration of Jesus’ birth on Christmas Day.

Advent comes from the Latin word Adventus, meaning “coming or arrival.” It is a season of waiting that traditionally included an Advent calendar which counts down the days until Christmas. Advent calendars used to have little candies or pieces of chocolate for each day, helping children get a little daily fix before the main event arrives. Today, you can get Advent calendars with just about any kind of treat for each day before Christmas including different wine samples or a shot of a different brand of bourbon. Ya gotta love commercialism.

Today’s chapter is a traditional Christmas chapter. What is once again fascinating about Luke’s account is the detail he provides that you won’t find in Matthew, Mark, or John’s biographies of Jesus. As part of his investigation into Jesus’ story, tradition tells us that Luke spent time with Jesus’ mother, Mary. The first two chapters read like a recitation of what must have been Mary’s first-person account of the events surrounding Jesus’ birth.

Among those stories is a simple, but meaningful story of a man named Simeon. Simeon was a sincere believer in God, and he was waiting for God’s messiah, the savior, to arrive. God’s Spirit had assured him that he would not die until he had seen this messiah with his own eyes. Prompted and led by God’s Spirit, he goes to the courts of the Temple. The temple courts would have teeming with people like a shopping mall the week before Christmas. There among the crowd were Joseph, Mary, and 40-day-old baby Jesus. They were there to perform a traditional purification ritual prescribed in the Law of Moses.

Luke doesn’t go into details, but Simeon is led to the infant Jesus by the Spirit. That which he had been waiting for is finally fulfilled. He hold’s God’s promise, and speaks hard prophetic words to Mary. The waiting over, Simeon boldly proclaims that he is now ready to die, having seen “God’s salvation” with his own eyes.

In the quiet this morning, I can’t help but think about the stories of today’s chapter in connection to my message this past Sunday and the season of waiting that has commenced leading to Christmas. Christmas toys and Advent calendars filled with bourbon shots aside, the traditional season of Advent calls me back from the precipice of nostalgia and commercialism to something deeper, more personal, and more meaningful. Simeon provides the example.

Simeon’s wait was individual and personal. Simeon’s was connected to God’s Spirit which was both the source of the wait and its fulfillment. Once it was fulfilled, Simeon experienced a spiritual freedom, release, and satisfaction.

As a child, I remember the hangover that descended when all the presents had been opened and a few days had gone by for the newness to wear off. That’s bound to happen if my treasure is found in the Sears Wish Book. Simeon found something deeper and far more satisfying. Advent softly beckons me to join him, if I only can hear the whisper amidst Mariah Carey beckoning for the 100th time that all she wants for Christmas is me.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Dreams, Visions, and Bad Pepperoni

December 23, 2014 Tom Vander Well 1 Comment

For God does speak—now one way, now another—
    though no one perceives it.
In a dream, in a vision of the night,
    when deep sleep falls on people
    as they slumber in their beds,
he may speak in their ears
    and terrify them with warnings,
to turn them from wrongdoing
    and keep them from pride,
to preserve them from the pit,
    their lives from perishing by the sword.
Job 33:14-18 (NIV)

I woke at 2:30 this morning out of a deep sleep and disturbing dream. Like most dreams it was surreal and strange. A thread of storyline was wound loosely around snatches of scenes and emotions. Terrorists were after me. I could trust no one and spent much of my time hiding and trying to avoid those who I knew were enemies bent on my death. I found myself entering what appeared to be a pre-game meeting with the Judson University men’s basketball team when I realized that the room was set to explode. I ran for the door and was barely outside when the bomb went off. Suddenly I was in the custody of two or three of the terrorists and they were dragging me away. I struggled from their grasp and ran for my life. I turned a corner and found that a large contingent of people from my alma mater had arrived (basketball fans, presumably?) and were getting off a bus. If I could just reach them I would be safe, but everything was moving in agonizing slow motion.

I’m not sure what to make of all that. Perhaps it was simply the effect of some bad pepperoni from my pizza the other night.

My local community of Jesus followers has been exploring the subject of dreams and visions of late, beginning with a look at the dreams, visions, and visitations surrounding the Christmas story. There were a lot of them when you think about it:

Zechariah (John the Baptist’s dad), had a vision in which the angel told him his barren wife was pregnant.
Mary had a visitation telling her she was pregnant by the Holy Spirit with the Messiah.
Joseph had a dream telling him not to put Mary away, but to marry her.
The shepherds were visited by the angelic host telling them of Jesus’ birth.
The Magi were warned in a dream to go home and avoid Herod.
Simeon had received a vision that he would not die before he had seen the Christ.
Joseph was warned in a dream to flee with his family to Egypt to avoid Herod’s murderous wrath.

I have no doubt that God speaks to people in dreams, in visions, and in visitations. It happens time and time again throughout God’s story. Elihu makes a point of it in his words to Job in today’s chapter. God can and does speak to people through dreams. I believe it a gross mistake to deny this, to close myself off to the truth of it, or harden my heart against the possibility that God might speak to me in such a way.

By the same token, I don’t believe that God speaks to all people through all dreams. A dream may be spiritually significant, inspired by Holy Spirit. A dream may be the surreal by-product of memories, thoughts, and emotions inspired by bad pepperoni. I tend to think that the latter is a common reality, while the former is more the exception than the rule. When signs and wonders become common, everyday occurrences they cease being wonders.

Today, I’m thinking about the wonder of the events surrounding Jesus’ birth, and the role that dreams, visions, and visitations played in this most momentous of events in human history. I’m thinking about my own life journey in which wondrous events of divine design seem to happen on prescribed occasions for specific purpose. They are interspersed by long periods of mundane, daily toil. I’m thinking about finding and maintaining healthy balance and perspective in all of this. I don’t ever want to be guilty of chasing after obscure, hidden meaning in my dreams while ignoring the plain truth presented clearly in God’s Message.

By the way, I’m also thinking about the Judson University men’s basketball team who blew up in my dream last night. Sorry guys. I’m not a prophet, and I really don’t think that was from God. Blame the pepperoni. Go Eagles!

Chapter-a-Day

Killing the Messenger

July 23, 2014 Tom Vander Well Leave a comment

Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” Luke 2:34-35 (NIV)

My company does customer surveys and research for many different companies. Over the years I and my company have been in the position of reporting data that we knew would be unpopular with the client. In some cases, the truth of the data pointed to conclusions that opposed to the prevailing opinions of our clients leadership. In other cases, the data pointed to customer dissatisfaction that would put certain executives in a difficult position with their employer. It’s never fun delivering bad news. Killing the messenger is sometimes a frustrated clients first reaction.

I thought about Simeon’s words to Mary this morning. Mary was fresh off of angel visits and the shepherds’ amazing stories. She had to have been living in constant wonder and awe after all that she had seen, heard, and experienced in the previous year. Then Simeon pulls her aside to speak a quiet truth. There was another side to this amazing story that she, perhaps, had not yet considered. When you speak the truth you tend to become unpopular with certain people and you sometimes make powerful enemies. Simeon’s warning was prescient. Children will be slaughtered and a flight to Egypt will be made. The family will be pressured to get their lunatic son under control. She doesn’t yet know that the crown that awaits her baby boy is full of thorns. His kingdom and his truth will be misunderstood, maligned and rejected by the majority of people. Blood will be spilled.

I read an article yesterday about the fate of Jesus followers in Mosul, Iraq. The church of Mary (ironically) that has stood in that place since the middle ages was recently emptied by muslims and blockaded. Followers of Jesus have lived and worshipped in that city for centuries but now have been given the choice of conversion to Islam or death. In the Sudan a woman was recently sentenced to death by the government for choosing to believe in Jesus. With a little investigation you’ll find that these are not isolated incidents. Simeon’s words still ring true. Jesus remains a lightning rod and outside of the tolerant nations of the west the choice to follow Him can be a life or death decision.

This morning I’m thinking about a young girl filled with wonder at the glorious events she has experienced, and is only beginning to get a hint of the darkness that lies ahead for her and her Son. I am contemplating the reality that God sent a Messenger, and we killed Him. I’m mulling over one of Jesus’ own stories which has come to mind:

Jesus told another story to the people: “A man planted a vineyard. He handed it over to farmhands and went off on a trip. He was gone a long time. In time he sent a servant back to the farmhands to collect the profits, but they beat him up and sent him off empty-handed. He decided to try again and sent another servant. That one they beat black-and-blue, and sent him off empty-handed. He tried a third time. They worked that servant over from head to foot and dumped him in the street.

“Then the owner of the vineyard said, ‘I know what I’ll do: I’ll send my beloved son. They’re bound to respect my son.’

“But when the farmhands saw him coming, they quickly put their heads together. ‘This is our chance—this is the heir! Let’s kill him and have it all to ourselves.’ They killed him and threw him over the fence.

“What do you think the owner of the vineyard will do? Right. He’ll come and clean house. Then he’ll assign the care of the vineyard to others.”

Those who were listening said, “Oh, no! He’d never do that!”

But Jesus didn’t back down. “Why, then, do you think this was written:

That stone the masons threw out—
It’s now the cornerstone!?

“Anyone falling over that stone will break every bone in his body; if the stone falls on anyone, it will be a total smashup.”

The religion scholars and high priests wanted to lynch him on the spot, but they were intimidated by public opinion. They knew the story was about them.