Opening
When was a time that you found yourself outside the norm in your family, community, or friend-group?
Context
Most of the Jews and the Romans missed Jesus the Messiah when He was on the earth. From the obscure birth in the small town of Bethlehem to the transient life of a man who taught like no other ever could, Jesus was something different.
Being different is often unacceptable in any culture – large or small.
Not everyone missed the Messiah. Luke 2 gives us this scene where two elderly Jews had long been waiting for the Messiah and God granted their desire in the temple when Jesus was brought by His parents.
Simeon was different. He was righteous and dedicated to God in an age of external religion and internal corruption. Simeon was filled not with the trappings of looking right to the world, but rather filler with the Holy Spirit granted by God. That indwelling Spirit gave Simeon insight to the events unfolding around him that others simply did not see.
Anna was also different. A widow for decades, she spent her life in the temple doing ministry. She was a widow of the type described in 1 Timothy 5 that lived a life set apart for the special work God called her to. Anna was in the temple the day that Jesus was brought in and recognizing the Messiah, she praised God and told everyone of what she saw that day.
These two eagerly expected the promised Messiah from God even when the world around them did not. They rejoiced in the fulfillment of that promise regardless of what the rest of the world did.
Scripture
- Luke 2:21-38
- Genesis 17:12-13
- Leviticus 12:1-4-8
- Exodus 13:1-2
- 1 Timothy 5:5
Discussion
What do we learn from the devout lives of Simeon and Anna?
Do you live in expectation of what God will do?
How much do you find yourself influenced by the culture around you?
How can you find peace is seeing the thinks of God instead of the things from this world?