Morgan Teruel: Welcome to the Sandals Church podcast. My name is Morgan. And during this Advent season, we invite you to pause and reflect with us. Advent is a season of anticipation, a time to remember the hope, peace, joy, and love that Jesus brings as he became God with us. As we prepare our hearts for Christmas, let's take a moment to step away from the busyness and center our minds on the one who gives every good and perfect gift.
Wherever you are, whether at home, out for a walk, or in the midst of a hectic day, let these words speak to your soul. May you be refreshed and filled with the unshakable hope, lasting peace, overflowing joy, and boundless love that only Christ can offer. Let's take this time together to listen and reflect. Like Judah in old testament times, the people of Israel in the 1st century were living under a powerful and oppressive Roman Empire. As they waited 100 of years for a deliverer, stories would have been passed down from generation to generation.
These stories would have been told while sitting around the dinner table, during their time in the synagogue, while working together in the marketplace and fields, stories from Isaiah, stories of hope and of peace, stories of God's chosen one coming to offer a new path, stories that they were still waiting to be realized, Stories that kept them waiting on god's promises to be fulfilled. Now imagine seeing this little babe with your own eyes. His name, says Mary, is Jesus. Can you believe it? Does your mind, heart, and soul deceive you?
Is it wishful thinking that this could be the one long since promised? At what point would hope stir inside of you, Or would skepticism have the louder voice? Allow your imagination to envelope you as you listen to today's passage, Luke 2 25 through 38. In Jerusalem at the time, there was a man, Simeon by name, a good man, a man who lived in the prayerful expectancy of help for Israel. And the Holy Spirit was on him.
The holy spirit had shown him that he would see the messiah of God before he died. Led by the spirit, he entered the temple. As the parents of the child, Jesus brought him in to carry out the rituals of the law. Simeon took him into his arms and blessed God. God, you can now release your servant.
Release me in peace as you promised. With my own eyes, I've seen your salvation. It's now out in the open for everyone to see. A God revealing light to the non Jewish nations and of glory for your people, Israel. Jesus's father and mother were speechless with surprise at these words.
Simeon went on to bless them and said to Mary, his mother. This child marks both the failure and the recovery of many in Israel. A figure misunderstood and contradicted. The pain of a sword thrust through you, but the rejection will force honesty as God reveals who they really are. Anna, the prophetess, was also there, a daughter of Fanuel from the tribe of Asher.
She was by now a very old woman. She'd been married 7 years and a widow for 84. She never left the temple area, worshiping night and day with her fastings and prayers. At the very time Simeon was praying, she showed up, broke into an anthem of praise to God, and talked about the child to all who were waiting expectantly for the freeing of Jerusalem. As you hear these words, what is stirred in your imagination?
What perspective of Jesus does this passage give you that you didn't have before? How does the reality of the promise fulfilled in Jesus bring joy to you today?