Telling Their Stories: “Praising God Like Simeon and Anna”
Luke 2:22-40
December 28, 2025
The biblical stories we are telling this first Sunday of Christmas
focus on two elderly members of the community of faith – Simeon and Anna.
You and I know people like Simeon and Anna…
In the text, they are presented as the personification of faithful and pious worshippers.
Simeon is like the friendly, prayerful man who shakes your hand
during the Passing of the Peace.
He cares about you, and he cares about the Church.
He keeps up with national affairs, and is hopeful that the world will, by God’s grace,
somehow become a better place for all.
This man has witnessed God’ s work in his life.
He has known both joy and sadness, and the Spirit has sustained him through the years.
You know Anna as well.
Anna is like the nice older lady who sits near you in worship.
She’s always present, always helpful, always caring for someone else.
Her husband died long ago, and, in a very real sense,
she has been married to the Church for many of her years.
She lives simply and prays deeply.
She knows the Scriptures and lives its principles. She has a heart of gold.
She can be trusted to do what is best and say what is most helpful to others.
Luke, the physician turned gospel writer, set out to write an orderly account
of the events surrounding Jesus’ birth. Luke had interviewed many people
related to the events around Jesus’ birth, and he reports to us in the second chapter
that this righteous man, Simeon, has been “waiting for the consolation of Israel”.
And the prayerful Anna has been “waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.”
Hear the Word of God from the second chapter of Luke, Luke 2:22-40:
When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses,
they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the law
of the Lord, “Every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord”),
and they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord,
“a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.”
Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon;
this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel,
and the Holy Spirit rested on him. It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit
that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah.
Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents
brought in the child, Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law,
Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,
“Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence
of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.”
And the child’s father and mother were amazed at what was being said about him.
Then Simeon blessed them and said to his mother Mary, “This child is destined
for the falling and the rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be opposed
so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—and a sword will pierce your own soul too.”
There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.
She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,
then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there
with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God
and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
When they had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee,
to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom;
and the favor of God was upon him.
The Word of the Lord. Thanks be to God.
The child Jesus was born into a world, not too different from our own,
where goodness was pitted against evil,
love against hate, order against chaos, in a great struggle
where often it was hard to be sure who belonged to which side
because appearances can be endlessly deceptive. (Frederick Buechner)
In the second chapter of Luke, we find what has been called the Song of Simeon,
also called Nunc dimittis. This canticle, or hymn, is called Nunc dimittis
because those first two words in Latin mean “Now you dismiss.”
Simeon meets the baby Jesus in the Temple in Jerusalem, holds the babe in his arms,
then cries out before God and everybody who would listen,
“Now, O Lord, dismiss your servant in peace, for I have laid eyes upon your salvation.”
God had promised the old man that he would not taste death before seeing the Messiah,
the Promised One who would bring goodness, and love, and order, and light,
and so Simeon proclaims he is now ready to die,
for he has witnessed the Christ child, the promise of hope for his people.
Ever since the 4th century, at least, this song has been included in evening worship services.
Some of you may have attended a Vespers or Evensong service where this hymn was sung. The Nunc dimittis, from the mouth of Simeon, and the Magnificat, from the mouth of Mary,
are often sung during Anglican services of Evening Prayer.
In many Lutheran orders of service, the Nunc Dimittis is sung after receiving communion.
“Now dismiss your servant in peace, for my eyes have seen your salvation.”
This song of Simeon has held deep meaning to the Church over many centuries because,
in Simeon’s song, we hear an answer to our human longing and hopefulness.
We hear a word of hope in the midst of the struggle of good versus evil, and love versus hate.
We hear an affirmation that, despite all the evidence to the contrary,
God is still at work in the world on behalf of human need.
“This child,” Simeon proclaims, “will be a light of revelation to the Gentiles
and of glory to the people of Israel.”
According to the ancient prophecies, this child’s ministry would lead to the fall of the tyrants
and the oppressors, and the rise of the poor and the oppressed.
His words of truth and hope would be opposed by those in power,
revealing their inner thoughts and motivations,
but his ministry would bring consolation to Israel and redemption for Jerusalem.
These words from Simeon must have seemed odd at the time to Mary and Joseph
who had come to the grand Temple in Jerusalem with their newborn child.
Herod had rebuilt the Temple to make it even more glorious than the Temple built by Solomon.
Magnificent beyond words, it had taken over 50 years to rebuild.
The dome was covered by pure gold leaf, sort of like Georgia’s state capital building,
but far more grand. “The altar was glittering and majestic.
(The Temple, the building itself) was the center of hope for Jewish people
throughout the world” and where they looked for the presence of God.
(Donald Miller, The Gospel According to Luke, page 39)
Here, in this grand center of worship and influence,
Simeon points to this newborn child, the one born humble in a stable.
He refers to him as the coming promised Messiah, the One who would save Israel.
Of course, Joseph and Mary were amazed at what the old man told them!
“This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many in Israel,” he proclaimed,
“and to be a sign that will be opposed so that the inner thoughts of many will be revealed—
and (Mary) a sword will pierce your own soul as well.”
That was a lot to lay on a young couple, and on their weeks-old baby,
but Simeon had taken to heart the prophecies of old, prophecies that God’s presence
on earth would no longer be bound to the Temple in Jerusalem.
Simeon believed the prophecies that a child born poor, a suffering servant,
would bring comfort to all who mourn, and would bring a crisis of belief to the Jewish people.
Not only were Joseph and Mary amazed at Simeon’s blessing,
but they must have been confused as well.
Simeon’s blessing for their child also introduced a crisis.
To this point in the Gospel of Luke, at least, the birth of Jesus has been all joy.
But here Simeon foretells a conflict that will come.
The child born to them will call for a response, a decision.
And many will reject him. Many will speak against him,
and the inner motives of many will be revealed.
Tragedy will follow, as well, tragedy for the young mother because the powers that be
will seek to silence him.
Just seventy or so years later, after the earthly ministry of Jesus,
less than forty years after Jesus was crucified on Golgotha,
that grand Temple where Simeon and Anna went to pray every day would be utterly destroyed.
In 70 a.d., the powerful Roman forces enter Jerusalem and pull down every stone.
They would melt down all the gold, and carry away all the priceless treasures from the altars.
But the hope for the people would not be lost.
The people who believed would no longer look for the presence of God
in the grand Temple, but in the person of Jesus and in the community he originated.
When we baptize children at this font, we ask the parents:
“Will you look to the Lord Jesus Christ for your child’s salvation, as you do your own?”
After all these years, long after the Temple was destroyed,
long after the Roman Empire has fallen,
young parents still look to the person Jesus for help and for hope.
After all these generations, the old and the young still turn to Jesus for the light of revelation,
and for the truth which sets us free.
People throughout the world turn daily to Jesus of Nazareth
for the forgiveness of sins, and for hope for humanity.
We pray to him, daily, that the world would be set right,
that he would bring order out of the chaos,
that all who suffer would come to know comfort and consolation.
We read these ancient stories, compiled by gospel writer Luke,
because these stories remind us that God was at work among that poor young family
who could not find a room in an inn.
They remind us that God was and will be at work among all the faithful women
who show up every time the church doors are open.
They remind us that God will be at work among all those pious men who pray for peace,
for wholeness, for shalom for the whole world.
Our salvation has never depended upon grand Temples or earthly powers or political parties.
Our salvation has not come from the well-made plans of princes and principalities.
Our salvation has come in a promised child, born in Bethlehem.
the One who came to heal the sick and cure the lame,
the One who came to speak truth to power and proclaim freedom for the oppressed.
Daily life and social circumstances have changed greatly over the millennia,
but the basic needs and desires of people have not changed all that much.
We still need a Savior to save us, because we have realized that we cannot save ourselves.
We still watch for the world-reshaping work of a Messiah,
because we know how evil and hate and chaos threaten us all.
We still hope for his light to shine upon us and upon all those who dwell in darkness,
to give us all hope and truth.
And we still long for God’s shalom, peace and wholeness and wellness –
in our own homes and places of business, among our friends and family,
and in every place where sin, corruption and violence threaten to destroy us.
Frederick Buechner wrote:
“(Ours) is a world where goodness is pitted against evil, love against hate,
order against chaos, in a great struggle where often it is hard to be sure
who belongs to which side because appearances are endlessly deceptive.
Yet for all its confusion and wildness, it is a world where the battle goes ultimately to the good,
who live happily ever after, and where in the long run everybody, good and evil alike,
becomes known by his true name….
That is the fairy tale of the Gospel with, of course, one crucial difference
from all other fairy tales, which is that the claim made for it is that it is true,
that it not only happened once upon a time but has kept on happening ever since
and is happening still,” among us today.
(Frederick Buechner, Telling the Truth: The Gospel as Tragedy, Comedy, and Fairy Tale)
Friends, in this coming New Year, may we, like Simeon and Anna,
look for the salvation of the world, and pray for the consolation of all.
May we recognize in the face of the Christ-child our own salvation,
and may we trust that he will be born among us, once again, in days to come. Amen.
Rev. Dr. Todd Speed – Decatur Presbyterian Church – Decatur, Georgia
