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Encounters: Life Changing Moments with Jesus

By Joan Campbell

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CHAPTER 1
WHAT SIMEON SAW
Based on Luke 2:25-40 (NLT)
My fingers graze against the rough walls as I climb the temple steps. I pause at the top to catch my breath, and look back over the sprawl of Jerusalem. In my youth, I would have bounded up those steps two at a time, so keen was I to enter Adonai’s courts. I am still keen, Lord, just a little slower. The gate ahead of me leads to the broad Court of the Gentiles.
As always, it is noisy here: workers chant, hammers tap, moneychangers shout and haggle, sheep bleat, and over it all the voices of Jews and Gentiles – tourists, soldiers, traders, scholars – hum in a multitude of tongues. I push through the bustling crowd towards the inner courts.
Another small flight of steps awaits me before I reach the inner precincts, but now a surprising surge of energy propels me forward. Is today the day, Lord? Does the pressing urgency I feel to be at the temple mean that God’s promise to me is about to be fulfilled?
The Court of Women is a familiar, welcoming place. “Morning, Simeon,” a few voices call, and I wave back in greeting. I am drawn to go and join the groups seated around the rabbis, listening, learning, questioning.

How many wonderful hours have I not sat here absorbing all the riches in Adonai’s words, debating the time and place of the coming of the Messiah. However, today I walk past the scholars and the chests of the Temple Treasury, my eyes scanning every face.
Adonai’s promise is imprinted on my heart: You will not die, Simeon, until you have seen my coming Messiah. Many years have passed since he spoke these words to me, but I never wavered in my belief. A day will come when I will see the One to which all our ancient scriptures point. Every day since that promise, I have woken with a sense of joyful anticipation, with a single pressing thought: is today the day?
Time passes, but still I watch and wait.
Then I see them – a young couple. She is holding a baby in her arms, while he grips the required pair of doves for the purification sacrifice. Almost of their own accord, my feet move in their direction, my eyes never leaving the child’s face. Is this he, Lord? Is this your promised Messiah?
I hear Adonai’s answer whispered in my heart. This is my beloved Son, a light to the Gentiles and the glory of Israel. Inexpressible joy bursts inside me at his words. I am now mere paces away from him, and I become aware of his parents’ startled expression. Yet, as I stretch out my hands to the child, his mother gently lays him in the crook of my arms.
A sense of awe fills me as I look at the baby. I am holding the Messiah. The Messiah! Thank you, Lord. Thank you. The praise rises from the depths of my heart and gushes upwards and outwards. Faces turn to me and stare as I speak.
“Lord, now I can die in peace! As you promised me, I have seen the Saviour you have given to all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory of your people Israel!”
As I speak, images flood my mind. Fishermen and Pharisees; healings and death-raisings; devotion and betrayal. And finally – shockingly – a man hanging on a cross in the gathering darkness. No, Lord, no!
I look at the young mother, so full of tender love for this child, and feel a stab of sorrow. I yearn to speak a word of blessing to her, but the truth is that this child has come not only to bring joy and victory, but also sorrow and judgment.
“This child will be rejected by many in Israel, and it will be their undoing,” I say softly. “But he will be the greatest joy to many others. Thus the deepest thoughts of many hearts will be revealed.” I lay the baby back in her arms, staring into her young face as I speak my last words. “And a sword will pierce your very soul.”
Suddenly, there is movement from the other side of the courtyard. It is the old woman, Anna, who spends all her waking hours at the temple. She is staring at the child, her eyes reflecting my own awe, and, as she reaches us, her praises fill the temple courtyard.
REFLECTION
As a child, I had a picture book that told the story of Simeon. Even now, I can recall the vivid drawings that captured his delight as he held Jesus in his arms. It feels right to me that this is the opening chapter in a collection of stories about people who encountered Jesus. Wise, faithful Simeon was one of the first people to see past the vulnerable human façade of Jesus, and recognise him for who he truly was: the powerful Son of God. Many people would meet Jesus in the next thirty-three years of his life, and most would not see the true Jesus that Simeon saw. Yet, for those who did, the encounter would be life changing.

Surprisingly, things haven’t changed much in two thousand years. Jesus still longs to meet each one of us. Most still will not recognise him, for to perceive the invisible Jesus is no easier than recognising him cloaked in flesh. Yet God promises that everyone who wholeheartedly seeks him will find him. If you have never met Jesus, go on the treasure hunt of your lifetime. Tune in to his whispered calls in your heart. See his creative power displayed in the flowers, birds and skies all around you. Read his love letter to you in the pages of the Bible. Keep looking and you will find him. Then Simeon’s joy will be your own.
PRAYER
Lord, I wonder why you do not make it easier
to recognise you.
Scholars and rabbis didn’t look up
on the day Mary and Joseph passed by,
didn’t dream their Messiah would be
the swaddled child of commoners.
For thirty obscure years,
you carved wood,
not meriting a second glance.
Then…
for a few bright moments, you were on track:
known and adored, an earthly king in the making.
But…
It all fizzled to nothing by the world’s ways.
From a commoner to a criminal.
From a crown to a cross.
Lord, in our time too, you seem elusive.
No fanfare trumpets your presence or
spotlight seeks you in an adulating crowd.
Why so difficult, Lord?
Perhaps because you want us
to see beyond our frail notions of importance,
to perceive you with soul-eyes that recognise
the baby to be, Messiah
the commoner, King.
Amen

VERSES
“For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6)
“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

NOTE
Adonai is the Hebrew word for Lord.

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