Showing Up (Luke 2:25-35)

Some religious traditions teach that we suffer because we have desires. If we want to avoid suffering, we should eliminate our desires. Stop longing, stop wanting, stop hoping. A lot of people think that not caring is the smarter way. If caring hurts, and hurting is bad, then maybe it’s better not to care. If we don’t care, we don’t hurt. What have you stopped caring about? Where in your life have you given up? Where have you chosen apathy over the pain of showing up?  Eight days after Mary has given birth to her son, Jesus, she brings him to the temple. There a man rushes forward, takes the baby right out of her arms, and begins praising God. The man was Simeon. He waited at the temple day after day for God to fulfill the promises made to prophets like Isaiah 700 years earlier.  The Holy Spirit had revealed to Simeon that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Simeon could have given up, but he didn’t. He kept showing up. Until the day Mary and Joseph brought their son, the salvation that God had prepared for all the people, for Israel, and for the nations.