Title: Waiting for the Hidden Future
waiting for a hidden future
Luke 2:25-35
According to Jewish law, Jesus' parents went to the temple in Jerusalem for the purification ceremony of Jesus. It is a road that I have already traveled once (to Bethlehem) for registration, but it is quite a long journey from Nazareth to Jerusalem. If this journey had only ended with a ritual of purification, Luke would not have written this down. You will meet someone here. Because this chance encounter clearly reveals the identity of the Christian faith and the essence of Jesus, it has taken a precious place in Christian tradition.
This is Simeon. The Bible text describes this Simeon as the one waiting for the consolation of Israel. There is no Jew who does not have a sense of the chosen people, and there is no one who did not expect the Messiah to come to save his country. Most of them dreamed of rebuilding the kingdom of David. It was thought that one day, a king of Davidic line would be born and that with excellent tactics and strategies, he could restore his former glory. Others believed that God would intervene in human history in a supernatural way, making Israel the number one nation in the world. However, unlike these people, the few who are called "the silencers of the earth" had no expectation of violence, power, or force such as the army, just prayed and meditated on God's Word until He came, waiting for His comfort and salvation. . In today's text, Simeon, expressed as a man who was waiting for the comfort of Israel, is such a person.
Waiting for the comfort of Israel means waiting for God's salvation. Most people lived with the goal of waiting according to the political schedule, the economic schedule, or the events related to the family, but Simeon waited for something different. The Bible always says this. It only says this. This is also what Jesus meant when he said to seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness without worrying about what you will eat, drink, or wear. This is also why the church is called an eschatological community. A community of people waiting for the end of God's reign in its entirety awaits only God's salvation. In particular, we Christians are waiting for the second coming of Jesus. The first generation of Christians even thought that Jesus would return in their lifetime. Adventism, as Nietzsche criticized Christianity, does not refer to the secular nature of the Christian faith, but has a far more powerful transformation and revolution than any other ideology. Only those who wait for something that is qualitatively different from what the people of this world are waiting for are liberated and free in this world.
In this sense, waiting for God's salvation means that we do not absolutize what humans create in this world. If he is satisfied with the way we live in this world, he can never wait for God's salvation, and he doesn't have to. Those who dream of a kind of heaven on earth do not wait for God's salvation.
This does not mean that life in this world is meaningless. This is not to say that all human cultural activities are in vain. It points to the fact that they always have only relative value. No matter how hard people try, they don't understand the ultimate life, so they don't know the way to make that life prosperous. It would be foolish to absoluteize one's efforts in such a state. But our efforts are just a way to live comfortably and a little bit fun while we live on this earth. These things have to be thought within these limits. On the other hand, Paul testifies that our citizenship is in heaven, because the ultimate does not come from man, but from God.
Based on this belief, we today live waiting for the resurrection of Jesus to come again. We are waiting for the salvation of God, not a program established by man. It means waiting for something completely different from what humans have created. Perhaps some of you are thinking, "Your words are too abstract. You should be more specific." Think more. Being certain doesn't always mean just being on hand. Rather, what is already in our hands, that is, in our experience, is very small. Holding empty things in my hand, I think this is the only thing that is certain. The real thing is not here yet. It is at the end. But it is with us today as a way of "cloaking".
Look at Simeon in today's text. He was led by the Spirit into the temple in Jerusalem, where he saw the baby Jesus performing a purification ceremony. And I sang like this. ?쏬ord, as you have said, this servant is now blinded in peace. I have seen your salvation with my own eyes. I have seen the salvation you have given to all people. It has become a light to the Gentiles to light your way and glory to your people Israel It becomes." (29-32, jointly translated). What the hell does a song about a young couple see and see salvation when they see a baby boy in the arms of a young couple make sense? This child has not yet been crucified and, moreover, has not been resurrected. Nevertheless, Simeon sings that he can see salvation coming to all people in this child. It means that God's salvation is hidden in the suckling Jesus. Simeon saw that the future, pointing to the resurrection of Jesus, had already, in a concealed way, entered into the present of the infant. There are not many such things in Western paintings of the Middle Ages. In the painting of the child born of Mary, the suffering of the cross and the glory of the resurrection are already overlapped.
We need a spiritual perspective to see this. We must not focus on the everyday and lose sight of the absolute power that penetrates the inner side of it. For example, we need a spiritual electron microscope, as the fact that atoms, considered the basis of all matter, are empty spaces can only be confirmed by electron microscopy. Such a dimension is too difficult for us, so I can't force people to say that I just think and live easily. But I can assure you that it is not the Christian faith. Resurrection, the world of true life, is not this type of life of marriage and marriage. Although it is still hidden from us, it is the world of true life that God has prepared. It is the Christian faith to believe that the world is coming to us and to entrust our destiny to it. In this respect, too, faith is a mystery. It is a mystery in that it awaits and hopes for a future life that is not in our hands now. So Luke explains that the Holy Spirit was with Simeon. To say that he was directed by the Holy Spirit meant that he depended on powers beyond the ordinary.
The season of Advent begins next week in our Christianity. Advent marks the beginning of the year in the church year. This is a passage that explains what the essence of the Christian faith is. We believe in the promise of the coming of the risen Lord and wait for the time of his full reign. Those who are absorbed in the fun of this world will not be interested in the Second Coming of Jesus. However, if you take a little honest look at the reality of life, you will realize that such fun is too trivial. Fun is just fun, not the ultimate meaning. Only those who wait for God's salvation do not feel nervous in this world and live in true freedom and joy. Don't forget. Ultimate life and joy await us.