The Skeptical Student

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Good morning, Christchurch.

My name is Jocelyn Fidiga, and I'm a part of the team that prepares the element on the second Sunday.

A reading from the Gospel according to Luke.

Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout.

He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him.

It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Messiah.

Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple's courts.

When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the law required,

Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,

Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace,

for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all nations,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles and the glory of your people Israel.

The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him.

Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother,

This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel,

and to be a sign that will be spoken against,

so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed,

and a sword will pierce your own soul too.

This is the gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

Good morning.

You might notice there's a stranger up here.

I'm Andrew Ong's long-lost brother.

My name is Jesse.

We're spiritual brothers.

I'm a pastor here in the Bay Area in Castro Valley at a church called,

this is her church of yours called Indelible Grace.

And Andrew and I got to go to seminary together on the East Coast,

where there is real winter.

And it is, it's the first Sunday of the new year.

I just want to ask a couple questions.

How are you entering into the new year?

How are you entering into it?

Any resolutions?

Hopes?

Dreams?

Anxieties?

Or maybe to put it differently,

what are you waiting for this year?

What do you see in the next year?

Our scripture passage today is actually about waiting and seeing.

It's really appropriate for a Sunday like this,

where we're on the brink of Christmas and the new year.

And right in the middle of our passage,

Simeon sings out.

He says,

For my eyes have seen your salvation.

For my eyes have seen your salvation.

He is seeing something.

Now for many of us,

Christianity doesn't naturally register as a way of seeing.

Maybe you don't,

you're not a Christian,

you're here with family or you're seeking.

Maybe you know that Christianity is something about belief, right?

Faith.

Isn't faith not seeing?

So how and why does Simeon say,

My eyes have seen your salvation?

Let's pause that question.

But don't you want to see salvation in your life?

Like, don't you want some sort of redemption?

Maybe it's some ailment that you're suffering from.

Maybe it's a relationship that's estranged.

Maybe you feel the emptiness of life.

You want something more.

You want to see salvation.

Isn't that beautiful?

Not just to believe in salvation,

but to see it.

To see it.

That's our question today.

How do we see like Simeon?

How do we see like Simeon?

And here's the big idea.

Salvation is not just something we believe in.

Salvation is seen.

Salvation is not just something we believe in.

Salvation is seen.

Would you pray with me as we ask God to open our eyes

so we might see him?

Let's pray.

Oh, Father in heaven, thank you.

We thank you that we are here safely

on a rainy, winery day.

Thank you that we are in your presence, oh Lord.

And I want to boldly ask,

Spirit of God,

the same Spirit who led Simeon to see Jesus,

would you lead us into the throne room of Jesus?

Would we see salvation, oh God?

We ask this in Christ's name.

Amen.

So first we need to do some work.

Right?

Isn't faith about believing what we can't see?

Right?

Salvation is by faith.

Right?

Not sight.

But just to back up in Luke's gospel,

Luke's gospel actually opens on sight.

The opening verses of chapter one,

like a good scholar,

Luke reports his sources for this gospel.

And he says,

hey, I interviewed eyewitnesses,

people who saw.

Eyewitness,

those who saw with their own eyes.

And then Luke's gospel unfolds with miraculous appearances or sights.

Right?

An angel appears to Zechariah in the temple.

Then Mary sees an angel.

Joseph sees an angel in Matthew.

And then the angels appear to the shepherds and give them a visual sign.

They say, hey, look for a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths.

And the shepherds say, hey, let's go to Bethlehem and do what?

See this thing.

Do you hear the sight?

It's about visual.

Christmas is all about seeing.

Christianity is about sight.

And Simeon's story is chock full of visuals as well.

Did you see it?

Our reading?

His hymn has eyes, light, sight, presence, glory.

And again in the middle,

for my eyes have seen your salvation.

And this only makes sense because what the Christian claim is,

is that the invisible God has become visible in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The immortal, the transcendent God who made all things,

has become a person with flesh.

The Word made flesh.

That's the miracle of Christmas.

So how do we see salvation?

I'm going to ask two questions for the rest of this sermon.

How do we see?

That's the first half.

How do we see salvation?

And secondly, how do we know that we've seen salvation?

Okay?

How do we see salvation?

And how do we know that we've seen salvation?

So the first thing we see in Simeon are two keys to his sight.

The first key, you must see the desolation.

You must see the desolation.

Luke introduces Simeon like this.

He says,

This man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel.

And that phrase, the consolation of Israel, is the first key.

Consolation.

What does that mean?

It means this deep comfort after loss.

Right?

There is no consolation unless there has first been desolation.

Desolation.

Desolation.

Some of you in a couple weeks will be looking for consolation whenever the 49ers are beat.

And are out of the playoffs.

You'll need some sort of consolation.

Right?

Well, at least we still have Steph Curry on the Golden State Warriors.

For now.

For now.

Consolation comes after.

We see consolation in desolation, don't we?

And Israel knew desolation.

They knew desolation.

Centuries of conquest.

The Babylonians.

The Persians.

The Greeks.

The Romans.

Time after time.

Taking over the country.

Exile.

Occupation.

Humiliation.

And we don't even know the story of Simeon.

We get so little about Simeon.

Precious little.

All we know is that he's righteous and waiting and devout.

We don't know the ways that desolation has hit him.

Why is he waiting for the consolation of Israel?

Do you see the desolation?

Only if you see the desolation will you begin to see salvation.

Jesus says it this way.

Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.

Who sees salvation?

It's those who see the desolation.

And it's not just out there in the world.

There's plenty of desolation you can see out there.

It's also in here.

Right?

In us.

In every one of us.

Simeon says in verse 35 that this child will reveal, quote, the thoughts of many hearts.

Jesus exposes us.

He exposes our personal desolations.

I moved to the Bay Area about two and a half years ago.

And I'm a historian by training.

And so I like to look up a bunch of old pictures of San Francisco right after the big earthquake.

earthquake.

In the early 1900s.

And it's incredible.

Just, it wasn't the earthquake.

It was the fires.

The earthquake caused.

They just burned.

This thriving.

The biggest city on the West Coast at that time.

It was like the New York City of the West Coast.

It just demolished it.

Devastated it.

It's the desolation.

And you see these ruins.

These ruins.

People just standing, looking at the crumbling walls.

And friends, some of us, like that's our hearts.

That we're like a city that's been ravaged.

First by an earthquake.

And then the fire.

There's some part of our being and our life that we'd rather not admit that it is desolate.

We don't want to think about that.

Do you see the desolation?

Do you see the desolation?

Because only those that see the desolation will want something different.

We'll want something.

We'll want salvation.

If you're comfortable here this morning, that's great.

That's great.

But Jesus is offering us something different.

Something for the uncomfortable.

I have a friend who says, who calls life in the Bay Area.

He says it fosters a cruise ship mentality.

A cruise ship mentality.

The weather's good.

Well, most of the time.

Weather's good, right?

The jobs are good.

The food is good.

The amenities are endless.

I had to buy a new pair of pants recently.

And I realized, as I was trying to figure out what size I am,

I've not bought non-elastic pants since moving to the Bay Area.

The Bay Area is elastic pant land, right?

It just, that's how good life is.

You never have to wear a belt.

Never have to wear a belt here.

But for those of you who are, who see the desolation, there is comfort.

There is comfort.

Seeing salvation begins with seeing the desolation.

But the second thing that Simeon sees is God.

Seeing desolation alone leads to cynicism.

Plenty of people see what's wrong and become bitter.

Just go on social media.

But Simeon sees something else.

It says he's waiting for the consolation of Israel.

And that phrase comes straight from Isaiah 40.

Isaiah 40, which says, comfort.

Comfort my people, says your God.

Isaiah has spent 39 chapters telling about the destruction and the desolation that Israel is going to go through

because of their own sin, their own turning against God.

And then all of a sudden, in Isaiah 40, God speaks a new note.

And he says, comfort.

Comfort.

Consolation.

It's the same Greek word.

Comfort.

Comfort.

My people, says your God.

I'm going to come and I'm going to bring consolation.

And so Simeon is waiting on this promise in Isaiah 40.

And what you wait for shapes what you see.

Waiting is a type of seeing.

Right?

If you're stuck on the 80 and late for a meeting, all you see is the clock.

Right?

If you're waiting for a vacation, you see suitcases everywhere.

Simeon waits for consolation until he sees it coming.

He knows, he trusts that God is bringing something else.

Comfort is coming.

Redemption is coming.

Some of us see the promises so, some of us don't see the promises.

Right?

We see the desolation so clearly that it eclipses the promise.

But can we see the promises of God as bigger, better, more bold, and clear in our vision?

His promises are the coming sunrise.

But even more than God's promises, Simeon sees God's presence with him.

Luke emphasizes the Spirit three times.

Trying to get the point here.

Verse 25 says,

The Holy Spirit was upon him.

Verse 26,

The Holy Spirit revealed the promise.

And then verse 27,

The Spirit moves him into the temple.

Simeon sees the Spirit, the very presence of God with him.

And some of you here,

you know the past promises of God.

You know your Bible.

But you don't see the Spirit with you now.

Do you see God now?

In the here and the now.

Not just his promises.

His presence.

That's what Timon sees.

Part of the problem

is what Charles Taylor, a religious philosopher,

calls the imminent frame.

He says,

We Western moderns,

we live in an imminent frame.

Imminent,

as in the opposite of the transcendent.

We don't see a transcendent reality.

All of our cultural life

emphasizes this worldly life.

This worldly life.

He's trying to diagnose,

Why is it so hard to believe in God

when it wasn't 70 years ago?

Why is it so hard?

Because everything in our culture

tries to tell us

that there's not some transcendence.

That we live in a frame,

like a house,

that cuts off the outside,

the outer transcendent supernatural world.

The imminent frame

is the modern habit

of seeing the world

as closed to God.

But listen,

the gospel opens our eyes

to a world alive

with his presence.

Against the imminent frame

is the Holy Spirit

that Simeon sees.

And you see,

it's the Spirit

who enables sight.

In the Christian doctrine

of the Trinity,

each person of God,

Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,

all perfectly and equally God,

each one of them

has a different role,

a different job

in salvation.

And the Holy Spirit

does two main things

regarding vision.

first,

the Spirit heals

our vision.

The Spirit is an ophthalmologist,

an optical surgeon.

He removes our cataracts,

and He cuts out

our natural lenses

to give us new eyes.

But second,

the Spirit leads us

to Jesus.

Like a theater,

spotlight operator,

the Spirit's job

is not to draw attention

to Himself,

but to illuminate Christ.

And that's exactly

what the Spirit does

for Simeon.

The Spirit speaks to Simeon

first about the Lord's Messiah,

and then He leads him

to the temple

where Jesus is,

where He can behold Jesus

with His own eyes.

Luke is telling us

something about

what the Spirit does.

The Spirit leads us

to see Jesus.

Simeon doesn't technically

see the Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is the Spirit,

but Simeon is moved

by the Spirit,

and he sees Jesus,

which is seeing

the Holy Spirit.

So friends,

let me ask you a question.

Do you see the Spirit?

Do you see the Spirit

moving in your life now?

So how do we see salvation?

We must first see

the desolation,

and we must see

God's promise

and presence with Him.

But here's another question.

How do we know

that we've seen it?

How do we know

that we've seen salvation?

Three fruits that we know.

First, praise.

When you see salvation,

praise comes out.

When Simeon sees Jesus

finally in the temple,

he doesn't say silence.

He sings.

He says,

My soul,

my eyes,

have seen your salvation.

Seeing leads to speaking

and singing.

You know this instinctively.

The things that you love,

the things that you enjoy,

the things that you see

and are beautiful.

You speak them.

You tell others about them.

Hey, I went to this restaurant.

It was so good.

You got to go there

and see it yourself.

Taste it yourself.

Speaking,

complete seeing.

And sitting in sight, though,

it's not only praise.

It actually leads

to a grander vision of God.

You see,

as Simeon is seeing this,

this is not just about

the consolation of Israel.

God is not coming.

Jesus is not coming

for just this one little people.

God is coming

to save the whole world.

Isn't that a bigger

and more beautiful picture

of who God is

and who his salvation is?

We have such little views

of God

and what he's doing.

We naturally

are selfish.

We're blinkered

in our vision.

We so often

just see God

doing this one little thing.

And God,

when we see him,

when we see him

in his spirit,

he wants to blow that up

and say,

hey, I am not only

the God of you,

I'm the God of the world.

The God of the universe.

And I'm doing something

in the world

that's going to have,

it's going to utterly

transform it.

It says in verse 31,

which you have prepared

in the sight

of all nations,

a light for revelation

to the Gentiles

and the glory

of your people Israel.

This is actually

the larger narrative point

of Simeon's song.

This salvation

that God is bringing,

it's for the whole world.

And verse 33,

it says that Mary

and Joseph marveled

at what was said

about Jesus.

You see,

the angels told him

a lot about

who Jesus would be

and what he'd do,

but it was all

about Israel.

Simeon comes

and tells him

that Jesus

is the Savior

of the world.

So when we see Jesus,

when we see salvation,

we praise.

We praise a bigger God

than we thought existed.

second fruit.

When we see salvation,

we see the price.

Simeon's initial prayer

of praise

is full of triumph

and victory.

It's beautiful.

But there's unfortunately

more.

He gives a prophecy

in verses 34 and 35,

like a post-credits scene,

like a Marvel movie.

Right?

The story is not all roses.

The villain is still afoot.

But Simeon lowers his voice

and he says,

hey,

this child

will be opposed.

When he speaks to Mary,

he says,

your sword

will pierce

your soul.

Pierced.

Stabbed.

Run through.

And for Mary,

it's metaphorical.

Right?

It's her soul.

But for her son,

for her son,

this is the price

of this great salvation

that Simeon has just sung about.

It is piercing,

not only of his soul,

but of his body.

This baby,

this infant

that Simeon is holding

and looking at,

his little hands

are going to get pierced.

His side,

his little bulging infant side,

is going to get

stabbed

with the spear.

That's the price.

The soft head

of this infant

drenched

by blood

someday

as thorns

are hammered

into the scalp

as a mocked up crown.

This is the price

of salvation

that God

who comes

to be seen

will be crucified.

Jesus

on the cross

for you

and for me.

Entering in,

this God

entering in

to the desolation

of our lives.

He will know

our desolation.

He will feel it

intimately

on his suffering,

in his suffering.

Do you see

the price

of your salvation?

Do you see

the love

that God has

for you,

friends?

God loves you.

that this is

the price

of that love.

It's the Lord Jesus.

And finally,

the fruit.

When we see

salvation,

peace comes.

Verse 29,

Simeon says,

Sovereign Lord,

as you have promised,

you may now

dismiss your servant

in peace.

We don't know

for sure

how old

Simeon is.

The text doesn't tell us.

Church tradition

infers that he's

quite old.

His story

is paired with Anna,

who's at least

in her 80s.

One church tradition

says that he's

112 years old.

But it's also

inferred because

Simeon's song

is amusing

on death.

Now that he has

seen and held

salvation,

he is at peace

in his life.

And in a sense,

he says,

Hey, Lord,

now you can take me.

Now you are

letting your servant

depart.

Dismissal.

Dismiss,

depart.

That means death.

He's saying,

Hey, I have seen

salvation,

and you can

dismiss me in peace.

There's nothing

more in this earth

that I want

or need.

I have everything

I need.

Friends,

when we have seen

salvation,

we have this

peace.

It surpasses

understanding.

standing.

A pastor,

a friend of mine

in his early

40s,

passed away

from cancer

this last year.

He had two

kids under

seven years old

and a wife

and they miss

him dearly.

One of the most

beautiful testimonies

about that death

is he had

this firm

peace.

He knew

where he was

going.

He had seen

Jesus.

He had seen

his salvation.

Even if

Simeon is,

let's pretend

Simeon is not

old.

Maybe he is in

his 40s.

And he is saying,

Hey,

if I have nothing

else in this life,

I don't need to do

anything else

because I have

seen God.

I have seen

God's love

and that's

everything that

I need.

There is a

peace that

comes when

we have seen

God and seen

his salvation

that we can

actually face

the darkest

desolation

because we

know

because we've

seen God.

And actually,

if you know

Jesus,

that's the end.

Do you realize

that?

When you die,

the highest

good,

the beatific

vision is how

the ancient

theologians

and Christians

called it,

is that you

see Jesus.

That's

everything.

That's

everything.

It's the

highest good.

It's when you

will be most

at peace

and most

happy.

So friends,

summing up,

let me just

make a couple

quick

meditations.

Three

applications.

Do you

see like

Simeon?

Do you

see God?

Are you

looking for

God?

Simeon's

story is

unique.

He's

promised a

beautiful

promise to

see the

Messiah of

close and

personal.

But at the

same time,

his very

message is

that he's

not unique.

He says

all of us

can see the

Lord's

salvation.

This is

for the

nations,

the world.

This is

the light

of the

world.

Come in.

And so

he wants

you,

Simeon wants

everyone to

see what

he's seen.

And you

can.

You can.

This is

meant for

the world.

And some

of you

think that

God is

hiding,

that he

doesn't

want to

be seen

by you.

But don't

you see

the efforts

and the

lengths that

God wants?

You too

see him?

Right?

God is like

a dad of a

two-year-old boy

playing hide

and seek.

When he

hides,

he's just

around the

corner and

he peeks

his foot

out so

his little

two-year-old

can see

exactly where

he is.

because the

joy of

that is

for him

to grab

his son

and hug

him.

He wants

to be

seen.

Your

God wants

you to

see him.

Open

your eyes.

But

Simeon also

ends with

something crucial.

It says

Simeon took

him up in

his arms.

You see

salvation is

not an

it to be

seen.

It's a

he.

It's a

person.

And

seeing is

not enough.

You have

to hold

it.

You have

to take

it into

your own

hands.

There's

this

beautiful

delicate

way.

I love

when new

mothers are

holding their

newborns.

And when

they hand

them off

to you,

it's like

this is

the most

precious

thing.

You have

to remember

how to

hold a

baby.

It's weird.

This head's

going to

fall off.

And you

have to

very tenderly

take it

to you

and hold

it.

that's

what our

salvation

is.

It's

given to

you.

You have

to take

Jesus

into your

own hands

and hold

him to

your chest.

Some of

you see

salvation.

You understand

the claims

of Christianity,

but you've

never held

it.

You've

never

taken it

into your

arms.

And you

have to

take it

into your

arms every

day.

No one

picks up a

newborn once

when they've

been born

to them.

They take

them up

every day,

every hour.

That is

what it

is.

That's

what it

is to

know the

gospel,

to hold

the gospel,

to see

the gospel.

And

finally,

we have

to train

our eyes

to see.

And the

way we

train

sight is

through

prayer.

The

Son of

Simeon

has long

been a

beloved

prayer and

song in

the church.

And you

know where

the principal

place the

church has

used this

prayer?

Every

evening.

Every

evening,

when you

look at

the liturgical

prayers,

the evening

prayers,

they always

end,

going back

to the

fourth

century,

the church

has said

this is

one of

the best

ways to

end your

day in

prayer.

Why?

Why?

Lord,

now you

can dismiss

your servant

in peace,

for my

eyes have

seen your

salvation.

You see what

that's saying

every day?

Every day it's

saying, hey,

I can go to

bed in

peace.

Why?

Because I've

seen my

Savior today.

I've seen

salvation today.

And that

trains our

hearts and

our minds

to look

back over

every day

and say,

where did I

see God

work today?

Oh, I

have a

Savior.

I have a

Savior.

Sometimes

it's easy,

right?

Lord, I've

seen your

salvation today.

I've walked

with your

spirit today.

Other days,

we say this

prayer in

faith.

We don't

feel saved.

We're in

need of

salvation.

It's been

a terrible

day.

We've yelled

at our

kids.

We've yelled

at our

spouse.

We've

been grumpy.

And we

pray it less

as a

statement and

more as a

hope, a

question.

My eyes

have seen

your salvation.

And yet,

even in that

midst, God

meets us in

that prayer.

Oh, let me

give you more

salvation.

I am your

Savior.

And therefore,

we can depart

in peace.

We can go to

bed and go to

sleep.

So let me

challenge you

this new year.

pray the

prayer of

Simeon.

Every night.

Every evening.

And as you

go about your

year, ask

God, may

your fundamental

prayer this

year, for

year, 2026,

be, may I

see you.

May I see

your salvation.

In X, I see

your salvation

in this

relationship, in

my family.

May I see

your salvation

at work.

May that be

your prayer.

Father, friends,

salvation is

not just

something we

believe in.

It's something

we see and

hold.

Would you

pray with me?

Oh, Father

in heaven,

again, I want

to pray a very

simple prayer.

May we see

with Simeon's

eyes.

May we see

you, oh,

Lord.

Lord, if there's

anyone in here

that sees you

and is not

held you,

Lord, would you

work in their

hearts, work

in their minds,

and may they

take you as

their own.

May they hold

you, the

Savior, close

to their chest.

And Lord, would

you train us

to be a people

who see you,

who don't miss

out, oh, God.

Give us the

peace.

Give us the

praise, oh,

Lord, of having

been with you,

of having seen

you.

We pray this in

Christ's name.

Amen.

Amen.