The song that Simeon sang on the day He held Baby Jesus in His arms has been sung ever since by the church. Let us ponder the words of this song and make them our own. “O Lord, lettest now Thy servant depart in peace, according to Thy Word.” Simeon is now ready to die. He has held in His arms the Child who is His Savior and the Savior of the world. He can depart in peace, which means to die in peace. He can die knowing that He has a Savior who will take away His sin and so he will not be judged for it. The same for you. When the pastor says after you eat and drink the body and blood of Jesus, “depart in peace,” he's saying, you can die now. In peace. In Christ. Whatever things out there in the world can happen to you cannot harm you because you are full of the Body and Blood of the Savior. The same Body and Blood which was given for your sins and rose from the dead. To depart in peace means that because of Jesus there are no sins hanging over you. No outstanding warrants for your judgment by God. No condemnation for you. And this is according to God's Word. Simeon had the Lord's Word that He would not die until He had seen the Christ. You have God's Word that having seen the Christ, received Him in His Word and Sacraments, you will die in peace.
“For mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou has prepared before the face of all people.” Salvation isn't an abstract concept. Salvation is something Simeon can hold in his arms. This Baby is God's salvation. This Baby is the Savior. This Baby is the One who will do the work of taking away Simeon's and your sins. This is the One St. Paul tells us was born under the Law in order to redeem us who were under the Law. There is a reason that Simeon tells Mary that a sword will pierce her own soul too! This Baby is the Lord's salvation. And that salvation will come at a price. The price of His precious blood and His innocent suffering and death! But the salvation of the Lord is right there in Simeon's arms. He can hold it. Salvation isn't some abstract religious idea. It's the Son of God becoming flesh. It's Jesus taking our place. It's Jesus suffering and dying for our sins. It's Jesus rising from the dead. Not that Simeon gets all that in the flash of a moment, but he knows enough: this Child is the One who is the salvation of God.
“A light to lighten the Gentiles...” Here Simeon says something extraordinary. This Savior is a light to the Gentiles, to the nations. He was not just born for the Jewish people. He was born for all people. For all nations, races, languages, tribes, peoples. Even us in Southern Illinois! We live in a dark world. Everyone does what is right in their own eyes. The weight of economic hard times and the crumbling morals of our society mean there is ever more and more pressure to live like the world does and to look out for just ourselves. But Simeon's words proclaim that there is Light in this darkness. Not just a hopeful outlook. Not just a “brighter tomorrow” or some other feel good rubbish. Here is true Light, shining in the arms of an old man. Here, in this Child is the Light of the world which will shine brightly from the top of Calvary, a beacon of hope for sinners on a day when the skies were dark over Golgotha. This is the Light that shines in the darkness and cannot be overcome.
“...and the glory of Thy people Israel.” When Simeon held Jesus in his arms, he was holding the fulfillment of God's promises since Adam and Eve, renewed to Abraham and proclaimed by prophets for thousands of years. Simeon knew that in this Child, God had kept His promises. It was the ultimate sign of God's faithfulness. Yet many of God's own people refused to believe that the Christ had come. But now it is not a physical bloodline that links us to Abraham but faith in Christ. St. Paul says that we are all sons of Abraham through faith in Jesus Christ. The true Israel is not a chunk of land in the Middle East. No, the true Israel is the holy Christian church where we rejoice in the promises of God fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We, along with Simeon, are God's people among whom His glory shines. Where is that glory? In the Word that is preached in Israel, in the church. Where the Baptism of water and the Word brings people into Christ's church. Where holy absolution is spoken and the crucified Savior is preached. Where the glory of God Himself is hidden under the bread and wine as we feast upon His Body and Blood in the holy Sacrament. The glory of Israel is Christ, who is the glory of the church. For it is here that He bestows upon us His salvation by coming to us and giving us Himself.
That is Simeon's song. The song that welcomed the Savior and confessed the fulfillment of God's promises. Where do we sing that song? Right after the Sacrament of the Altar. For there, at the end of the Divine Service, we have remembered our Baptism, been absolved of our sins, heard the Word read and preached, and feasted upon the flesh and blood of Christ. The pastor says, “Depart in peace,” that is, let nothing in this world and life worry you. You are in Christ. And you will be in Him when you die. And so we sing these words of Simeon to confess ourselves the good things God has given and shown to us. So now, to the welcome the Lord at His altar and then, having seen the Lord, having received the Lord's salvation once more, you can depart in peace. In Christ. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.
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