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Every year on February 2, as we celebrate the Presentation of the Lord, we remember the devout Jewish man who entered the Temple and saw the final chapter of his life unfold.
In response, this elderly man spoke a prophetic message that has endured through successive generations and that continues to challenge all of us.
The old man’s name was Simeon, and what he saw in the Temple was the baby Jesus, whom God had promised he would see before he died. When Simeon took the baby and held him in his arms, he told Mary and Joseph: “This child is destined for the falling and the rising of many” (Luke 2:34). With this one statement, Simeon expressed the core truth of what would happen some thirty years later, when Jesus offered his life for us on the cross.
If we were to take a moment to reflect on Simeon’s words, we might be struck by the spiritual realities that lie behind them: “Here in my arms is Israel’s Messiah, the…
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