And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”) and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, “a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.” Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
    according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation
    that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
    and for glory to your people Israel.”

And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

And when they had performed everything according to the Law of the Lord, they returned into Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.

Luke 2:22-40

I’m not always the best at paying attention to things. My wife can affirm this.

Just a couple weeks ago the two of us were flying home from Washington, D.C. We arrived at the airport, and when we got to the counter to check our bags in, the lady working behind the counter looked at my driver’s license and said, “I can’t find anything for you in our system.” I immediately knew what the problem was - we were at the wrong airport.

You see, unlike Atlanta, there are two major airports in D.C. - Reagan and Dulles. We flew into Dulles so I just assumed we would fly out of Dulles. Nope. When you book flights to D.C. it says “All Washington D.C. area airports.” We flew into Dulles, but our flight home was out of Reagan. I didn’t pay attention to the small letters on the itinerary that said DCA instead of IAD.

Thankfully we were at the airport early and had plenty of time to get an Uber and make the 35 minute drive to Reagan and still make our flight. No harm done.

Not like the time I didn’t pay attention to the fine print and thought Two Men and a Truck were all set to arrive at our house on moving day. Then when they didn’t show up I called them, and it turned out that I didn’t pay attention to the email asking me to confirm two weeks ahead of time. But that’s another story…

I think you get the point. Paying attention matters, and I’m not always great at it.

In the Christmas story in Luke chapter 2 there’s a story about a man named Simeon who did pay attention when no one else around him was paying attention.

Scripture reads, “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 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 forrevelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel’.”

The Bible doesn’t tell us very much about Simeon. But we do know that he noticed something that nearly every other person alive at the time missed - the birth of Jesus.

Pastor and Author Jon Tyson writes, “The majority of people missed the birth of Jesus. God snuck into our world almost unnoticed. But there were a few people who were let in on the secret of His coming. A few people who beheld the miracle in their midst while the world moved slowly on. Simeon was one of them.

● The priests dedicating Jesus didn’t notice the Messiah in front of them.

● The Pharisees didn’t notice Jesus in their quest for holiness.

● The Sadducees didn’t notice Jesus in their navigation of Roman power.

● The Essenes didn’t notice Jesus in their protests against compromise.

But Simeon did. A normal, godly man held the Messiah in his hands.

What set him apart? Why did God tell him what He withheld from others?

His hunger.

Simeon’s heart was set on the consolation (or comforting) of God’s people.

While other men his age were concerned with the normal pursuits of life, Simeon’s heart longed for more. He wanted to see Israel redeemed and restored. His personal peace was tied to his people’s peace. His heart was connected with God’s larger concerns, not just his personal problems.”

Nearly everyone missed the birth of Jesus because they weren’t paying attention to what really mattered. They were spending all their energy paying attention to worldly matters while Simeon was paying attention to the matters of God.

Too often I find myself missing the important things in life because I’m distracted or paying attention to the wrong things. But I really want to pay attention to the things of God. I’m sure you want that, too. So what do we do?

I think we need to be like Simeon. Luke tells us that Simeon was righteous and devout. That

means that he was concerned with right and moral actions, and he was deeply committed to God. He likely spent most of his time on these things - doing what was right for others and in prayer and worship of God.

Sounds a little like Jesus’ words later in His life - “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind…and love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40

So this Christmas, what if we stopped paying attention to things that don’t matter and started living like Simeon? What if we simply cared about what matters most?

God and neighbor.

Our lives would probably look a little different. They’d probably look a little more like Simeon.

And maybe the Holy Spirit would reveal things to us that are beyond our wildest dreams.

Jim Hollandsworth