“And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just 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” (Lk. 2:25-26).
Simeon’s one desire as a God-fearing man, is to behold the Maker of the Law: the One true God who loved Israel enough to give her the Law and guide her away from all the paganism and all that would otherwise destroy her from the people’s around her.
The Logos of God, Who bowed the heavens and came down to take flesh and share our human nature so that He, being God, could redeem that nature, and make a means through which all humanity could come into that redemption through the waters of regeneration, Baptism, is met today in the Temple. The righteous Simeon, who lived his life according to the Law, now holds Him who made the Law. This, Simeon desires more than anything else in his life.
Here’s the beauty of the Mystery revealed to us in this Feast: In obedience to the Law, Mary, the Theotokos, and the Righteous Joseph, take Jesus to the Temple in obedience to the commands of the Law. So here the One who has made the Law, the very Word of God communicated to Moses in the Law, is obediently presented in keeping with that Law that He Himself set down.
In His keeping the Law, Christ God also fulfills that Law. He who is life itself enters into the Law and fulfills it just as He does with baptism—He fills it with new and fulfilled meaning. In doing so, Christ inaugurates a new race of man as the new Adam—a race capable, by the Holy Spirit’s sealing at Baptism and Chrismation, of living out the spirit of the Law in their hearts, as the Prophet Jeremiah foretold: I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people (Jer. 31:33).
By Christ’s obedience to the Law, those who have “put on Christ” in Baptism as the new race in Christ, are enabled to also be obedient to that which pertains to being part of the new creation in Christ, so that we can grow in holiness, in Christ-likeness, and become fit for the Kingdom of God. We are, in other words, given the means, to learn obedience, to overcome the flesh and its passions, and all those things that could otherwise keep us from life with God in His eternal Kingdom.
Purity, chastity, are now not made up of outward sacrifice, but of the sacrifice that comes from seeking Christ, in prioritizing the life that is alone in Him, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit now dwelling in us, of our “Yes!” to God and His work in us and through us. Each of us who has put on Christ, carry the fulfillment of the Law in our hearts because Christ God has taken it on Himself. We, in turn, have “put on Christ” through our baptism. Christ’s fulfillment becomes ours as well.
What in the Law pointed to this saving fulfillment has now come to pass. God has established a means of our true healing and forgiveness in His Christ. Each one of us now has the opportunity to become a Saint. What does that mean? The Greek word for “Saint,” (hagios) means holy one. Our journey toward Sainthood, what we in the Church call theosis or deification, is precisely that, a “journey” of cooperation with God’s work and will in our lives. It’s never easy to overcome the ‘old man’, to be “in the world but not of the world,” to keep in our hearts the truth that is Truth for all ages because it pertains to Whom who is the Truth instead of the latest of man’s theories purported as the next ‘truth’ we have to believe to be part of the culture.
Salvation, becoming a Saint, is hard work because that ‘work’ is precisely the means through which we become what we are made, created, to be. That work, that cross, breaks down that which is foreign to the Kingdom of God so that we can be built up in what is native to that Kingdom, growing in humility, holiness, and, then, in turn, in our communion with God whose presence we are able—more and more—not only to endure, but to long for as we grow in His love and holiness. Our spiritual ‘fight’ in this way, never comes back to us empty, but as St. Paul assures us, “till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13).
So, we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, step by step, we journey in Christ. And this journey of faith is made possible only through our repentance. It’s only in our turning from the ‘old man’ to Christ, embracing the new life in Him , forsaking that in the world which would trip us up, cause our fall, separate us from the life of God, from eternal life, that we make sure, if slow but steady progress in our growth in the knowledge and love of God.
This is precisely what repentance and deification is; it’s this ingredient more than any other that leads one to growth in holiness: I’m going in my own direction—to no good, to no avail, wreaking havoc in my life and others, and, I turn, opening my heart to a change, a new beginning with Christ, keeping my eyes fixed on Him, prioritizing the life in Him, always coming back to Him when I fall. Repentance always has its desired affect because it’s the heart and its desire that God judges most.
This is precisely what we see Zacchaeus do in today’s other Gospel. He’s a notorious sinner, as all tax collectors were in Christ’s day. No one would call him a Saint, that’s for sure; nor would he ever describe himself in that manner. He was ill-liked, even resented. But the desire for something better than the same old excuses and dead-end streets for his soul compel him to seek out Christ, the long-awaited Messiah, God incarnate, for a new beginning, an honest existence.
So with all the throngs pressing in to see or touch Jesus, Zacchaeus didn’t stand a chance, literally; he was very short. Zaccheaus could have been disqualified from seeing the Lord on at least two counts: one, because of his past sins against the people, and two, because of his short stature. How can the impure come before the Pure One? How can a man of such short stature hope to see the King whom everyone is pushing to see? Zacchaeus’ yearning for a new beginning, the opportunity just to see Jesus, compels him to climb a Sycamore tree. Of all the people that came out to see Jesus, He stopped at this man, Zaccheaus, to the consternation, surprise, even outrage, of many.
You see, Zaccheaus has something we always need more of: single-minded zeal to see the Lord. He is bent on seeing Him, being near Him. Zaccheaus, whatever his past sins and transgressions, refuses to let them hinder him in his quest to see God. There aren’t any promises that anything else will happen, just that maybe he will see Christ. That’s all. That’s his hope and faith—and that means everything to him because Christ is God, He is the life of all. Christ comes to him and says, “Zaccheaus, make haste and come down, for today I must stay at your house.”
For the righteous Simeon too, his one desire is to see Christ, to hold the babe Christ before he dies, His and the universe’s Creator. God, by His mercy, grants his heart’s desire. Here too, we see that singular desire to see Christ, to be with Christ, to encounter Christ, to be in His presence.
What is your foremost desire? If we are to become fellow inheritors of the Kingdom of God and enjoy the blessed life with the Author of all Life, Jesus Christ, you and I develop this singular zeal to know, to see, to encounter Christ in our day to day lives. If you feel yourself torn this way and that by all the priorities you’ve allowed the world to put on your back, today is the day to return, to repent, to begin anew seeking Christ and His Kingdom above all else. As He promises, as we see the Righteous Simeon and Zaccheaus exemplify for us, those who “seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness,” will be granted that encounter with Christ. “Now lettest Thou Thy servant depart in peace according to Thy Word, for mine eyes have seen Thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to enlighten the Gentiles and the glory of Thy people, Israel.”
