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Simeon had been anxiously looking forward to the consolation of Israel. And he knew that he would see the Christ before he would die. The Bible doesn’t actually say how old he was, nor does it say when it is that he died, or how long it was that he was anxiously looking forward to the consolation of Israel. But we can infer, and the church has always assumed, let’s listen to it again.
“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.”
The Song of Simeon is a funeral hymn. It’s the song of one who is ready for death. The phrase “dying well” has been hijacked in our time by those who believe that death is a valid choice; that one may decide to end one’s life at the moment it becomes too inconvenient or too painful or too embarrassing to go on. Brothers and sisters in Christ, this is a lie. Death does not come on our terms. Not ever. Not even once.
While our deaths come about because of our sin, both original and actual, we are not the lords of the grave. That honor belongs to Christ and to Christ alone. We cannot choose to die well, least of all by taking our own lives. So how does one die well? By working hard? By delivering a good inheritance to one’s children or grandchildren, to one’s church or pet charity? No. By feeding the hungry and clothing the poor? By being faithful in church attendance? By being diligent in your study of the Scriptures? No, none of these.
So what must we do to die well? We’ll get back to the answer to that question in a moment, but first, let’s take a look at this other prophecy spoken by Simeon to Mary: “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel. And for a sign that is opposed, so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”
How is it that Jesus will bring the fall and rising of many? Look at those who were brought low by the teaching of Jesus: Pharisees, kings, powerful men, who believed that their power or their upright behavior gave them the right to stand before a holy and just God. A Lutheran Christian sermon. Because we believe ourselves above judgment. We know ourselves to be better than our neighbors because our sin isn’t as disgusting or as public or as shameful as the sin of our weaker neighbor.
There is only one way to die well. And it begins with realizing that a good death is utterly beyond your power. It begins by counting yourself among the lawbreakers, the weak and lowly, among those who cannot stand by their own strength. This is repentance, and it is only the beginning. But without recognizing your need for a Savior, without recognizing your unworthiness to stand before God in the judgment, you will by no means die well.
The mighty are cast down and the lowly are lifted up. Not because Jesus wants the lowest among us to have a fair shake. We all deserve nothing but death and hell. But because the mighty believe themselves above judgment. The accomplished have no need for a savior. The lowly are lifted up because in order to believe rightly in Christ as the only true cause of our salvation, we must first realize that there is nothing we may bring to the table. The table is already prepared. It is set with the body and blood of Christ, given to you for the forgiveness of your sins.
Nothing we do, no matter how noble, will enable us to die well. Simeon did not depart in peace because he was righteous and devout. No, Simeon was righteous and devout because God had given him the gift of faith. Because he believed God and so he received what God had promised. He departed in peace because God’s word has been fulfilled. Because the Lord’s Christ has come. Salvation has been prepared in the sight of every people. A light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of Israel.
Simeon departed in peace because his eyes beheld and his arms held God, the only man in all of human history who truly died well. The death of Christ on a cross, the most gruesome, seemingly unjust death, is the good death. By it alone, God’s righteous wrath over sin is satisfied. And because we in our baptism share in a death like his, so too we also have the promise that we will share in a resurrection like his.
Simeon was ready to die because his eyes had beheld the Lord’s Christ. He had even held him in his arms. That is why we sing his song after the Lord’s Supper. Because having received with our mouths the body and blood of Christ, the forgiveness of our sins, we are ready to die. It is in the same way that when we pray in the Lord’s Supper, “deliver us from evil.” We are praying in summary that our Heavenly Father would rescue us from every evil of body and soul, possessions and reputation, and when our last hour comes, would take us from this valley of sorrow to Himself in heaven.
So it is also that by contrition and repentance we die daily in our baptism. We are drowned and die with all sins and evil desires. And a new man rises daily to live before God in righteousness and purity forever.
Christianity is a dying religion. Not, of course, that the church is dying out. No, our Lord has promised us that the church will never die. The very gates of hell cannot prevail against His church, against the confession of Christ crucified for sinners.
No, the church is a dying church because the practice of the Christian faith is intimately tied to death. We enter the church through the font where we are united with Christ in His death and also united with Him in His resurrection. We die daily through the word of the law which convicts us of our sins and brings us to despair. We die daily through the word of the law and we are resurrected daily through the promise of the forgiveness obtained for us on the cross.
By Christ’s death and resurrection, we, with Simeon, may be certain that we will have a good death because we are united with His good death. As the hymn says, “Be thou my consolation, my shield when I must die. Remind me of thy passion when my last hour draws nigh. Mine eyes shall then behold thee. Upon thy cross shall dwell. My heart by faith enfold thee. Who dieth thus dies well.”
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
