The Gift of Patience

If there are any outstanding models in the Scriptures of patience, surely they would be Simeon and Anna. Both spent the better part of a lifetime waiting for the consolation of Israel. What enabled them to show such patience? What can we learn from them about faith in the Lord's promises?

Transcript

Charles St-Onge
Christmas 1 C
December 29, 2025
The Gift of Patience

Garrison Keillor has a famous performance piece called “The Young Lutheran’s Guide to the Orchestra.” In it, Keillor eliminates one by one almost every instrument as unsuitable for a young Christian. The Trumpet is for militaristic people who “want to play as loudly as they possibly can.” Violinists are egoists who think the whole orchestra is about them. The flute “is a temptation to pride. Avoid it.” So what’s left, if anything, for a Christian to play? 

Percussion. Why? Keillor says because “percussionists are endlessly patient… they don’t get to play much. Pages and pages of music go by where the violins are sawing away and the winds are tooting and the brass is blasting but the percussionist sits and counts the bars, like a hunter waiting for the quail to appear. A percussionist may have to wait for twenty minutes just to play a few beats, but those beats have to be exact and they have to be passionate and climactic. All that the epistles of Paul say a Christian should be – faithful, waiting, trusting, filled with fervor – are the qualities of the percussionist.”

What do the Scriptures, specifically the Apostles, say about being patient? 

James 5:7–8 (ESV): Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 

1 Corinthians 13:4 (ESV): Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant.

Romans 12:12 (ESV): Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 

Ephesians 4:1–2 (ESV): I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience…

Revelation 2:18–19 (ESV): “And to the angel of the church in Thyatira write… “ ‘I know your works, your love and faith and service and patient endurance, and that your latter works exceed the first.

Patient. That’s what a follower of the Lord is called to be. Not merely willing to wait, but willing to wait during hardship or persecution. Just like “sick and tired” often go together, so too do “patience and endurance.” 

If there are any outstanding models in the Scriptures of patience, surely they would be Simeon and Anna. 

Luke 2:25 (ESV): 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.

Simeon was “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” He was righteous and devout not in addition to waiting, but his waiting revealed his righteousness and devotion. Because waiting requires trust, especially trust in the face of doubt. Simeon did not have to endure physical suffering like imprisonment or torture or beheading. But I bet he had to endure people around who caused him to doubt. 

“Really, Simeon? You think you will see the Messiah before you die? Look how long you’ve been waiting! Look how old you are! Surely you’re mistaken.” 

But you know where the name “Simeon” comes from? From the Hebrew shema, which means to listen. Simeon was one who listened. He listened to the promise of the Lord, and he believed it. He trusted the Word, and that was what made him patient.

Luke 2:36–38 (ESV): 36 And there was a prophetess, Anna… She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37 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. 38 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.

Anna wanted to see the Lord, and she knew where she had to wait patiently – at the Temple. Let’s do a little math. Many young Jewish girls married at around 14. She would then have become a widow at 21. For 63 years, then, she had been worshipping and fasting in the Temple. 

What do you think people’s reaction was to Anna? “Wow, what a devout and righteous woman?” Maybe to some. But I’m sure there will also those who kept their distance. Maybe even some who snickered behind her back. “There she is again. Addled Anna. Always at the Temple. She should have gotten a life!” 

But do you know where the name Anna comes from? From the Hebrew Hannah, which means “favour” or “grace.” Despite the early loss of her husband, and the poverty that would have come with it, Anna believed the Lord favoured her. And that favour made her patient.
 
The Lord calls on us to be patient. It is a hallmark of the Lord’s work in our hearts. In his letter to the Galatians Paul contrasts our natural condition with the image of God in Christ. By nature, without having to work at it at all, we are immoral, impure, striving, jealous, angry and dissenting people (Galatians 5:19-21). 

Galatians 5:22 (ESV): But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Patience is one of the greatest virtues, the hallmark of the Lord’s work in us. Because Jesus is God’s image, and Jesus was nothing if not patient. He had to be, 
- to put up with people like Peter and John and James for so long! 
- to tolerate the unbelief of his family. 
- To save you and me from our rush towards our destruction, death, and the devil. 

As Peter writes to across the centuries, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9 (ESV)

We often selfishly wish that Jesus would return quickly. That would be convenient for us! It’s even biblical, because John ends his revelation by saying “marana tha” or “Lord Jesus, come!” But there is an ancient tradition in the early church to pray for the Lord to NOT come quickly, but rather to give us time to share the Good News with more people who haven’t heard it. 

I don’t know if Simeon and Anna wanted Jesus to come more quickly. But I do know this. They knew he would come. They knew that the Lord would send them and all the world salvation – a light to reveal the Lord to the nations. They trusted God’s promise. And they waited- patiently – for the Lord to fulfill it in his time. 

As can we!

Amen.