Ancient Senior Moments

Sometimes we think Senior Moments are a modern phenomena. Hardly. Let’s take a look at some senior moments that go way back in time. Sarah, Abraham’s wife, was way up in years. She overheard a conversation when a visitor told her husband she would become a mother. She laughed. At my age, no way. Before long she had a senior moment: she was with child.

Years later, young Isaac trudged off with his elderly father to offer a sacrifice. When they arrived at the appointed place, Abraham built an altar, placed his bundle of wood on it, then tied up his son and laid him on the altar. As he took up his sturdy knife, he heard a voice, "Don’t hurt the boy or harm him in any way. Now I know that you truly obey God because you were willing to offer your only son." What a senior moment for Abraham.

"Abraham looked up and saw a ram caught by his horns in the bushes. So he took the ram and sacrificed it in place of his son." Cruel? Naive? Frightening? To us, yes. But God made an indelible impression on Abraham as well as the whole human race that human sacrifices are unnecessary and unacceptable. That sacrifice was reserved for Jesus, God’s only son.

Then there is Moses. He had labored long and at times furiously leading his people out of Egypt heading for the Promised Land. The people grumbled and complained, even threatening to go back to Egypt but they trudged on, prodded by Moses. Now 120 years old, Moses left the lowlands of Moab and climbed up to the peak of Mount Nebo. There he was able to view the Promised Land which would soon belong to the tribes of Israel. Then the Lord spoke to Moses saying, "This is the land I was talking about when I promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that I would give the land to their descendants. I have let you see it, but you will not cross the Jordan and go in."

That was his senior moment. All that work for nothing? Not really. Moses soon died in Moab even though his eyesight was good and his body strong. God had His reasons for not letting Moses in just as He would not let King David build the temple. But God doesn’t hold grudges, and Moses was welcomed into an even greater Promised Land guaranteed to all who believe.

But wait. There’s more. Remember Elijah? He had done his job well. In fact, he mentored a younger Elisha so meticulously that Elisha was ready and able to take up where Elijah left off. Elijah, by now a senior citizen, had his final senior moment as he said farewell to Elisha. Without fanfare, he began moving heavenward in his chariot as Elisha no doubt watched in wonder.

Let’s move now to the New Testament. Elizabeth, like Sarah, was beyond the age of bearing a child. However, an angel told her husband Zechariah that she would have a baby and they were to name him John who would become John the Baptist. She too had a wonderful senior moment as God answered their prayers.

Finally, there is Simeon, a good man, who was told he would not die until he had seen Christ the Lord. Mary and Joseph, a very devout couple, went to the temple to offer a sacrifice for their first-born. Simeon was there when they arrived. Taking the baby Jesus into his arms, he blessed him saying: Lord, I am your servant, and now I can die in peace because you have kept your promise. With my own eyes I have seen what you have done to save your people, and foreign nations will also see that your power is light to all nations . . . And so it is. Amen. Amen.