The Ultimate Consolation

During my Advent readings prior to Christmas this year, one description of our Lord in his incarnation flared off the page with fresh meaning. The character of Simeon is one of my favorite characters in the cast surrounding our Lord’s birth. The Gospel of Luke introduces this good man by stating “…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 (Luke 2:25).

Here was a saint whose chief occupation was looking for the Kingdom of God to come. In prayer the Lord had promised this faithful Jew that he would see the Messiah before his eyes closed in death. Simeon was waiting for God’s Consoler. On the day Mary and Joseph brought their infant son to the Temple to be circumcised as the Jewish law commanded on his eighth day of life, Simeon was alerted by the Holy Spirit that the Anointed One was in the throng that day. He soon located the holy family and took the child in his arms and blessed God for the answer to his prayers. “Lord now You are letting you servant depart in peace according to Your word for my eyes have seen Your salvation.”

There are many wonderful names attributed to the Messiah. Just in Isaiah 9:6 in one prophecy alone Jesus is called Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Mighty God and Everlasting Father. There are so many others so full of  comfort and promise like Good Shepherd and Sun of Righteousness risen with healing in His wings. But somehow I had never really considered the name and role of Consolation or Consoler.

In the Dictionary the definition of the word “Console” is “to alleviate or lessen the grief, sorrow, or disappointment of; give solace or comfort.” In my own experience of losing my mother and father and my husband in death, I found few people could console me. My children were some considerable comfort because in my husband’s case, they were parts of him that were still present with me. However in the loss of my parents, I found small comfort in people as much as they tried to assure me that they had loved Mama and Papa Lou and would treasure the memories of them.

In large measure my best consolation came from the Word of God and its precious promises of the new body that they would receive like the Lord’s resurrection body and that they would be welcomed to their forever home by the Lord Himself who had promised in John 14:1 “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. 2“In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.…

A very dear friend of mine needs consoling today. She checked on her mother earlier in the week and found her dead in her chair in the living room. What a shock and what a terrible blow to find your own dear mother already gone from her earthly body. This image of Jesus the Consoler leapt to mind. Jesus came as the ultimate Consoler.  Jesus is the One who was sent by the Father to console us.  How precious indeed. Our loving Lord makes it his business to console us in our worst losses and griefs. He is not only the Comforter but the Consoler.

Whenever I seek to console a friend who has suffered a hurtful wound to his or her heart, I remember President Reagan after the Challenger tragedy as he spoke to the families of the astronauts so suddenly snatched from the lives of mothers, fathers, children and spouses. He quoted a poet whose words soar as high as the astronauts had flown and even higher. The author is John Gillespie Magee Jr. His posthumous fame rests mainly on his sonnet High Flight, which he started on 18 August 1941, just a few months before his death in a air collision over England.

Here are the lovely verses of the poem which appears on many tombstones in Arlington National Cemetery especially those of aviators and astronauts.

“Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth,
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth of sun-split clouds –
and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of –
wheeled and soared and swung high in the sunlit silence.
Hovering there I’ve chased the shouting wind along
and flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.“Up, up the long delirious burning blue
I’ve topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace,
where never lark, or even eagle, flew;
and, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
the high untrespassed sanctity of space,
put out my hand and touched the face of God.

     Jesus came as the ultimate Consoler; only He can promise to pilot a flight to touch the face of God for each of His own. This is a consolation worth waiting for. With Simeon let us rejoice and say, “Now you are letting me (or my loved one) depart in peace for I have seen the face of my Consoler.”