At Christmastime, an excellent family activity is to gather around and read The Christmas Story from Luke 2:1-20. I encourage your family to do that today, but instead of stopping at verse 20, keep reading all the way to verse 40.

I am always fascinated by the lesser-told parts of our Bible stories. We are very familiar with Joseph and Mary, the angels, the shepherds, and the wise men, but we don’t often hear about the two dear “senior saints” who met Jesus when His parents brought Him into the temple to be dedicated. Their names are Simeon and Anna, and they are the lesser-known people of Christmas.

The Holy Spirit had told Simeon that he would get to see the Saviour in his lifetime. When Simeon held Jesus in his arms, he blessed God and said, “Lord, now You are letting your servant depart in peace, according to Your Word; for my eyes have seen Your salvation” (Luke 2:29-30 ESV).

Anna had been a widow for many years, so she spent all her time at the temple worshiping, fasting and praying. When she saw Jesus she gave thanks to God, and began sharing the Good News.

Simeon and Anna may be small characters in the story of Christmas, but they modeled great character in the Kingdom of Heaven. As we teach their story, let’s encourage our children to follow their example by embracing Jesus as their Saviour and sharing Him with the world.

Kent Babbey works for The Old Schoolhouse® as a Marketing Specialist. He and his wife Katie (who also works for TOS) live in Southwestern Ontario and are homeschooling parents of four children. Kent is also a pastor who enjoys serving churches with interim ministry.