Ton Criston Kuriou
By Angela Williams Reese
MDiv Student

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout, looking forward to the consolation of Israel … It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. (Luke 2:25-26)."

I haltingly repeated the last words: “The… Lord’s… Messiah…” It seemed impossible to digest the phrase all at once, so my lips in unison with my mind broke the words into edible morsels, just like pinching off a piece of communion bread from the loaf. In an instant, there came a change in direction. The phrase turned into a question, “The Lord’s Messiah?” A question mark had hooked itself to the tail end of these words and rapidly surged over my heart like a high-tide, winter wave engulfing a beach’s coastline.

I have read about Simeon’s story year after year. However, the words “The Lord’s Messiah”--with the question mark hanging on the end--just kept ringing in the inner chambers of my soul like an old-time, country church bell swinging left and right calling for a time of worship.  

The Holy Spirit beckoned me to seek deeper. So, more questions were released and thundered through me: Whose Messiah? What do you think of the Messiah? Whose son is he?  

I was struck as if blinded by some great light; I fumbled toward my Greek Bible and flipped through the pages to the second chapter of Luke. My fingers glided down the page in search of some insight into this matrix of words that began with a question mark banging in my soul. There at the end of verse 26, the Greek letters undoubtedly proclaimed ton criston kuriou, the Christ of the Lord. My eyes closed to the beat of David’s ancient words, “the Lord said to my Lord.”

“Ton Criston Kuriou,” this baby, embraced by the aged arms of Simeon, was the Ruler’s Messiah, God’s Messiah, and the Christ of the Lord. And Simeon worshipped the Master of All for awakening him to see God’s plan of cosmic salvation, Gentile revelation, and Israel’s glorification. There will be no other sent to perform the penultimate Kingdom work on earth for this Ruler of all--the Lord God. There will be no other sent beside Jesus whom is ton criston kuriou, the Christ of the Lord. The Lord’s Messiah.