I wonder as I wander

This is something I have to do for my studio class for my voice lessons. I didn't really put a ton of thought into it, it has only been half an hour or so in the doing, but I like it anyways.


My name is Simeon. For all my long (long long) life have I waited for the coming of the Christ, the coming of the Messiah. It has been my fervent and daily prayer for as long as I can remember. Every day I have sought his coming, sought the time when it should be made known to me that my savior was now in the world.
I used to have such grand dreams. I used to think that a warrior, strong and mighty would come into the world on the white stallion of a conqueror, that my nation would be free once again. That the glory of Solomon’s kingdom would trifle in comparison. That Solomon’s temple would no longer be needed, because God would be with us on earth, the Messiah to save all Jews.
But I am now an old man. I have thought and waited, meditated and prayed for decades for the coming of the Messiah. The temple is more and more my home as the wants of my flesh become less and less as I approach my death. It has been my only desire for some time now that I would see the Messiah before I pass away from this life. For it was promised to me I should know of his coming, I should be among the first to know of his long-awaited arrival on earth. And though I have had great faith, and have waited long, in my age I began to despair.
But today it happened. The Christ came to the temple! I held him in my arms, as only a tiny baby. Nothing about this day was special. The heat wasn’t any less; the traffic through the temple kept coming through; the money-changers kept up their despicable practices. But I felt the Spirit today, and I went to the courts of the temple. I don’t like to be there usually, I prefer the quiet and solitude of other places that I have made my own. But the Spirit was strong, and so I went.
Heaven rejoice that I did! I may now pass in peace, every promise to me has been fulfilled, every longing of my heart given to me. I have seen the Messiah, held him in my arms. Now I walk through the peaceful gardens of Gethsemane, and I wonder.
The Christ didn’t come as a warrior or a king. Why should he not come in power, revealing his glory and strength? What is it about humans, so frail and weak as we are, that he should come as even the weakest of us? Why could he possibly want to grow as one of us, feel our pains, our sorrows, know our temptations and our struggles? This isn’t the vision of the Messiah that I had held onto for so long. He came in a stable they told me. There were sheep and cows there, and even pigs! He was surrounded by shepherds and commoners, a few wise men led by a star, but the power of humanity doesn’t even yet know that he is born! He could have come however he wanted, whenever he wanted. He could have come on that very star that the wise men followed. He could have come out of nature itself, heralded by the eagle’s wings that he will raise us onto. He could have come at the head of a vast army of angels, in sight of the entire world, proclaiming is infinite magnificence! He is the king of the whole world!
Yet he came as a babe. He came lowly people like you. He came for the wretched and broken people of this world. And something tells me that nothing about his life will be what we expect. Something tells me that he will be scorned and mocked and ridiculed for what he is. Maybe even killed, for this world will not understand him, recognize him, and they will never love him. But he is still here to save us all.
Why? Why should he come for us? It is something that I do not understand, and can not know. It is only one of those mysteries that God has not revealed to me, and maybe never will. But as I am here under the sky, and he is above the heavens, I can only wonder.


I wonder as I wander,
Out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior
Did come for to die
For poor on’ry people
Like you and like I…
I wonder as I wander,
Out under the sky.

When Mary birthed Jesus,
‘Twas in a cow’s stall,
With wise men and farmers
And shepherds and all.
But high from God’s heaven
A star’s light did fall,
And the promise of ages
It then did recall.

If Jesus had wanted
For any wee thing,
A star in the sky,
Or a bird on the wing,
Or all of God’s angels
In heav’n for to sing,
He surely could have it,
‘Cause he was the King.

I wonder as I wander,
Out under the sky,
How Jesus the Savior
Did come for to die
For poor on’ry people
Like you and like I…
I wonder as I wander,
Out under the sky.