Is it just me, or did we collectively experience ‘moon joy’ along with the crew of Artemis 2? Not the kind of joy that brings a smile or a laugh, but the kind that brings deep peace. Peace that passes understanding and wraps our present circumstances in His presence.
In his gospel, Luke uses word εἶδον ‘my eyes have seen’ which is drawn from the Greek idea of eidó: seeing that leads to deep knowing . We don’t just look at things; we behold them, and beholding changes us.
To See Is to Know
Eidó (εἴδω) means more than a casual glance. In its fullest sense, it means to behold something so completely that it produces knowledge. It’s a knowing that settles in your soul. The kind that changes how you walk in or out of a room.
The gospel of Luke is full of this word, and he uses it deliberately. The shepherds saw the Christ child and had to tell others about it. Zacchaeus climbed a tree to see who Jesus was, and it cost him everything he owned. Over and over, in Luke’s gospel, the ones who truly behold Jesus are never the same.
But perhaps no one in Luke’s gospel embodies the principle of eidó more profoundly than Simeon. Luke tells us Simeon had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Then, after years of waiting, Mary and Joseph walk through the temple doors with a baby, and something in Simeon knows. He crosses the room. He takes the child in his arms. And then he says
Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples Luke 2:29-31
There it is. “My eyes have seen.” And the immediate fruit of that beholding? Knowing peace.
This is moon joy.
Not the joy that makes you laugh, but the joy that makes you still. The Artemis 2 crew didn’t travel to the moon in search of peace; they went to test a spacecraft. But peace found them, because the vantage point changed what they could see. Simeon’s vantage point was a temple. After a lifetime of faithful waiting, there was the Christ child to behold. And it was enough.
What would it look like for you to behold rather than just look this week?
*For those of you who prayer walk, take time to ponder the phrase ‘my eyes have seen’. For your copy of this week’s screensaver click here. And to access all of my YouVersion Bible App devotional plans click here.