The Women of Christmas: Anna

December 08, 2013

Luke 2 Last week we began a three part series of messages about women whom we often skip over as we retell the stories of Christmas, but these are people who are nonetheless vital and important parts of the story. The stories of these women in scripture are sometimes brief, as it was last week with the story of Elizabeth and even more so with the subject of today s story, !nna. "ndeed, !nna only appears in one chapter of the #ospel of Luke and only for a handful of verses, and yet, the message that she bears to each of us is vital and life changing. $e saw last week that Elizabeth was the first person with whom Luke demonstrates the idea of reversal, but with !nna Luke not only repeats the theme of reversal but introduces the idea of redemption. %ome of us are more familiar with the idea of redemption than others simply because we remember glass bottles of our favorite soda pop. There was a time, before plastic disposable bottles, that all of the bottles officially belonged to the bottling company even though you bought the soda and took it home. Eventually, after you had emptied your bottles, you took them back to the store and they re eeme them. That means that they bought back, the thing that had belonged to them all along. &awn shops still operate this way. "f you need cash you can pawn it for some fraction of its value. The pawn shop keeps your item, but technically, it still belongs to you, as long as you return to redeem it. $hen you redeem your property, you pay back that fraction of its value that you borrowed and the item is returned to you. 'ur story today is all about redemption. $e rejoin the story in Luke 2, as (ary and )oseph bring the baby )esus to the synagogue to be circumcised* On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary too him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord 2!"as it is written in the Law of the Lord, #$very firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord#%, 2&and to offer a sacrifice in eeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord' #a pair of doves or two young pigeons.# ((( )he child*s father and mother marveled at what was said about him. !&)hen +imeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother' #)his child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in ,srael, and to be a sign that will be spo en against, !-so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. .nd a sword will pierce your own soul too.# )here was also a prophetess, .nna, the daughter of 0hanuel, of the tribe of .sher. +he was very old1 she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, !2and then was a widow until she was eighty(four. +he never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. !34oming up to them at that very moment, she gave than s to 5od and spo e about the child to all who were loo ing forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.
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When Joseph and Mary had done everything re7uired by the Law of the Lord, they returned to 5alilee to their own town of 8a9areth. &:.nd the child grew and became strong1 he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of 5od was upon him. )ust as we spoke last week about the newborn son of ,echariah and Elizabeth, the newborn son of )oseph and (ary is also circumcised on the eighth day after his birth, and his name, )esus, was announced for all those in attendance. !fterwards there was a time of purification. !fter childbirth, a woman was unclean under the laws of (oses and was re-uired to wait for time of ritual purification. This time of waiting was forty days after the birth of a son, and eighty days after the birth of a daughter, after which, the parents were to make the trip to the Temple and make a sacrifice to the Lord for the wife s purification. "t was then that the firstborn son was to be publicly set.aside to the Lord. "t was not strictly necessary for the parents to bring the child to the Temple for these proceedings, but (ary and )oseph did so anyway, perhaps to dedicate )esus to the work of #od as %amuel s mother, /annah, had done. !s a part of this whole proceeding, (ary and )oseph bring a 0sacrifice in eeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord' #a pair of doves or two young pigeons.#; !s (ary and )oseph arrive at the Temple, they are met by a complete stranger who has been led there by #od, for e1actly this moment in history. $e are told that %imeon was a faithful and devout man who had waited his entire life for 0the consolation of ,srael...; the one who would fulfill all of the ancient prophecies, #od s !nointed, the (essiah. #od had already come upon this faithful man and told him that he would not die until he had seen the birth of the child that had been promised and so, whatever his duties in the Temple were for that day, #od told him that he needed to be in the temple courts. /e probably didn t hear a voice, or get a shove from an invisible hand, but nonetheless he somehow knew that he needed to be there. $hile he was there, he saw (ary and )oseph and he held the baby )esus in his arms and thanked #od for allowing him to see this marvelous day. 2ut %imeon also prophesied over the baby. (ary and )oseph were amazed at the happenings of the day and the speech of %imeon. $hy were they amazed, didn t they know that their son was the (essiah, had they already forgotten the promises of the heavenly messengers3 'f course they knew, and of course they hadn t forgotten. 2ut for the first time since (ary s relative Elizabeth had prophesied over her nearly nine months ago, (ary and )oseph hear, out loud, from the lips of a total stranger, the story they thought was a secret. 'verhearing %imeon s prophetic speech over this child is an old woman. 'ur scripture, which " read in the 4ew "nternational 5ersion, says that !nna was eighty.four years old, but the translators could take the meaning of the original language several ways. "f you were following along in the 6ing )ames 5ersion, those translators chose a second possibility and said that she had been a !i o! for eighty.four years. "f that were true, and she were married at age +7, was married for seven years, and was a widow for eighty.four, then she was at least +89 years old. "n either case we would find this to be remarkable, but again we must remove ourselves from our modern bias, and remember that in the days of )esus the average lifespan was between thirty and forty. ! fifty.year.old man would have been considered to be old and wise. !nd so, understood this way, !nna was very old indeed. !nna was born from the tribe of !sher, which does not seem to mean anything in particular, but might possibly have carried some weight because !sher was known to be an honorable tribe. 'ur scripture lesson said that !nna 0never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.; This doesn t necessarily mean that she literally 0never: left the temple, but instead probably means that she was there whenever it was open, and was at the temple services in both the morning and in the evening. !nd there is also the possibility that !nna was among the few women who, when widowed, had nowhere else to go, and became

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wards of the temple. These women took up residence there, just as some of the priests had places to stay in the outer courts of the temple during the two week service of their division. !nna is introduced to us as a prophetess. $e are not told that she spoke a prophecy on this one day, but that she was known to speak words of prophecy. Elizabeth prophesied, but she was not a prophetess. %imeon prophesied over )esus, but he was not described as a prophet. &rophecy, by nature, was a rare and intermittent gift and unless one was given this ability with some fre-uency, you would not be given such a title. ! number of women in the 'ld Testament were called prophetesses including <eborah, /annah, /uldah and (oses sister (iriam. (any people assume, and even teach, that after the last of the 'ld Testament prophets, that no one in "srael spoke for #od for the ne1t four hundred years until )ohn the 2aptist began his ministry. 2ut this evidence tells us something different. $hile no major prophets had arisen, and certainly no one of the stature of the 'ld Testament prophets had been writing, there had been men and women, who spoke for #od and were known as prophets and prophetesses. !nna was known to be one of those who spoke for #od and who continued a line that went on to include )ohn the 2aptist, and )esus, and &aul, and the apostle )ohn. !nna heard the prophecy of %imeon and came to this young couple and their new baby. $hile %imeon had spoken his prophesy to (ary and )oseph, and to a few who had been close enough to hear them, !nna spoke her words to everyone who was looking forward to the coming to the (essiah. " don t think we need to take this literally, but " do believe that we should understand it to mean that !nna told a great many people and proclaimed the good news. !nna s proclamation has not been recorded for us, but it may well have sounded like these words from "saiah =>?
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)his is what the LO<= says> the <edeemer and ?oly One of ,srael> to him who was despised and abhorred by the nation, to the servant of rulers' #@ings will see you and rise up, princes will see and bow down, because of the LO<=, who is faithful, the ?oly One of ,srael, who has chosen you.# )his is what the LO<= says' #,n the time of my favor , will answer you, and in the day of salvation , will help you1 , will eep you and will ma e you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances,
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to say to the captives, *4ome out,* and to those in dar ness, *Ae freeB* ...
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+hout for Coy, O heavens1 reCoice, O earth1 burst into song, O mountainsB

Dor the LO<= comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. )ust as ,echariah was silent and Elizabeth spread the news of #ods wonder, in this story we see %imeon make a private proclamation while !nna spreads the news much more publicly. "t is !nna that declares that )esus would bring deliverance to his people. !nna announces that )esus would re eem the people of "srael. <id you notice that there is a pattern of sorts that is being played out in the people that we have met in the Christmas story3 #od sent messengers to speak to )oseph and to* (ary. #od granted special favor, the filling of his /oly %pirit and the visitation of his messengers to ,echariah and*Elizabeth. !nd today we have seen that #od granted the gift of prophecy to both %imeon* and !nna. #od has revealed to us that his son was sent not just to the rich and not just to men, but that the (essiah had come to free a"" people. The good news of salvation was for all time, and for all people, rich and poor, weak and strong, )ews and #entiles, men an women. "n this time of celebration, we see in the Christmas story how #od was, and is, working in the lives of many people to accomplish his purposes. Today, as in the past, #od works through our difficulties, and regardless of our age, prepares a way before us. $e have all heard the story of the coming of )esus and we have learned the meaning of reversal and redemption, but what we do with that story makes all the difference in the world. %imeon heard the good news and was ready to die, but !nna hears and goes out into the world to tell everyone that )esus had come to change the world. !nna, in her old age, perhaps over a hundred years old, was herself redeemed and given a new life and a new purpose and she tells the people #od s story of reversal, rescue, and redemption. Clearly, our calling is to be like !nna and not %imeon. $e are not only called to hear the good news, but to share it with our family, our friends, our neighbors, and the world. %he had a tragic marriage, but lived a faithful and devoted life worshipping, and praising #od. "n the end, even when she was incredibly old, twice as old as most people ever lived, even then #od was not finished with her. #od filled this faithful woman with the power of his /oly %pirit and used her to tell others the most important news of all time. #od used his devoted woman of #od A this woman named !nna.

Bou have been reading a message presented at Trinity Cnited (ethodist Church on the date noted at the top of the first page. Dev. )ohn &artridge is the pastor at Trinity of &erry heights in (assillon, 'hio. <uplication of this message is a part of our (edia ministry, if you have received a blessing in this way, we would love to hear from you. Letters and donations in support of the (edia ministry or any of our other projects may be sent to Trinity Cnited (ethodist Church, @E7E Lincoln $ay E., (assillon, 'hio ==9=9. These messages are available to any interested persons regardless of membership. Bou may subscribe to these messages, in print or electronic formats, by writing to the address noted, or by contacting us at subscribeFtrinityperryheights.org. "f you have -uestions, you can ask them in our discussion forum on Gacebook Hsearch for &astor )ohn 'nlineI. These messages can also be found online at http?JJwww.scribd.comJ&astor )ohn &artridge. !ll %cripture references are from the 4ew "nternational 5ersion unless otherwise noted.