GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
LUKE 2:36-37
36 There was also Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old. She had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then was a widow for eighty-four years. She never withdrew from the temple, but with fasting and praying, she worshiped night and day.
The appearance of Anna is a surprise to us, for several reasons.
First, Anna was a prophetess. The days of the prophets were at an end, but here was someone the Lord endowed with the special gift of prophecy. There would be further prophets, like Agabus (Acts 11:28; 21:10), and prophetesses, like the four daughters of Philip (Acts 21:9). But for the most part, this spiritual gift is rarely if ever given today. Anna’s appearance as a prophetess reminds us that the Messiah fulfilled the Old Testament prophecies, handed down by Scripture and by faithful preaching from the days of the prophets until this moment.
Second, Anna was not from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin or Levi. Almost all the rest of the Jews were either exiled somewhere beyond the old Assyrian empire (into Eastern Europe or Western Russia) or else had intermarried with displaced Assyrians or Babylonians in their old tribal lands, especially between Judea and Galilee. These intermarried Jews were now the Samaritans. But Anna was none of these things. She still traced her lineage back to the tribe of Asher—the very same region from which the woman came to Jesus later with a demon-possessed daughter. Mark calls it “Syrian Phoenicia” (Mark 7:26). Matthew simply called that woman a Canaanite (Matthew 15:22). But Anna was an Israelite, from the vanished tribe of Asher. Her appearance reminds us that the Messiah was not just for the Jews (that is, the descendants of Judah), but for all Israel, just as the words of Simeon and the appearance of the Magi remind us that Jesus came to save the Gentiles, as well.
Third, Anna was very old. If she were merely 84, it wouldn’t be all that remarkable. Elizabeth and Zechariah might have been that age. But the best understanding of Luke’s Greek is that after seven years of marriage, Anna had lived 84 years (up to now) as a widow. If she were married at 15, and widowed at 22, that would make her 106. To put that into perspective for the people of her time, she was already old when Julius Caesar came to power. She had known the days before the emperor, when Sulla laid down his dictatorship voluntarily. Or to put it into our own frame of mind, a woman Anna’s age today could have seen Babe Ruth hit his first career home run (September 5, 1914). She would remember World War I. Her grandfather could have seen action in the Civil War. Her uncles could have been cowboys or sheriffs in the old West.
And here she was, today, telling people about Jesus. Her wait for the Savior was over; it was turned into praise and rejoicing. Isn’t this the reaction of anyone who comes to faith? But Anna had been waiting for it, longing for it.
This is how we will feel on the Last Day when Jesus comes again. We will have been waiting for it, knowing it was coming, but not knowing quite when. Yet we will rejoice, because our King and Savior will have come at last. Until then, share the news, like Anna.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: http://www.wlchapel.org/worship/daily-devotion/
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota