The prophet Anna is often missing from the Christmas story, which focuses on Jesus’s birth, the wonder of the shepherds and the worship of the wise men.
Something like Naomi in the passage below, Anna was entirely alone, she had been widowed early in life, and no children are mentioned. What must have that been like for her, as a young women, with no prospects, and no one to care for her? With no heritage, no sons or daughters as the glory and crown every woman in her culture and time hoped to have?
The Sorrow of Loss
But Naomi said, “Turn back, my daughters. Why will you go with me? Do I still have sons in my womb that they may become your husbands? Turn back, my daughters, go your way, for I am too old to have a husband. Even if I thought there was hope for me, even if I should have a husband tonight and bear sons, would you then wait until they were grown? Would you then refrain from marrying? No, my daughters, it has been far more bitter for me than for you, because the hand of the Lord has turned against me.”
Ruth 1:11-13 (NRSVUE)
Sons are indeed a heritage from the Lord,
the fruit of the womb a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior
are the sons of one’s youth.
Happy is the man who has
his quiver full of them.
He shall not be put to shame
when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.Psalm 127:3-5 (NRSVUE)
The story of Christmas honors people who don’t have a family of their own, as well as people who are estranged from their families
Mari Hagemeyer
But during his visits to Jerusalem, Jesus spent a great deal of his time in the temple’s Court of Women, where Anna had ministered for decades to tens of thousands of families just like his own.
Prophet Anna
There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.
At that moment she came and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Luke 2:36-38 (NRSVUE, emphases added)
A Lowly Estate
From Mari:
“Anna is a minor character in the Christmas narrative, showing up in just three verses in Luke’s account and not appearing anywhere else. However, from these verses we know that her life was not easy.
“Women around the world in her time had far fewer rights and freedoms than men did. Jewish girls typically married in their early teens during this time, which means that Anna was almost certainly younger than thirty by the time she was widowed. Even so, she never remarried. In addition, it’s clear from the passage that she had no family to take care of her. Her children had died or abandoned her, or she had never had a child with her husband. Anna had to rely on the Temple’s charity for everything.”
It is heartening to us today that God honored Anna with the anointing of a prophet and gave to her one of the great privileges of the Gospel. She was the first to proclaim the good news of redemption through Jesus.
(The button above will bring you to Amazon.com to get “Songs for a Savior.”)
Mediations for Advent
So, I have prepared an Advent Devotional that will take the reader through each of the four weeks of Advent, beginning the Sunday after Thanksgiving, with a special reading for Christmas day. I wrote it this way so this devotional could be read in any given year
The first part of this devotional pairs Hannah’s Prayer with Zechariah’s Prophecy, and the names of the Son of God that come out of their prayers.
Hannah’s Prayer
Hannah was the mother of the prophet Samuel, who was the last of the Hebrew Judges and the first prophet to anoint a king of Israel. It was Samuel who anointed King David, recognizing in the young shepherd boy that God does not judge by what the world sees, or by the world’s standards, but rather God looks in the heart. The heart and soul are what matter to God for eternity.
Zechariah’s Prophecy
Zechariah was the father of John the Baptist, who was the last of the Hebrew Prophets, and the Hebrew prophet who heralded and baptized Messiah Jesus, the King of all kings and Lord of all lords. John the Baptist was able to identify the Messiah in the unassuming carpenter and stonemason by God’s direct revelation in the form of a dove resting above Jesus’s head. Israel was looking for a royal king but God intended to save the world for eternity.
The second part of this devotional pairs Mary’s Magnificat with Jesus’s Beatitudes, and the names of God the Son which arise.
Mary’s Magnificat
Mary was the birth mother of Jesus, the first to experience the extraordinary reality of God’s very life growing within her. As any mother might do, Mary surely sang lullabies to her baby, and taught Him the scriptures and stories of His people as He grew. It was Mary who heard her Son’s first word, and rejoiced over His first step. It is no wonder she “pondered these things in her heart.”
Jesus’s Beatitudes
As His ministry grew, Jesus’s teaching became famous, and His Beatitudes continue to engage us thousands of years later with the wonder of the Lord’s wisdom.
As you and I meditate on these words, let us think about the names all heaven and earth gave to this tiny, vulnerable baby Who is God the Son. From eternity into our world and then returned to the glory from whence He came, Jesus now opens the way for you and me to be with him in glory forever.
Lamp photographs from the Getty Museum (Menorah lamp) and the Metropolitan Museum (Chi-rho lamp), public domain.
[Image: Presentation of Jesus at the Temple | By Rembrandt – Photographer and uploader was Hajotthu at de.wikipedia, Public Domain]
