Jump Start # 3913
Luke 2:36-37 “And there was a prophetess, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in year and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers.”
Sweet Anna, she carried many descriptions. She was a prophetess. She was old. She was a widow. She was faithful to God. She was thankful for the Messiah. It would be easy to pick out just one of those descriptive terms and build a whole story around that. She was all of those things. Just like Anna, we wear many hats and there are many words that tell our story.
We don’t know how old Anna was when she got married. Many were very young, teenagers, back then. She was only married for seven years and then tragedy struck. Her husband died. She would have still been very young at the time of his death. And, she never remarried. A widow for around sixty years of her life, Anna dedicated her life to serving in the Temple.
There are three verses about Anna in our Bibles. That’s all. But, what a wonderful picture it paints for us. Here are some thoughts:
First, Anna didn’t seem to be crippled by the death of her husband. Some would blame God. Some would make that the defining moment of her life. Young with the whole world in front of them, things changed quickly. We don’t know if she had children. She lived a long, long time without her husband.
Second, Anna found usefulness in serving the Lord in the kingdom. These verses tell us that Anna never left the Temple. It also states that she was busy serving day and night. She fasted. She prayed. She didn’t count her losses but instead found powerful ways to be helpful in the work of the Lord.
Third, we don’t know when Anna became a prophetess. Did this happen while she was married? Did it happen after? She was gifted by the Lord and she used that gift. She didn’t bury her gift like the one talent man. Nor does it seem that she used that gift to make herself more than what she was.
Our culture and sometimes in the kingdom, we don’t have much use for older people. That’s a shame. Although they move slower than the younger crowd, they have so many rich blessings to share with all of us. They stand upon a mountain of experience that life has taught them. They have a wealth of Biblical knowledge, having heard some of the finest preachers. They have sat in Bible classes for decades, learning and growing. Maybe they can’t teach a whole quarter of classes, could they teach one class?
Anna found a way to be useful, and that’s at the heart of being a disciple. What can I do? It is so easy to find what we can’t do. Anna found what she could do. The Temple became her home. She stayed there being useful as she could.
The kingdom is blessed with the spirit of Anna today. Men and women, well past retirement age, and having the resources to travel and do what they want to do, they devote their time serving in the kingdom. They have found a niche where they can be of benefit to others and they pour their hearts into that work. Great encouragers. Great teachers. Great helpers in the kingdom.
Old Anna sure leaves us a powerful example.
Roger