Giving thanks and telling the story
Luke 2:36-38
Two of the biggest reasons that people don’t share their faith are
• that they don’t know what to say
• they are afraid of rejection
Anna’s method addresses both these objections.
36There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:36-38 NIV)
Who is Anna?
Prophetess
When we think of prophets, we think of men like Moses and Isaiah. However, the Bible calls several women prophets. Joel and Peter make it clear that since Jesus came, more women will be prophets. Anna is only one prophetess named in the Bible. Others are:
• Miriam
• Deborah
• Isaiah’s wife
• Huldah
• Philip the evangelist’s four daughters
• Elizabeth and Mary both speak God’s word though they are not explicitly called "prophetess"
• The Jews also recognize Sarah, Hannah and Esther as prophetesses
Anna’s role as a prophet gave her insight into the identity of the Baby that Mary and Joseph were carrying around the Temple courts that day.
From the tribe of Asher
There were 12 tribes if Israel, descended from the 12 sons of Jacob. Asher was Jacob’s 8th son. The tribe of Asher was known for being good farmers and for providing strong military leaders.
By the time Jesus was born, Judah and Levi were the most well represented tribes left. Some people from Asher were there, because shortly after the Assyrians led the Northern Kingdom into captivity, King Hezekiah invited their remnants to come and worship in Jerusalem. The remnants of only three tribes responded:
• Manasseh
• Zebulun
• and Asher
Some people from the tribe of Asher recognized their nation’s mistakes and decided to follow the LORD.
Very old
The grammar in this phrase is somewhat difficult to translate. Some translations see the original as saying that she lived after she was widowed to be 84. That translation is quite plausible. However, the more grammatically literal translation says that she lived as a widow for 84 years after her husband died. This would make her very old indeed. Probably about 105 and likely the oldest woman in the country at the time.
A widow
As in the story of Ruth and Naomi, a widowed woman in biblical times was often destitute. Men were the bread winners of the family and when there were no men left to take care of their women, the women often had no income. There was no welfare system as we know it. They were dependent on the kindness of others.
At her advanced age, it is likely that Anna outlived everyone in her family. Having only been married for 7 years, she is not likely to have had many children. It is likely that there was no one to take care of her.
She was very devoted
When it says she did not depart from the Temple, it likely means that she was there every day and late into the evening. It is also possible that she had become homeless and was practically living in the Court of Women or the Court of the Gentiles.
However, it is important that she chose to live in the Temple. Perhaps her fasting was a result of her poverty, or perhaps it was her decision, it is impossible to know.
• She could have lived somewhere else, but she chose to stay at the temple and worship
• She may have been compelled by need to fast, but she chose to fast and pray
She gave thanks and told about Jesus
Verse 38 makes it clear that she came up on the heels of Simeon who just made a declaration. Mary could not walk without having someone talk about her Son. Simeon had already drawn a crowd, now Anna would speak to them too.
When she saw Jesus, she did two things:
• she gave thanks to God
• and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem
Simeon’s words help us a little. Luke apparently wants us to relate what Anna said to his words. He spoke of Jesus’ power both socially and spiritually.
• He would displace people of power with others.
• He would look into people’s hearts.
• He would be the Savior of the people.
Anna was giving thanks for these wonderful developments.
This is no surprise.
• The priesthood was corrupt
• The governor was a Roman
• The king was a foreigner
• The emperor was a pagan
The people were ready to have the power structure overhauled
When president Ford died, there was much discussion about the character of his administration. He was seen as a healer of the nation and a father figure during a time when people’s trust in the government had been disrupted. Unfortunately, his stumbles in public were revisited, and some even said that it was his mishaps that caused him not to be reelected.
This simply does not make as much sense as the politically obvious. He was a republican, the vice-president of the only man in history to resign from the presidency. The administration of Nixon had been disgraced and Ford was associated with that. He publically forgave Nixon. My opinion is that he was not reelected because no Republican could have been elected after Nixon’s crimes. President Carter was a democrat who seemed to have integrity and this presented the country with a positive alternative to what they saw as the corrupt GOP.
If in our country, where freedom still lives and the leader is elected, the population could be so ready for reform, what must it be like in a tyrannical empire where political positions were handed out as favors? There was danger and oppression in Judah, and thanks for the end of that oppression were in order.
The Pharisees had reduced spirituality to compliance to technicalities
They had espoused a habit of refusing to take care of their parents by dedicating their possessions to "God." This does not mean they gave everything they had to the Temple, it just meant that what they could do with it was limited. They could keep it, but they could not give it to their parents. A poor woman would see the hypocrisy in this practice. It is no surprise that she would praise God for someone who would be able to see through the sham and expose the greed in the hearts of the greedy.
This is important, because we sometimes want to be technically right. We like to walk the edge and see just how close we can come without stepping over. I remember when Josh McDowell came to Liberty. He spoke on young people and sexuality and the importance of waiting for marriage to have sex. He asked for people (thousands of students) to write their questions and drop them in buckets at the door. One of the questions he kept coming back to had to do with just how much nudity and touching a couple could indulge in and still not be "having sex." His answer was that sex was much more than intercourse. It involved the intimacy that a couple experiences through all sexual acts. Therefore, all of it should be reserved for marriage.
As adults we nod and like to tell the young people that this is right, but how close do we come on our taxes or time cards to being dishonest. Are we honest by a technicality?
Your boss looks at the time sheet, but God looks at the heart.
The people needed a savior
As "righteousness" was more strictly and measurably defined, people found it harder to achieve. Not only that, but many could see through the superficiality of Pharisaical righteousness and wanted none of it. They went the other way. They were not against godliness, they just did not have a decent roadmap to follow toward achieving it.
The woman at the well was a prejudiced Samaritan. She had been divorced 5 times. She was living with a man she was not married to. But when the Messiah showed up, she recognized Him and readily accepted Him.
People are like that today.
• They’ve had all the rule bound preaching they can handle.
• They’ve seen the money grubbing televangelists.
• They’ve watched the hypocrisy in the church grow to epidemic proportions
What they are looking for is something real that makes no claims of magic or perfection. They want to experience God in a way that they can identify. They want a definition of spirituality that does not try to box God in.
The Bible says that Jesus will be a stumbling stone to many
Unfortunately, the brand of faith that we present sometimes obscures Jesus and causes people to stumble before they ever get to Him
So they turn the other way, thinking they’ve seen what our faith is all about. And we judge them as resistant or antagonistic to the gospel. In fact they are only resistant and antagonistic to us.
We’ve tripped them before Jesus ever had a chance to do it.
They need a Savior
Be like Anna
You don’t have to be a 100 year old prophet to do what Anna did here. She was very simple in her approach.
Give thanks
Look at your life. What has God done in your life that you would not otherwise have experienced? The list is probably quite long:
• Your relationship with your family would be different
• You would not be attending church
• Your perception of right and wrong would be different
• You may be suffering from addictions you have avoided in order to align with God’s will for you
• You may have kept your temper with your wife or children at a crucial moment
• You may have personal resources available to you that a person outside the faith would not have
What has God removed you from or kept you from? What priorities do you have that reflect your faith? What would your priorities be apart from Him? These questions should demonstrate what God has done for you. Answer them deliberately and carefully. Write down your answers this week in your personal devotional time.
Make a conscious, intentional effort to open your eyes to what God has done, and is doing in your life and circumstances. Pray about it and read Scripture as part of the process. Get to know the person God is making you.
Tell the story
Anna told a specific group of people about the child. The group of people she spoke to were these:
all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem
She spoke to people who wanted to know. She did not confront the antagonistic or uninterested. She did not persuade people with a fake introduction. She spoke to those who were interested.
When people ask you about your church or about why you pray before meals or about why you don’t do some of the things your friends do, they are expressing an interest in your spiritual walk. Tell them the story of what God has done for you. Part of that story will be those things for which you can be thankful that you discovered in the last devotional activity.
Every one of us have people in our lives or circles of influence who need to know and want to know about the real Savior. They want to get beneath the veneer of sap and sentimentality. They want to see beyond the flash and sensationalism. They want to see deeper than the perfection we would like to exude. They want to know who Jesus really is and what He is really doing.
That is why the Passion and the DaVinci Code and the Nativity Story and the Left Behind series of books are all so popular. People are looking for the truth.
Ask yourself this. If someone asked you to tell them the Story of Jesus, could you do it? Could you actually tell them an engaging rendition of the gospel that helps them see the life and death of Jesus from a real and helpful perspective.
People love stories. They don’t necessarily want to hear how many facts you know or how much theology you can recite. They want to know who Jesus is.
We introduce people by telling stories about them.
• This is the person who ...
• When I was little she ...
• Last week I saw him ...
When we want to tell people about Jesus, we need to know the stories.
I’m not talking about a sketchy familiarity dredged up from a Sunday School lesson 25 years ago. I’m not talking about the bare facts of an event that conveys none of the personality or flavor of the person we call Christ.
I’m talking about reading and rereading the gospels so much that they become a part of our knowledge of who Jesus is and what He can do.
This week ... read and familiarize yourself with all four accounts of Jesus’ baptism. They can be found in:
• Matthew 3:13-17
• Mark 1:9-13
• Luke 3:21-22
• John 1:32-36
As you can see, they are only a few verses each. If you read one in a day, it may take you two minutes. For that reason, I encourage you to read the same one several times in a day. Notice details and take notes. As you go through find what details the gospel writers repeat. Find the details that are specific to each gospel writer. At the end of the week, write the story yourself, in your own words. Then go back and check your version for accuracy.
To know and tell this story, you don’t need a background in theology or biblical history. You don’t need a full explanation of who John is. All you need is a recitation of the events in the order they happened, trying the best you can to capture the details and the wonder of the moment.
Know this,
• If you have recognized and are thankful for what God has done for you
• And if you know the story of Jesus well enough to tell it to others
You stand on the verge of being a powerful witness for Christ. Anna was an old, poor, lonely woman. If she can do it, we ought to be able to do it.
Like Anna, be thankful ... and tell the story.
