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THE PROPHETESS ANNA
Anna, the
daughter of Phanuel was the prophetess who was in the temple on the day that
Mary and Joseph brought in the infant Jesus to present him to the Lord. This
was on the same occasion that Simeon took Jesus in his arms and pronounced a
prophecy concerning the newly born Messiah.
The widow Anna had been a widow for very many years.
The
Presentation of Jesus in the Temple
Rembrandt
|
Married only seven years to her
husband before he died, and now being eighty-four years old, she had probably
lived as a widow for some sixty years or more. As far as we can tell, all of
these years as a widow were spent living in the temple.
Of course we
would only be guessing if we tried to reconstruct what she must first have been
thinking as a young widow – no doubt still in her twenties. However, I do not
think that I would be mistaken to say that most young women, widowed at this
age, would again be thinking of marriage instead of facing a life time alone. Also
as far as we know, Anna did not even have any living children and perhaps never
did have children.
Whatever
were her thoughts in those early years, the result of them was that she decided
to dedicate herself to three things: serving, praying and fasting. These are
not activities that are self-gratifying. Rather, they are activities that
requires one to give of oneself. These
are activities that require that a conscious decision must be made to forego
any pleasures that someone might otherwise find in this life, and instead live
a life solely for the benefit of others.
But this is
not to say that Anna in no way received benefit. She was one of only two people
that we know of in the temple that day that recognized the little baby that
Mary carried in her arms as being the long-awaited Messiah.
It may have
been true that Anna first realized that the baby was the Messiah when Simeon
took the child Jesus in his arms and proclaimed the prophecy concerning him,
but even if this was the case, she heard and believed. Not only did she
believe, but she also told everyone that she knew who was, like she, “waiting
for the redemption of Jerusalem.”
This was
Anna’s earthly reward. This was the benefit that she gained by choosing to live
a self-sacrificing life, rather than a self-centered life. She beheld and
recognized the Christ child, and then proclaimed him to all who would hear.
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