{"id":2872,"date":"2015-03-01T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2015-03-01T00:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=2872"},"modified":"2021-11-26T10:03:59","modified_gmt":"2021-11-26T02:03:59","slug":"122-annas-prophecy-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jeffangiegoh.com\/?p=2872","title":{"rendered":"123. Anna’s Prophecy"},"content":{"rendered":"

There was also a prophet, Anna\u00a0the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,\u00a0then 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\u00a0to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem<\/span><\/strong>. [Luke 2: 36-38<\/span>, NRSV<\/em>]<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/a>\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Presentation at the Temple. Stained glass window at St. Michael’s Cathedral (Toronto).<\/span><\/p>\n

Simeon and Anna showed up at the purification ritual independently, though both have been led by divine direction (Luke 2:22-38). Directing the event was clearly the work of the Holy Spirit.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Gospel Seeks to be Gender Inclusive<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

From among the people of God, Luke selects a representative from each gender to testify to what God is doing through this child. Luke is thus saying that all<\/em> should rejoice at the coming of this Emmanuel \u2013 God with us.<\/span><\/p>\n

Culturally, it is not surprising that both Simeon and Anna are advanced in years. All the more, their testimonies bear the full weight and resume of life experience.<\/span><\/p>\n

Their prophecies share a note of hope and expectation: they declare that in this child<\/em> God’s promise is moving into realization.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anna the Prophetess<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Introduced at the very end of the Birth Narrative (Luke 1:1-2:40), Anna rounds up the group of six named, pious Israelites surrounding the miraculous births of John and Jesus. The others are Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph and Simeon.<\/span><\/p>\n

Luke’s depiction of Anna paints her as a most unusual woman. A pious prophetess, her advanced age and honorable behavior usher in the new covenant.<\/span><\/p>\n

In three terse verses, Luke manages to vividly depict her as a woman deserving the honor bestowed on the elderly in the ancient Mediterranean world (v. 36-38). The original Greek text has caused a bit of ambiguity over the exact age of this woman as this story unfolds. Girls married young at the time, and she was married for seven years, then widowed. If we assume she was married at the age of 14, then she was widowed from age 21. If we take her age at 84 at the time of this story, she had lived her widowhood for 63 years by then. Some scholars have interpreted the Greek text to say that on this day of purification, she had lived her widowhood for 84 years, thus placing her great age at 105 years, the same age as Judith<\/a> when she died (Judith 16:28). Besides, one may note that miracles and unusual occurrences were aplenty surrounding Jesus\u2019 Birth Narrative, including the advanced age of Zechariah and Elizabeth when John was conceived (Luke 1:7, 13, 18, 57), and the Holy Spirit\u2019s action of overshadowing Mary, (Luke 1:31-35).<\/span><\/p>\n

Readers of St Luke\u2019s narrative take with them a positive image of this woman of great age.<\/span><\/p>\n