Redemption

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

REDEMPTION

Luke 2:36-38

36 There 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, 37 and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 38 Coming 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.

NIV

Now we have this Anna, described to us as an old woman who once was married, most likely as a virgin, which is the custom in those days, but was left a widow after only seven years of marriage. We also should understand that she did not live in the temple although from the words here is would seem that way, but the reality is she most likely was at the temple constantly doing the hours of prayer, which were nine in the morning and three in the afternoon. That is she always attended these times. She had devoted herself to the things of God, serving in the temple, and again most likely was well versed in the words of the prophets. Being of such and old age it was likely she had no actually service requirements but still attending without fail those times. This act of fasting and praying is once again implied by the words that she always fasted and prayed, but again in the stickiest sense of Parasitical law fasting for prayer was only twice a week. We should also note the word prophetess does not denote her occupying the office of prophet in the sense of the prophets who foretold the future, but the word implies, such as Paul describes in his letter to the Corinthians, a person who speaks under the influence of the Spirit for the edification, exhortation, and comfort. The point of all this exercise is to understand that when Anna show Jesus she was inspired by God to speak about him as the Savior of Israel, the long awaited Christ, the Messiah. We would think that all who were at the temple during the hour of prayer heard Anna and would immediately come and worship their Messiah. But it seems that is not the case as Jesus was not followed by them at that time, and it was years before he began his public works, revealing himself to his people. What life lesson do we learn from all this? It would seem people can hear about Jesus and not follow after him. It would seem we could speak, even under the influence of the Spirit, about Jesus and people would not follow after him. We could also learn something from Anna in the sense we should not exempt ourselves from attending the temple at the appropriate times. We could simple pass this off strictly on widows being devoted to God rather than gossip, but it would seem rather, we should all learn this lesson. Certainly we all cannot live at church, but we should find ourselves there at the times of service, which in our cultural is Sunday morning, as most churches have departed from Sunday night services. It is also noted that our culture has become a twenty-four hour, seven day a week work force, and it is possible some simply cannot find themselves at church during those hours due to the responsibilities of supporting the family, as required by God. Yet the six days shall thou labor and the seventh rest, as the Sabbath, still applies. So it is most likely we should learn a devotion to God, a time of rest, of being in his service, in his presence, constantly, ready to speak under the influence of God about Jesus to whoever is looking for redemption.