Anna Spent Her Life in Dedicated Service to God (Luke 2:36-38)

36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. (Luke 2:36-38)

Who was Anna?

As we approach Christmas, we’ll consider Anna this week, a prophetess who modeled a life dedicated to God despite living in the pain of widowhood. Anna’s story unfolds forty days after Jesus' birth. Since Mary and Joseph were godly people, they wanted to observe the Old Testament law. It said a new mother should bring an offering to God after giving birth and that the new parents should present their firstborn son to God (Luke 2:22-24, Lev. 12:6-8, Ex. 13:2). When this small family entered the temple precincts, they were approached by a man named Simeon. We don't know his age, but he certainly seems old because God had told him he would not die until he'd seen the Messiah (the Christ, Luke 2:26). And after he picked baby Jesus up in his arms, he said that he could now depart in peace because his eyes had seen God's salvation (Luke 2:29-30). These are hardly the words of a man in his twenties. Then Simeon predicted that even though Jesus would be a light to the Gentiles, his life would somehow lead to the rise and fall of many in Israel and that a sword would pierce Mary's soul (Luke 2:32-35). It was a prophetic word about the sorrow she would feel when Jesus died on the cross. At that moment, with perfect timing, an old prophetess named Anna appeared. Her name means "favor" or "grace," but most would not have believed she was favored because seven years into her marriage, her husband died (36-37). She never remarried, and she spent all her time in God's house for many decades. She was always in the temple area, worshiping and serving God. She would have known Simeon (and the promise God had given him). So when she saw Simeon carrying on about the baby in his arms, she approached with joy, thanking God that the Redeemer had come! Her words aren't recorded. There are no other Bible passages in which she's mentioned. All she occupies are three short verses. So, what can we learn from this woman? What facets of her life is Luke quick to highlight? This week, I’d like to consider three elements that made Anna a woman worth remembering—how she spent her life, how she responded to pain, and where she placed her hope.

How She Spent Her Life

Luke tells us that she was eighty-four years old (37). I should admit that there is some debate about that, as the sentence structure in Greek might imply that she was a widow for eighty-four years, meaning she might have been somewhere around 105.[^1] Either way, since women in that culture married young, and since her husband had died seven years into marriage, Anna had spent many long years, since sometime in her early twenties, serving God every day in the temple. Her behavior seems codified later in 1 Timothy 5, where the Apostle Paul lays down proper behavior for a widow in the church. He said:

"She who is truly a widow, left all alone, has set her hope on God and continues in supplications and prayers night and day." (1 Timothy 5:5, ESV) That was Anna. Every day, she made the journey to the temple. If the house of God was open, she was there. Privately and publicly, she prayed, fasted, and prophesied, pointing everyone to the coming Christ who would redeem Jerusalem from their oppressors.

The Lord Did Not Consider Her Life a Waste

When we study Bible characters, we sometimes need to take a step back to recognize these were real people working through real life. They aren't like digital characters on a screen that animators have brought to life. They aren't fictional beings. They aren't a novelist's creations. They are real, true, flesh-and-blood people, living out the human condition. Anna was not always as we see her in this episode—aged and, like Simeon, hoping the Redeemer would come before she died. She did not wait until her 80th birthday before devoting herself to God, the way Luke describes. No, immediately after her husband's death, you would have found Anna in the courts of the Lord, praising his name. It was at God's house that Anna spent the rest of her twenties, thirties, forties, and beyond. When other women were out building families or livelihoods, Anna was constructing her praises. For the vast majority of Anna's life, God's temple was her existence. And it is clear how God felt about her. The Bible is God's book, and when it portrays someone in a positive light, you are getting a glimpse into God's heart. Just as an upbeat and enthusiastic movie review tells you how the reviewer felt about the movie, God's enthusiasm—through Dr. Luke's written words—tells us how God felt about Anna. He loved the life she lived, the decisions she made, and the way she prioritized him. What I'm saying is that God did not consider Anna's life a waste in any way. And many of us might be tempted—if we pause to consider how she spent her years—to think her life was wasted. All that time in the temple! All those prayers! What about human interaction? What about a career? What about a family? What about experiences outside of the 37 acres that comprised the temple precincts? Anna counted it all as rubbish for the chance to know God better (Phi. 3:8). And God loved it. In looking at Anna, we should be encouraged not to waste our lives. We live in an age that tells us to be true to ourselves and spend ourselves on our passions, doing what we love. So we write up our bucket lists and start ticking them off one by one, only to find they could never satisfy the longing within. Inside each of us is a God-shaped hole—only he can fulfill us. And Anna knew this, so she spent her life pursuing him. Of course, not everyone could mimic Anna in those days. Someone had to feed the goats, plant the crops, and take out the garbage. Anna, though, used her unique situation as a widowed woman with low overhead to do something most people could not do. Yet she serves as an example to every last one of us—the time we spend pursuing God is not a waste. Her life is an exhortation to spend our lives well and ensure God is at the center of who we are. And not just in word or confession but in actuality. As Pastor Britt Merrick once wrote:

"Two things are the most telltale in our lives: finances and time. You can tell everything you ever wanted to know about our hearts, passions, and priorities from the way we spend our money and the way we spend our time."[^2] We have become all too comfortable with squandering both, especially our time. We often wonder how we could ever sit through a forty-five minute Bible study, pray for fifteen uninterrupted minutes, read our Bibles, make it to church every Sunday, or join a Christian small group, all while clocking our average daily dose of three or four hours of TV.[^3] Or our hours of TikTok. Or video games. Or YouTube. Or online news and its comments section. Or whatever new, decent, and even helpful invention Satan will twist and repurpose to numb us, deter us, desensitize us, compromise us, or merely distract us—to aid us in wasting our lives. The Roman Stoic philosopher Seneca once said that people who are otherwise frugal and stingy with their money often squander their time, which is of much greater value.[^4] To be a Jesus-follower, you must consider how you spend your life. Through each passing minute of Anna's life, she formed a legacy. Until Luke recorded this moment, hers was a quiet life of devotion to God. She spent her time and treasure on him. And if you want to have and leave a godly legacy behind you, today is the day to begin—now is the acceptable time; today is the day of salvation (2 Cor. 6:2).

[^1]:Blight, Richard C. 2008. An Exegetical Summary of Luke 1-11, 2nd Edition. 2nd ed. Sil International, Global Publishing. [^2]:Merrick, Britt. 2012. Big God with Study Guide: What Happens When We Trust Him. Baker Books. [^3]:Krantz-Kent, Rachel. 2018. “Television, Capturing America’s Attention at Prime Time and Beyond.” Bls.gov. September 28, 2018. https://www.bls.gov/opub/btn/volume-7/television-capturing-americas-attention.htm. [^4]:Eyal, Nir. 2020. Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life. London, England: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC.