Christian Counseling Service -- Devotions

Gazing at the baby

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Luke 2:36-38
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, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. 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.

Rembrandt painted his Anna (http://www.safran-arts.com/42day/art/art4jul/rembrand/anaproph.html), as did many others. The eastern orthodox church regards both her and Simeon as the last prophets of the Old Testament, named them saints and celebrate them with the "afterfeast" called simply, the "Meeting of our Lord and God and Savior, Jesus Christ."

Anna, whose name means "grace and favor" is something of a heroine to devout Christians. Of her it was written:

Blessed also is that Anna who hated
Her house and loved the temple of the Lord.
She gazed intently at hidden beauty
For eighty years but was not sated.

Her father Phanuel, whose name means "face of God," might have been with her longer than her husband. As a prophetess she found her life's purpose in seeking the touch and words and "face" of God. And in this moment, resting as she did every day in the temple's "court of the women" she saw Jesus. The face of God come to earth.

Moses hid himself from the face from God, lest he die. In spite of that the Jews called on God to "shine his face upon us," not to bring death but to give them peace. Now at last Anna can gaze with joy upon the face of Jesus for whom she has been waiting all these years, the face of God, the face that brings us all peace.

Your face, Lord, is all we seek. God bless us, every one.

*Richard Bauckham writes at length with great scholarship about women in the Gospels, including Anna: http://books.google.com/books?id=PgBGlHep9KsC&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=phanuel+josephus&source=bl&ots=RSC07kcj_V&sig=LMQY5wke0uOmz0Ihvk6pPMWQzE8&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=1&ct=result#PPA98,M1

Devotions Archive

Gazing at the baby

Wednesday, December 31, 2008