Saturday within the Octave of Christmas, December 30, 2023

Luke 2, 36-40

There was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.  When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth. The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.

“There was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher.”  The people belonging to the tribe of Asher were exiled by the Assyrians after their conquest of the Kingdom of Israel in 721 B.C.  Unlike the people of Judah who were later exiled by the Babylonians, few of the people of Asher ever came back.  They assimilated into the peoples of their new land and saw no reason to leave it.  Evidently, Anna’s ancestors did return and settled in Judea.  It is interesting that it is the Gentile Christian St. Luke who tells about her and not, say, the very Jewish St. Matthew.  St. Luke did so because he wanted to show his Gentile Christian readers that Jesus was not rejected by all his own people, only by those unfaithful to the promises and laws of God.  The righteous among the Jews, however, accepted him and rejoiced in him.

Anna, like Simeon, is elderly and represents a final connection with the Prophets and holy ones of old.  She and Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist, are figures who hearken back to the wives of the Patriarchs, women such as Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and well as the later Ruth, Judith, and Esther.  By giving accounts of both Simeon and Anna, Luke fulfills his responsibility as a historian and he also presents how the whole of the righteous people of God, men and women, looked forward to the coming of the Savior, recognized him when he came, even as an infant, and exalted in him.  Luke also mentions her because she is the first of a certain vocation of Christian women, the widows.  St. Paul speaks of them almost in terms of a religious order, in 1 Timothy 5, 9: “Let a widow be chosen of no less than threescore years of age, who hath been the wife of one husband.”  Such widows were to be supported by the Church, and in turn they were to live blameless lives and to pray for the Church.  “She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer.”  Anna, then, is presented as a model for Christian’s living as valid as the manner of life undertaken by the Apostles and deacons.  Her example is beneficial to all of us who believe in the Lord Jesus.  We can all remain in the Temple, that is, be conscious of God during the day, and pray at various times in the day and the night.  We should also live lives of self-restraint and penance, though we might seem to ourselves sufficiently virtuous that this is unnecessary.

“And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem.”  That is, the redemption of the people of God.  She may have come forward after Simeon had left, that is, at or after the time the sacrifices for the Infants Jesus were performed.  Her conversation is also a model for us.  She does not talk about herself or complain about the hardness of her life, but she thanks God for sending Jesus to the world and speaks about him to her fellow righteous Jews.

“When they had fulfilled all the prescriptions of the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.”  Luke shows Joseph and Mary as conscientious Jews who carry out all the laws pertaining to them and their newborn Child, though surely as he was the Son of God they should have been exempt from them.  Luke also tells us that after the Presentation in the Temple, “they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.”  He does not tell us about the Flight into Egypt or the massacre of the innocent children of Bethlehem.  Either he had not heard of this or he does not include an account of these events in order to move forward with his narrative.  In the writing of books, it is not possible to include everything that belongs to a given subject.

“The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom; and the favor of God was upon him.”  Luke here speaks of Jesus growing into young manhood, for he will next relate the story of how he, as a twelve year old, remained in the Temple area for three days and held the Jewish teachers spellbound.  

Simeon and Anna, as elderly people, show us the necessity of living righteously no matter what our age or condition, and of how, through prayers and good witness, we can all do our part to convert the world to Jesus.