Anna’s prayers were interrupted by a loud voice--a deep, booming voice--announcing something in the temple courts. As she got up stiffly, slowly, she could just make out the words, “...a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory to your people Israel!” What...or who... was this light, this glory? Opening the door of her room slightly, she could see a young couple and an old man. Was that the weaver, Simeon? What did he hold in his arms? Was it a lamb? A sacrifice to cover his offenses? The bundle was small, swaddled in a worn serving cloth; it began to move, then cry. It was a baby! The weaver was holding a baby!
It had been a sweet seven years. Though Anna and her husband ached for a child of their own, they had become content in their togetherness and the simple routines of life. Then tragedy struck; Anna’s beloved husband, Adah, had been working on a grand structure --a tall and majestic theater--for most of their short marriage. One gray autumn afternoon, just after the mid-day break, an angry storm rolled in from the east. With one gust of its violent breath, the wind toppled the scaffolding which held Adah. Thrown to the ground, Adah was killed instantly, pinned by the stones which had once provided for his life. Now homeless and hopeless, Anna begged the priest to allow her to live in one of the empty storage rooms which lined the front wall of the temple. Normally used to store worship items and fuel for the altar fires, this small, windowless room had been abandoned in favor of the larger ones nearer the rear door. Close to the temple courts, it allowed Anna direct access to the people that came there. These people, the regulars to the temple, became the family that she had lost when Adah died. Ministering to these same people became the focus of her meager, but fulfilled, existence. She used her long days, sometimes fasting, always praying, to lift these people to the Lord. Anna, a prophetess of God, often sensed the burdens of those God brought into her presence, and praying for them, sent them on their way confident that they had met God through her words. Her quiet contentment with God’s sovereign plan had pulled her out of her own hopelessness nearly 70 decades earlier. She had learned to hope in Him and wanted others to do the same.
Anna’s mind was jolted back to the present by another shrill wail. It was the cry of a newborn. The old man handed the baby carefully back to the mother. Was she crying as well? Slipping on her sandals, Anna opened her door wider and stepped out into the court. The baby’s cries had stilled. But all was not quiet. The old man began shouting, “He is here! He is here! Messiah is here! He has come!” The Messiah? The Lord’s Anointed? The Deliverer for whom she had prayed? As she neared the baby and his parents, a strong stinging breeze moved a strand of gray hair across her face. As she pushed it back into place beneath her scarf, her spirit also cried; “Yes! He is here! He is the One!” Anna had long ago learned to trust those spirit promptings, and her shuffling steps moved quickly towards the child. A song erupted in her soul and came out of her mouth as she greeted his parents and the elderly weaver, “Today I have seen my long awaited Messiah! This baby is my Lord!” Tears streaming down her lined face, she kissed the tiny cheek and placed a gnarled hand upon his downy head. The other hand she placed upon his mother, and she blessed them saying, “May this Tender One be a light for all of those in darkness as he brings glory to the Holy Father. May you, Holy Father, guard this mother’s heart as she learns to trust in your plan.” The prophetess left the trio then, gratefully proclaiming Messiah’s appearance. The baby’s mother was overcome with emotion...or was it confusion? She and the baby’s father, toting twin turtle doves in a wicker cage, carried their sacrifice toward the temple’s altar.
As she entered her dark room, Anna’s bright mood turned to sorrow. Recalling the prophet Isaiah 53, read last Shabbat by the visiting Rabbi, Anna knew that this child was born to bear her iniquities--the ones now temporarily “covered” with the blood of animals;“By His knowledge the Righteous One, My Servant, will justify the many, as He will bear their iniquities.” This sin-bearing Messiah was God’s plan of old--from the beginning of time! How Messiah would do that, she did not know. But, that he would do it was certain. Did she feel her hope returning? He had been sent to live in Shalom. He had been sent to love his own. He had been sent to save all sinners. He had been sent... the Perfect Lamb.
No, Anna had not brought a child into her home, though she wished and hoped for one. But now, this baby, this Glorious Child whom she had kissed with her lips and touched with her hands, this Messiah, had come for her--for her! Sent from Heaven to subdue sin and defeat death, this baby was God’s perfect plan. His birth would prepare him for death.
And his death would usher her Home.
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