Last Sunday we encountered two interesting figures in Luke 2: Simeon the priest and Anna the “prophetess.”   I gave the congregation my view on Anna’s true identity, which is a bit different than many expect.

In Hebrew, Anna means “Grace.”  That fact alone is interesting, and suggestive of the something deep in Luke’s gospel, given that the very first story of Luke’s birth narrative is of the birth of John the Baptist.  In Hebrew, John means “God is gracious.”  So the whole of the Luke’s birth narrative is framed by GRACE.

Luke tells us a number of facts about Anna/Grace that suggest that there is more to her story than meets the eye.  Consider the following:

(a) She is at least 84 years old.  Depending on how you translate the Greek, she is either 84 yrs old, or has been widowed for 84 years after being married for 7, which would probably make her over 100.  In other words, she’s far older than most people in her society, whose life expectancy was decades lower.  Most or all of her peers are long dead.  There’s no mention of children, but if she had any, they’re probably long dead, too.

(b) Being a widow for so long, and either childless or without living children, Anna/Grace is almost certainly dirt poor – a fact which is strongly suggested by the other details Luke gives us about her.

(c) Luke tells us she “never left the temple but worshiped night and day.”  As a woman, Anna/Grace could not have served the temple as a priest, which makes it highly unusual that she would “never” leave the temple, even at night.  Likely, she”never” leaves the temple because she has nowhere else to go.  Anna/Grace is homeless.

(d) She also is said to “fast and pray” when she is at the temple (i.e., all the time).  A woman who is elderly, friend/childless, dirt-poor, and homeless likely does not “fast” merely as a spiritual discipline.  Rather, she fasts because she has no food!

Seen in this light, “Anna the Prophetess” starts looking a lot more like “Gracie the Bag Lady” … at least until she runs into Jesus.  Before she spots the Messiah in her midst, Gracie (as I prefer to call her) is a beggar at the temple, outside the power structure, looked down upon by most, and reliant on whatever small coins are dropped at her feet by the faithful. Yet after her experience with Jesus, in which God gives her an intuition about Jesus’ nature and identity that is every bit as accurate and profound as that of Simeon’s, “Gracie the Bag Lady” is transformed into “Anna the Prophetess” in Scripture and in the eyes of all generations who follow her.

Isn’t this exactly what happens to any of us who stumble into Jesus?  It seems that you just can’t let this Jesus guy into your heart without him changing you into a new creation of some sort, with a higher identity and purpose than you ever thought possible.

Christian sociologist Tony Campolo (whom I call my “favorite evangelical”), who taught for many years at Eastern University near Philadelphia, told a gripping story in Sunday’s worship service (via YouTube video) about a birthday party he threw for a prostitute named Agnes at 3:30 am in Honolulu.  While “Gracie” was no prostitute, the transformation that takes place in her life is quite similar to the transformation to which Campolo’s story points.  No small number of folks gave an enthusiastic response to Campolo’s story after worship.  For those of you who haven’t seen it, or who would like to see it again, click the link below.  It’s well worth the view!

TONY CAMPOLO’S STORY ABOUT THROWING A BIRTHDAY PARTY FOR A PROSTITUTE AT 3:30 AM

For those of you looking into 2010, the “Roadside Conversations” videos for Luke 11 and 12 have just been posted.  At Countryside, we’ll be covering Luke 11 the week of January 3rd and Luke 12 the week of January 10th.  Click the links below for the videos:

Luke 11

Luke 12

This Sunday we’ll be exploring Luke 2 in worship at Countryside Church.  Specifically, we’ll be looking at two curious people who come into the spotlight at the end of the chapter: Simeon the priest, and Anna the prophetess.  Both people are said to have recognized Jesus as the Messiah when he was brought to the temple as an eight-day-old infant to be circumcised.

The stories get me to wondering: How does one recognize the invisible reality that exists within and behind the visible world?  How is it that a priest and prophetess could recognize Jesus as the Messiah of God?  There was no neon sign above his head.  There were no choirs of angels singing his praises.  The stories practically beg the question: How does one develop “eyes to see” and “ears to hear” what others neither see nor hear?

In the 13th C, one of my favorite poets, Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (or Rumi for short) made this observation:

Everyone sees the unseen in proportion to the clarity of his heart, and that depends upon how much he has polished it.
Whoever has polished it more sees more — more unseen forms become manifest to him.

In contrast to our North American culture which tends to believe that spiritual insight/intuition just comes naturally, and therefore does not require serious or ongoing attention, Rumi offers a helpful counterpoint.  So does Luke 2.  Both Simeon and Anna had been lifetime devotees to the spiritual path.  In fact, Anna is said to have been coming to the Temple daily for 84 years!

What is natural to us is not clarity, but fuzziness with respect to our path in life.  As the apostle Paul observes, “For now we see in a mirror, dimly” (1 Corinthians 13:12).  While there is not much hope of achieving perfect clarity, however, it is indeed possible to bring our lives into much greater focus.  It is possible to increasingly “see” what eyesight fails to reveal, and to “hear” what the ears cannot.

What polishes your mirror?  What have you found that helps increase your powers of intuition or gives greater clarity to your path?

Sorry to those of you who may have been searching for the “Roadside Conversations” videos for Luke 1 and 2, now that we’re in the Christmas season.

Click here for the Luke 1 video.

Click here for the Luke 2 video.

The chapter in Van Blair’s commentary to read along side these chapters is in the back of the book in the “Polemic” section – the part dealing with the Virgin Birth.  Not all Luke Groups will necessarily want to spend two weeks covering Luke 1 and 2.  In that case, I’d suggest either a Christmas Party for the following week, or covering one of this other “polemic” sections, which are all interesting.