Biblical Character Series
By Pastor Scott Bush
Southcrest Baptist Church
Like many families, we have a number of beloved traditions that fill the days leading up to Christmas at our house. We begin decorating on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It’s always a fun and frantic afternoon with plenty of reminiscing over keepsake ornaments, some perilous ladder work to hang a giant outdoor wreath made from a hula-hoop, and usually a screening of the holiday classic “Elf.”
Our decorating always includes our advent calendar. The cloth wall hanging with its numbered pockets, four rows of six corresponding to the days that lead up to Christmas, has a prominent place in our kitchen. It’s our first stop on December mornings. Since my children were able to walk, they’ve clamored from their beds each day to find a treat waiting for them. The gifts were originally pieces of candy or small toys. They’ve changed over the years but not much. My 21-year-old daughter still enjoys a reindeer-shaped PEZ dispenser as much as she ever did.
As the gifts are discovered in successive pockets, we mark our progress through the month. Each little moment of joy is precursor to the great joy of Christmas Day. Each morning is a little foretaste of the day when we’ll celebrate the joy of our family, the blessings of life and, above and throughout it all, the grace of Jesus, the Word made flesh for our sake.
Joyous anticipation
Advent is a season of joyous anticipation celebrated during the four weeks that lead up to Christmas. It recalls the steadfast hope of God’s people as they waited for deliverance from this fallen world and their own fallenness. It’s celebrated in the stories of prophets in the Old Testament and plain folk in the New Testament who were looking for their promised Messiah, the long-expected Jesus. And it comes to poignant expression in the story of the widow Anna found in Luke 2.
Anna appears in only three verses of Scripture but we learn a great deal about her there. Her name is the Greek version of “Hannah,” which means “grace.” Luke tells us she became a widow after only seven years of marriage and that she had spent the remainder of her 84 years in the temple at Jerusalem, worshipping through fasting and prayer. Some commentators believe Anna became so well known in the temple courts that she was granted residence in one of the apartments used by the priests, joining them in their continual worship of God.
She’s identified as the daughter of Phanuel and as a member of the tribe of Asher, two important family connections. Asher had been located along the northwestern Mediterranean coast in the region of Galilee. Though the tribes of the Northern Kingdom disappeared into captivity in 722 BC, her connection to Asher shows that the traditions of faith and family were still strong for Anna and many like her. No doubt, Anna knew well the covenant of God with Abraham and cherished the promises made to her as an Israelite.
Anna is called a prophetess which, at the very least, means she knew and shared the Word of God. Certainly her meditation on the Scriptures, her fervent worship and her family legacy of faith set quite the stage for her meeting with the Messiah. I can imagine her there, caught up in worship when she hears the exultant Simeon and then the familiar accent of the Galilean couple (she may have even felt a warm, family connection to people from the region of Asher). Perhaps her mind runs to the prophesy of Isaiah 9 that in a latter time, God will make “glorious the way of the sea, the land beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the nations.” At once she is working her way down the text and across the temple courtyard until the baby comes into view and she remembers the promise: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.”
Anna is not only a picture of Christmas joy but also of glad-hearted waiting, a strange idea today. In a world that prizes the “accelerated,” the “high-speed” and the “instant,” patience is no longer regarded as a virtue; it’s hardly regarded at all. But waiting really is essential to both our happiness and our holiness. Isaiah says when we wait on the Lord our strength is renewed (Isa. 40:31). Paul tells us patience is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, proof we have been made alive in Christ (Gal. 5:22). James urges patience as well, reminding us God’s work in our lives is like farming; if we watch and wait through the early and late rains, we will see precious fruit (James 5:7). When we wait expectantly, even gladly, we practice hope, a virtue Paul ranks alongside faith and love.
Hope in Christ
The English word “hope” has fallen on hard times. It’s been demoted, in most cases, to a synonym for “wish.” We say things like “I hope the weather holds” or “I hope I can pass my test” and the very expression rings with uncertainty. The biblical writers use the word differently. “Hope” is a subject first and then a verb. In Christ we have a hope that does not disappoint (Rom. 5:5), that is an anchor for the soul (Heb. 6:19). And “our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.”
Because we know what He did for us we can trust what He will do, even while we wait (Rom. 8:32). Hope is the settled confidence our all-powerful, all-wise, always-loving God always knows and does what’s best for us. Hope grounded in truth is both powerful and delightful; it sustains and satisfies. Like Anna, we can wait with joy when we know the promises and the purposes and the character of God revealed in the Scriptures. And like Anna, our hope becomes contagious when we share it with those who are so desperate without it.
Anna’s long wait was marked by worship and reflection that culminated in profound gratitude and compelling joy. However you mark the days until Christmas let the grace of God revealed in Christ stir up hope in you and, through you, in others.
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