In my first year of college I had three roommates. Ben, Kyle, and Cody. Ben and Kyle played basketball, while Cody and I played baseball. Ben was a biblical studies major, while Kyle and Cody were studying business. Ben and Cody were over six feet tall, while Kyle was well under six foot. All of them great guys, all of them married to their first college girlfriends, all of them living successful lives right now. Ben is a pastor, Kyle is a real estate agent, and the last I heard, Cody was shoeing horses. Ben and Kyle were my groomsmen, while Cody couldn’t come because his own sister was getting married that same day, a decision I know he must regret.
You ever know people where you would say, their likable, their joyful, they’ll help you out in a pinch? That’s these three guys. Oh yeah, and did I mention, they’re all good looking too? In the 90s we would say, they’re all that and a bag of chips. These guys have the whole package.
And it’s this idea of having the whole package that brings us back to our series on being a useful arrow, where we’re going to finish it off in Luke chapter 2 starting in verse 36. And as we open up to Luke 2:36, let’s recap everything we’ve talked about so far in the last three weeks.
In our first week, we looked at the servant of Abraham who was tasked with going back to Abraham’s family and finding his son a wife from among them. We saw this servant care more for his master than for his own financial gain, that he was interested in doing what the master desired, and that he was humble in realizing that God had achieved, through him, his master’s will. This led us to the first aspect of this series, as disciples, the will of God should be the most important thing in our lives. An arrow is the archer’s to command, and so is the disciple of Jesus.
In the second week, we looked at the defining moment of Caleb the warrior. In his defining moment we saw a man who trusted God fully. When it seemed like the rest of his peers believed they couldn’t achieve what God was telling them to do, Caleb believed they could. This unwavering trust prompted God to not only allow Caleb, one of two people, into the land he had promised to Israel, whereas the rest died before entering, but God also promised Caleb specifically a piece of that land to call his very own. This led us to our second aspect in the series, as disciples, we must trust God no matter what the people around us say. The arrow doesn’t comment on the archer’s skill, and so the disciple of Jesus does question God and his will.
Finally, last week, we looked at the situation with Deborah and Barak. We saw how Barak was called by God to bring his people out of bondage, yet Barak didn’t want to. In fact, he drugged his feet every step of the way to avoid doing the will of God. Whether this is because he was a coward or he didn’t trust God, we don’t know, but what we do know is that he missed out on the glory that God wanted to give him. This glory instead went to a stay-at-home mom named Jael. When given the opportunity to kill Israel’s enemy, she took it. This led us to our third aspect, as disciple, we must take the opportunities that God has for us. The arrow does tell the archer when to fire, and so the disciple of Jesus must be used when God has use for us.
With these three aspects, of being a useful arrow in God’s quiver, in our minds, let’s look at one last person. Let’s read together Luke chapter 2, starting in verse 36.
36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
This is the shortest of the passages we have read, but in just three verses we get a lot of information.
Let’s start with who Anna is. First Anna is from the tribe of Asher, which was one of the original twelve tribes of Israel. They had been greatly blessed by both Jacob their father, and Moses. When they entered into the land of Canaan in Joshua’s day, they were given fertile land along the Mediterranean coast. Yet in Deborah’s day they refused to come out to help their fellow Israelites fight their enemies. But eventually they did help Gideon and they were one of three tribes that humbled themselves and shared passover with their souther kingdom brothers in Hezekiah’s day. All in all, Asher was a mixed bag of blessing and curses. They were blessed greatly by God in their land, but sometimes wouldn’t follow what he commanded.
The next thing we know about Anna, is that she’s elderly and a widow. Her age is a bit of a mystery in how Luke writes it. This is because the way Luke writes isn’t as clear cut as some translations make it, even the one we use. We’re told that she lived with her husband for seven years. Being that girls were married anywhere from 13-16 years old, if we take the earliest possibility of 13 that puts her at 20 when her husband died. Then were given the number 84. This can be interpreted that she is either 84, like the ESV translates it, or that she was a widow for 84 years. In other words, she is either 84 years old at this moment we read about her, or she is about 104 years old, both being a huge accomplishment in this time period. Either way, Luke’s statement of, “She was advanced in years (v.36c)…” is fitting.
The final thing we know about Anna is that she lived at the temple. Now there are references to the temple structure as having rooms where the priest would reside while on duty. Since Luke tells us that Anna is a prophetess, a widow, and being that she was advanced in years, it seems likely that she was given one of these rooms as her own. Which would make sense that she wouldn’t leave the temple.
By knowing these three things about Anna, we know that she comes from a people who were wishy-washing with God, that she had tragedy of losing her husband at a young age and never remarried, though she probably could have, and that for a long while she had been in the temple of God, devoting herself to seeking the Lord.
The little information we are given actually tells us a lot of who she is, the most important thing, is that she is a devout follower of God, much like Caleb was. But it’s in verse 38, that we have a collision of events that were taking place in a bigger story.
If you walked with us through our Christmas series on the exclamations of Christmas, then you would know that the last exclamation we looked at was Simeon’s. Simeon was an older man who was called righteous and devout, and he was told by God that he wound’t die until he saw the Messiah for himself. Anna’s story fits within his. We’re told that Jesus, as a baby, was being presented in temple as was required in Jewish law. It was at this presentation that Simeon saw Jesus and proclaimed him to be the Messiah. This was followed with a very personal prophetic word to Mary about Jesus and his death.
Now, when Luke states in verse 38, “And coming up at that hour…” he is connecting Anna’s arrival to Simeon’s prophetic word. Luke’s basically saying, just as Simeon was talking Anna walks in. And this is what I find interesting, Luke doesn’t record exactly what she said, but rather we’re just told, “…she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.”
This is how I see the situation. The temple is packed with people, as it usually would be. Jospeh and Mary bring Jesus in. They present their first born male child to God as the Law of Moses instructed. Simeon is prompted by the Holy Spirit to go to the temple and he sees the child Jesus. Simeon reaches and picks up the child in his arms and praises God for the blessing of seeing the Messiah in flesh. And as Simeon gives the child back to the parents, he looks at Mary and tells her that Jesus will be water shed for the world. Many will rise with him, or fall away from him. But that just as Jesus will die for this water shed to be accomplished, Mary will experience that pain of death herself because she will see it happen.
It’s these things that Anna hears and sees. And as a result of what she hears from Simeon, she then starts going through the crowd at the temple, praising God and speaking about the redemption that has come.
Luke writes from the first hand accounts of those who were there. So it seems that she was too excited to wait around and took off so quick that only a brief glimpse of what she was talking about could be heard by Jospeh and Mary. Where Simeon’s prophetic word was to the couple, Anna’s speech was for the temple. This well advanced in years lady, took off like a shot to let people know the redemption of God was here.
And this is why I love Anna’s story. Here’s a woman that devoted her life to God. That any hurt she had, had been brought before God and dealt with, and now her focus was on the worship of her master. God’s will was the most important thing in her life, and she dedicated everything to it. She also trust in God. and he called her to be a prophetess. Now we don’t know much about her particular work as a prophetess, but we do know that prophets are usually brought to a place where they can do nothing else but trust God. And so we can at least tell that she trusted God. Finally, when she heard the praises of God and the prophetic word coming from Simeon, she took the opportunity to share it with everyone in the temple. She took of like a rocket to proclaim the redemption of God’s people.
This is why I love Anna’s story, she incapsulates what it means to be a useful arrow of God. God’s will being the most important thing to her, she trusts God above all else, and she takes the opportunities God has for her. She is a sharpened arrow in the quiver of her God, and when pulled out for use, she hit the target God aimed her at. And it’s all seen in three verses. A life of great devotion condensed to three sentences in the story of God.
As disciples, I think this is extremely important for us to understand. We tend to want to be recognized for what we do for God. We want the pat on the back. There’s been a lot of times when I have thought, I want to be used like Paul to write something amazing that will impact people for generations. Or I want to be used like Solomon who built something grand. But the more I study the Scriptures, and see these little moments in the lives of servants, warriors, stay-at-home moms, and widow prophetesses, I realize that’s what I want. I want to be used by God, even if it’s in a small way. Because if I’m really following him, then my desire should be his, and his desire is that I be ready for his work.
If, as disciples of Jesus, we could enter this new year with one thing to ask God to work in us, I hope it would be something like this, that we would be wanting God’s will, trusting him that he is right, and be ready to be used whenever he wants. In other words, we should want to be a sharpened arrow in the quiver of our God. The arrow is sharpened by the archer, placed in the quiver, nocked and drawn to be released at the archer’s intention. And the target could be the hay bale or the deer, but it doesn’t matter to the arrow, because it is the archer’s.
And as the arrow is the archer’s, we are God’s to be used as he sees fit. Whether that is grandiose as a Billy Graham, or as simple as speaking one-on-one with a neighbor. The target is the archer’s to decide and we must praise him for being used.
So, let us be used by God, by seeking his will, trusting that it is good, and looking for opportunities to accomplish that will, no matter the target we are sent to.
My challenge for you this week is to go before the Lord and ask a simple question, “Am I trying to be a David, or Paul type of disciple, or would I be okay as an Anna?” In other words, am I seeking to just be known for something great that I do, or would I be content to being known just for being faithful to God in my life?
If we are content to being an Anna, where the will of God, our trust in him, and our taking advantage of the opportunities that God gives, then I think we will accomplish more in the kingdom of God than we could ever imagine possible.
So let us be a people who are useful to God, sharpened and awaiting the archer’s hand. Amen.
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