She Spoke About the Child

She Spoke About the Child

Anna the prophetess is one of the most briefly described but theologically significant figures in the Nativity story. She is eighty-four years old. She has been a widow for most of her adult life. She never left the temple — serving God 'with fasting and prayer night and day' (verse 37). And when she saw the infant Jesus, she gave thanks and began speaking about Him to all who were waiting for redemption. She is the first female evangelist recorded in Luke's Gospel — the first person described as publicly proclaiming the child to others. She is eighty-four years old and her life's work is about to bear its greatest fruit.

Luke 2:38 describes Anna's response: gratitude and proclamation. She gave thanks first — before she spoke to others. The thankfulness preceded the witness. And her audience — 'all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem' — suggests she knew her community and her community knew her: she was the person to tell because she was the person who would understand. Her decades of prayer had made her the qualified interpreter of what she was seeing. Years of faithful, hidden prayer produced the moment of public recognition. Whatever seemingly quiet, unrecognized season of faithful prayer you are in — it is the preparation for the moment of recognition that is coming.