Jitterbugging for Jesus

Anna the Prophetess had the patience of Job, and then some.

SCRIPTURE READING: Luke: 2: 25-38

KEY VERSE: “[Anna] never left the temple, but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day.”

Maybe you’ve heard someone with extreme patience described as having “the patience of Job.”

The Old Testament character Job was a long-suffering sort for sure, but for patient waiting of the sort that we touched on in yesterday’s posting, consider Simeon and Anna in the birth stories of Jesus.

We find these two elderly characters in the temple when Joseph and Mary present the baby Jesus. Simeon had been promised he would live to see that day that finally came about, as told in Luke 2:

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; this man was righteous and devout . . .

“It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. Guided by the Spirit, Simeon came into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him what was customary under the law, Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying,
‘Master, now you are dismissing your servant in peace,
according to your word;
for my eyes have seen your salvation,
which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
a light for revelation to the Gentiles
and for glory to your people Israel.’

Matthew tells us this in 2: 36-38, immediately following the joyful words of Simeon beholding the Lord’s Messiah . . .

“There was also a prophet, Anna the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment she came, and began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.”

Both Simeon and Anna waited . . . and waited, never doubting that their patience would pay off with that “which God had revealed to them.”

Imagine–all that patient waiting in the Temple without any texting, iPads or games to keep the fingers busy and the mind off the Holy.

They waited for what they did not see, with such utter patience steeped in such deep faith as to remind us that good things do come to those who wait in faith and hope.