Hope Bigger Than Ourselves

Hope Bigger Than Ourselves--January 2, 2018

"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 for seven years after her marriage, then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshipped 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." [Luke 2:36-38]

In our journey to get closer to Jesus, the thirty-something male rabbi, God has pointed us to an octogenarian woman... because, you know... God.

In all seriousness, it might seem like an odd detour to turn our focus for one day to a character in the Bible like Anna who gets all of four verses' mention in the whole book, and no speaking lines.  And it might seem like a strange strategy to try and learn more about Jesus by looking more closely at someone who is not Jesus, and who only ever met Jesus, as far as anybody can tell, just this once when the once-and-future Messiah was still in diapers and therefore not much for conversation.  But it turns out that you can learn something about a person by looking at the way others talk about them.  And you can learn something about Jesus by looking at the kind of people who are willing to look like utter fools because of their joy over him.

So, in a way, rather like the way they detect gravitational waves by looking for the ways they effect the reflection of light, or perhaps a bit more down to earth like seeing someone just out of the corner of your eye, we'll catch a better glimpse of Jesus by considering what Anna, this eighty-four-year-old woman of God, saw in him.

And that's the key question: just what did Anna think was worth getting all excited about with this child she was seeing for the first (and probably last) time on earth?  We can probably rule out some things that are NOT on her list.  For one, Anna isn't looking at Jesus as her ticket to fame or notoriety for herself--after all she doesn't ever see him again as far as we know, so she's not looking to ride Jesus' coattails.  She isn't cruising for a husband or a meal ticket or someone she can leverage for political influence or a better reputation.  Luke, after all, has rather diplomatically said that Anna is already eighty-four and basically lives at the temple.  In fact, whatever will come of Jesus in adulthood, in all likelihood, Anna won't be there to see it happening, much less benefiting from it.  She's jumping up and down for joy over a child she has never met, will never see again, and who will not teach a lesson, preach a sermon, or work a miracle until long after she is a memory herself.

And yet--and this is something I have come to love about this Anna--there she is, making a scene among the bystanders all around, convinced that this child is worth getting excited about.  Her hope is bigger than herself, quite simply.  She knows (Anna is no fool, after all) that whatever this helpless infant before her eyes will one day grow up to do, she won't see it when it happens.  She won't benefit from it in lived history, or be the recipient of a miracle from Jesus when he's all grown up.  She won't get money or prestige or power for herself because of her connection to Jesus, which is barely a connection at all.  But she knows that Jesus' coming--his presence in the world--is good for more than just her.  Jesus brings more than just perks for Anna, but rather what Luke calls here "the redemption of Jerusalem," the restoration of all creation, and the in-breaking of God's Reign over all the world.  Anna knows she won't be able to see what it looks like, but she knows that this whole hurting world needs what Jesus offers. And because of that, she rejoices.

That is an example we could stand to learn from, while we are on the subject.  Sometimes our focus is so self-centered that we can only get excited about something if there is a quick and obvious answer to the question, "What's in it for ME?" first.  Sometimes we try and turn Jesus in our personal genie, as though he is here to get me a car or a promotion or a soulmate, and that the primary reason to associate with Jesus is what he can do for our work lives, family lives, or personal wish lists.  What's worse, of course, is that there are plenty of folks in the Respectable Religious Crowd--with smooth-talking TV preachers at the front of that line, too--who basically send the message that God is here to get YOU a bigger house, a larger paycheck, and the prosperity we all convince ourselves we deserve.  

But Anna's life reminds us that when you are really tuned in to the movement of God, you come to care less and less about what you'll "get" from your wish list, and more about how God works for good among all of us.  It's less about hoping I get in on the ground floor with God as a supporter so that one day I'll be rewarded with a prize, and more about seeing God work in ways that are bigger than my own little world.  Anna shows us that what makes Jesus worth getting excited about is always bigger than just how Jesus can help ME right now.  She reminds me that in God's order of things, we get excited for seeing God work even if it doesn't directly benefit me. 

And beyond that Anna teaches us how to see our whole lives in Christ's light.  Instead of being people who only care about what will directly benefit me or what will help our my bottom line, Anna's witness teaches us to be able to rejoice simply at the signs that God is moving in the world, whether or not I get a windfall from God's hand as part of the plan.  And that in turn teaches us to see the love of Christ and the way Jesus rules, because Jesus' own life (and death and resurrection) were all about giving himself away for the world in love.  Anna's joyous outburst over the birth of the Messiah is a song in the same key as the Messiah's own life, and death, and resurrection.  In this culture of ours that makes Jesus just one more distributor of heavenly prizes, Anna's joy reminds us that Jesus' Reign is always bigger and wider than we could have imagined.  

So, yeah, on a day like today, if you want to know about Jesus, you'll need to study the life of an eighty-plus year old lady who only met him once... and who saw the world was changed all the same through him.

Lord Jesus, let your Reign unfold in our midst, where we are, as we are.