Reader.
Happy New Year!
Before we dive in, will I be seeing you on January 12 for In the Beginning?
It’s a complimentary Illuminate + 9 Lumens gathering (Hybrid: Living Room & Zoom), designed to set the tone for the year ahead and open the way to our next Illuminate Living Room series.
If you plan to join via Zoom, you will need to register for the Zoom link. If you’re coming in person, RSVP by replying to this email so I can prepare.
Now, about Anna.
If this were a Living Room session, I would start by asking the room a question:
What do you know about Anna?
The answers could be: old, faithful, fasting and praying, or the woman in the temple.
And if you have ever been with me in the Living Room, this is where you KNOW I would get super excited because there is far more to Anna than just “old and faithful,” although there is certainly nothing wrong with that.
Unlike Elizabeth and Mary, Luke gives us only a few verses about Anna. Yet those verses are densely packed with details that make her highly unique.
This would easily be a forty-five-minute Living Room session. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in.
There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Penuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.”
Luke 2:36–38 NIV
Where Anna is Found
Before we look at Anna herself, we need to start with who she is with. Luke consistently pairs men and women throughout his Gospel and into Acts. Around the miraculous births of John and Jesus, we see three pairings:
- Elizabeth and Zechariah — married
- Mary and Joseph — married
- Simeon and Anna — not married
That is the first striking feature of their pairing. Simeon and Anna together are witnesses, but not a household unit. They are paired not by marriage, but by testimony. Perhaps a hint to Joel 2:28
"I would pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy…”
In a culture & law that required two or three 'witnesses,' here we have Luke introducing the second witness as a widow. More than any other Gospel writer, Luke shows concern for women, widows, and those on the margins. It is not accidental that one of the first witness' of Jesus’ identity is Anna..
Within 40 days of Jesus' birth, His Good News is recognized and proclaimed not only by priests, patriarchs, and heads of households, but also by women and widows.
The Setting
In Luke 2:22, Mary and Joseph come to Jerusalem, not for Jesus’ circumcision. Circumcision had already taken place on the eighth day, when Jesus was named, according to the Law (Leviticus 12:3).
What brings them to the temple now is the purification rite after childbirth and the presentation of the firstborn to the Lord. For a male child, this purification occurred thirty-three days after birth; for a female child, sixty-six days (Leviticus 12:1–8; Exodus 13:2, 12).
And in that moment, moved by the Holy Spirit, Simeon walks in. He is not identified as a priest or prophet, but as righteous and devout. Luke tells us that the Holy Spirit had revealed to him that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. When Simeon enters the temple, he takes Jesus in his arms, praises God, declares that he is ready to depart in peace, blesses the parents, and speaks directly to Mary.
Then Luke adds a precise detail: “at that very moment.” Anna arrives.
Who Anna Is
Her name itself would not have been lost on Luke’s audience. Anna is the Greek form of the Hebrew name Hannah, meaning “grace” or “favor.” Just as Mary’s song echoes Hannah’s song in 1 Samuel, Anna’s name recalls Hannah, the mother of Samuel, a woman marked by prayer at the temple.
Only after naming her does Luke give her title: prophet. In fact, Anna is the only named female prophet in the New Testament.
Luke then provides another unusual detail. He names Anna’s tribe: Asher.
Tribal identification is foundational in the Old Testament, but rare in the New Testament. Only a handful of figures are identified this way, including Jesus from the tribe of Judah, Saul of Benjamin, and Barnabas the Levite.
Asher, from whom the tribe takes its name, was Jacob’s eighth son and the second born to Zilpah (Genesis 30:12–13). The tribe settled along Israel’s northern Mediterranean coast. The last biblical mention of the Asherites occurs when some respond to Hezekiah’s call to renew the Passover in Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 30:11).
Asher remained part of the kingdom until the Assyrian conquest around 723 BCE, when the population was deported. From that point on, tradition came to count the tribe of Asher among the so-called Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.
And yet Anna, a descendant of Asher, is by no means lost but found present and faithful in the temple in Jerusalem.
Moses’ blessing over Asher was that “your strength will equal your days” (Deuteronomy 33:25), a line that resonates deeply with Luke’s emphasis on Anna’s age and perseverance.
Luke gives Anna details he withholds from Simeon. Simeon’s age is not mentioned, though readers often assume he is old because he speaks of being ready to depart in peace.
hat Luke does tell us is that Anna is very old. In fact, she is the only woman in the New Testament whose age is recorded. The Greek text is ambiguous, suggesting either that Anna herself is eighty-four years old or that she has been a widow for eighty-four years. Either way, Luke makes clear that her life has been marked by many years of widowhood.L
uke tells us nothing about children, nothing about remarriage—only how she spent her days:
“She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.”
The Greek word Luke uses for worship (latreuō) emphasizes service, devotion, and obedience rather than song. Anna’s life is described as one of sustained, disciplined service to God.
Shaped by a lifetime of prayer, Anna becomes the prophet now known for being the first to publicly speak about Jesus with thanksgiving.
Uniquely, the Greek word Luke uses for Anna’s “giving thanks” (anthomologeomai) appears only here in the New Testament. The verb tense indicates ongoing action. Anna is not offering a single moment of gratitude; she continues giving thanks as she speaks.
Sitting with Anna
Anna’s life looks nothing like Mary’s or Elizabeth’s. None of them found themselves in circumstances they expected. Mary carries an unexpected calling. Elizabeth carries years of longing. Anna carries decades of loss and waiting.
What have you been carrying that you didn't expect?
What details of your life feel insignificant or forgotten, but might matter more than you think?
What has shaped your voice over time?
What do you find yourself unable to stop thanking God for?
To conclude this series, it feels fitting to remind us of the words of Hannah in 1 Samuel after she devoted Samuel to the service of the Lord.
Then Hannah prayed and said:
“My heart rejoices in the LORD;
in the LORD my horn u is lifted high.
My mouth boasts over my enemies,
for I delight in your deliverance.
2 “There is no one holy like the LORD;
there is no one besides you;
there is no Rock like our God.
3 “Do not keep talking so proudly
or let your mouth speak such arrogance,
for the LORD is a God who knows,
and by him deeds are weighed.
4 “The bows of the warriors are broken,
but those who stumbled are armed with strength.
5 Those who were full hire themselves out for food,
but those who were hungry are hungry no more.
She who was barren has borne seven children,
but she who has had many sons pines away.
6 “The LORD brings death and makes alive;
he brings down to the grave and raises up.
7 The LORD sends poverty and wealth;
he humbles and he exalts.
8 He raises the poor from the dust
and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
he seats them with princes
and has them inherit a throne of honor.
“For the foundations of the earth are the LORD’s;
on them he has set the world.
9 He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,
but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.
“It is not by strength that one prevails;
10 those who oppose the LORD will be broken.
The Most High will thunder from heaven;
the LORD will judge the ends of the earth.
“He will give strength to his king
and exalt the horn of his anointed.”
The New International Version. Zondervan, 2011, p. 1 Sa 2:1–10.
What’s Coming Up with Illuminate
As you head into the new year, I would love to invite you into what’s ahead:
In the Beginning: An Evening of Intention & Grounded Identity
Monday night, January 12th.
Registration required — RSVP to let me know if you’re joining the Living Room
The 2026 Living Room Series
A deep study through Exodus, focusing on the women woven into God’s work of rescue. More information and registration below
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$110.00
Born for Deliverance: Women of Exodus
Deliverance, you ask? Yes.
Don’t like that word? What if I said, "Women who Deliver"? How does that land with you? Or... Read more |
Illuminate Immersion Weekend
Our first-ever retreat-style weekend. In person in Tacoma, WA, with a virtual option
Exploring the women who co-labored with Paul—and excavating the stories that shape us. More information and registration below.
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$75.00 / month
women who co-labored with paul
February 27-March 1
An Illuminate Immersion in the Women's Stories That Birthed the Church - and us now as women.
An... Read more |
