Other people affected the heart and life of Mary too … unexpected strangers. We are no doubt very familiar with the account of the visit from the ‘Wise Men’ … ‘Astrologers’ … ‘Scholars’ from the east who brought homage to our God in the shape of gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. But the two people I want us to consider today are Simeon and Anna. Two elderly people who may well have been considered to be past their best. And yet two more people who gave something of themselves. Their faithfulness and commitment to God ministered to Mary and Joseph at one of those times when they possibly needed it most.
At this point, Scripture tells us that Jesus was eight days old, the day of circumcision, the naming day when Jesus was given the name the angel had already revealed before He was conceived. Here in Jerusalem, obeying God’s commandment in the law, Mary and Joseph met with Anna and Simeon.
Anna, a prophetess, a very old woman, who had been married for seven years and now widowed for eighty four years. She had been faithful to God through thick and thin, through good times and bad, and now in old age she continued to fast and pray in the temple area.
I wonder as Mary looked at this saintly woman did Anna’s faithfulness bless, encourage and challenge Mary’s heart. I imagine so.
We can learn so much from old people if we take the time almost to stop and stare. To examine who they have been as well as the person the years have made them. I love to watch the expressions on their faces as they share something of their life’s story and they talk of the hand of God in their life. I never fail to be moved as I witness them sing: ‘Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me’ from a very real position of knowledge. As one year quickly rolls into the next may our lives, through our life’s experiences testify to the faithfulness of God too.
At this point, Scripture tells us that Jesus was eight days old, the day of circumcision, the naming day when Jesus was given the name the angel had already revealed before He was conceived. Here in Jerusalem, obeying God’s commandment in the law, Mary and Joseph met with Anna and Simeon.
Anna, a prophetess, a very old woman, who had been married for seven years and now widowed for eighty four years. She had been faithful to God through thick and thin, through good times and bad, and now in old age she continued to fast and pray in the temple area.
I wonder as Mary looked at this saintly woman did Anna’s faithfulness bless, encourage and challenge Mary’s heart. I imagine so.
We can learn so much from old people if we take the time almost to stop and stare. To examine who they have been as well as the person the years have made them. I love to watch the expressions on their faces as they share something of their life’s story and they talk of the hand of God in their life. I never fail to be moved as I witness them sing: ‘Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord unto me’ from a very real position of knowledge. As one year quickly rolls into the next may our lives, through our life’s experiences testify to the faithfulness of God too.
‘Faithful God
Faithful God
All sufficient One
I worship You.
Shalom my peace
My strong deliverer
I lift You up
Faithful God’
Major Glad Ljungholm
LIVERPOOL DHQ
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