Read Anna’s story in Luke 2:22–38.
Anna didn’t always do what everyone else did. Every country and generation has its own customs. During that time, it was the custom that a Jewish widow without children move back into her parents’ house until another man wanted to marry her. But that’s not what Anna did.
Anna was married only seven years when her husband died. Instead of doing what others would’ve done, she moved into the temple in Jerusalem. The Bible says Anna never left the temple. She worshiped God night and day, fasting and praying. Anna was a prophetess.
King Herod had rebuilt the temple, and it was way different from our churches, even different from most Jewish temples today.
Made of white marble and decorated in gold, the temple was more like a city than a church. Huge walls surrounded the area, which was about the size of twelve soccer fields. Watchtowers stood at the corners of the wall. Rabbis taught on wide steps that led to gates. Jews and Gentiles came to the temple to pray, to offer sacrifices, to pay their temple tax, and to discuss religious issues with rabbis. This was where Anna lived and served God. She likely bunked in one of the many rooms on the temple grounds.
When Anna’s husband died and left her alone, Anna became a woman who talked about the coming Messiah and then about Jesus, the Messiah, to all who would listen. She was a woman who talked to God night and day. Anna lived a life of prayer in an active relationship with God.
Mary and Joseph took baby Jesus to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. It was written in the Law that every firstborn male was to be consecrated to God. Mary and Joseph came to offer a sacrifice of two doves or pigeons. Anna was a senior citizen when Joseph and Mary showed up at Herod’s Temple with the baby Jesus.
“Jesus.” Anna’s lips trembled with joy as she spoke his name. This was the Messiah she’d been waiting for. Praying for. Talking about. Anna gazed into the tender eyes of the one who came to save her, her people, and the world from sin.
We’re never too young or too old to thank God for his goodness and speak to others about Jesus, God’s holy Son.
Whether bad things happen—like your best friend moves away or your parents get divorced, or good things happen—like you win the state spelling bee or your family takes a dream vacation, you can live like Anna did. You don’t have to live in a church or in a temple, but you can be a girl who prays night and day. You can tell the people around you about Jesus who is Savior to all who believe in him.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
— Philippians 4:6
I will talk to God about the bad and the good things in my life and thank him for being my great God.
Lord God, I’m so glad I can talk to you and that you listen to me. Please teach me how to pray more for other people. In Jesus’s name, amen.
Anna was from the tribe of Asher, one of Jacob’s twelve sons.
The name Anna is the same name as Hannah in the Old Testament, which means “gracious.” Someone who is gracious is kind and forgiving. Anna was gracious. She spent her life worshiping God through prayer and then sharing the good news of Jesus with others.
If you were standing in the temple courts with Anna, she might have something to say about 1 Corinthians 6:19–20. “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body.”
Anna knew oodles about the Jewish temple. Even with her eyes closed, Anna could probably find all the areas where women were allowed. And I think she’d love that God thinks of our bodies as temples for his Holy Spirit. If she read those verses with you, she might tell you that God wonderfully made your body. She’d probably tell you to take special care of your body because it belongs to the King of kings and Lord of lords. And that taking care of God’s temple—your body—is an act of worship, a way we can thank God for creating us in his image.