The Word of Christmas: Redemption
Luke 2:10
Rev. Juvenal Cervantes, Pastor
St. John’s United Church of Christ, Greeley, Colorado
December 24, 2021
Luke 2:10
And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
The temple mount in Jerusalem has been buzzing with rumors and speculation for more than a month.
The priests and support staff who live and work within the massive complex of Herod’s temple have not stopped talking about wild reports that, forty days earlier, some shepherds outside Bethlehem had an extraordinary encounter with angels. Supposedly, these directed them to a nearby newborn infant who is the long-awaited Messiah of Israel.
One of the people pondering the meaning of these amazing reports is a tiny, mysterious holy woman who has been a familiar fixture of temple life for as long as any living person can remember. It is she who will deliver our prophetic word of Christmas. Here is how Luke describes her.
Now there was, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity; and this woman was a widow of about eighty four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day. (Luke 2:36-37)
There is so much intriguing information in this brief description! First, we learn that Anna’s father is named Phanuel. This is actually a form of the Hebrew place name Piniel, which means “face-to-face.” It’s the name Jacob gave to the place where he met, and wrestled with, God (Gen. 32:3) Appropriately, Anna is about to meet God face-to-face- in the form of an infant, His only begotten Son.
Secondly, we learn Anna is of the Asher tribe. This is significant because only people of the tribe of Levi are supposed to be living and serving in the temple. Occasionally, exceptions were made, however, particularly when an individual clearly was anointed by God as prophet or prophetess. Here we learn that this is the case with Anna.
Finally, we learn that Anna was of “a great age.” In fact, Luke is enough of a gentleman not to state Anna’s age directly, but he does give us enough information to do the math. We’re told she had been married seven years when her husband died. Then, as a widow, she had served in the temple eighty-four years. If we assume that she had married at the age of fourteen- the youngest acceptable age for marriage in that culture- she would be at least 105 years old at this time! Of “a great age” indeed.
On this day, the prophetess Anna will deliver the greatest prophetic exclamation of her long life of service to God. A young couple, carrying a forty-day old infant boy, are making their way up the steps of the temple complex to scarify two turtle doves in accordance with the Law of Moses.
With short careful steps, Anna makes her way across the smooth marble surface of the temple’s outer court, where Jewish women are allowed to be present. Throughout eighty-four years of service at the Jerusalem temple, this large open plaza outside the gates of the main complex is as close to the heart of the temple she, or any other woman, has ever been permitted to stand.
That heart, the Holy of Holies, is where the very presence of God is believed to dwell. Only the High Priest is allowed into that sacred space, and only once each year. Yet today, this frail, elderly lady is going to get closer to the presence of God that the High Priest ever has. She’ll glimpse the face of God in human form.
As she slowly makes her way across the plaza, a commotion near the entrance catches her attention. A gentleman who looks to be even older than she is shouting excitedly, waving his arms, and rejoicing. Standing before the man is a couple with an infant- one of many such couples who arrive each day to sacrifice two birds in order to “redeem” their firstborn- all in accordance with the Law of Moses (Exod. 13:1-16; Lev. 12:8).
Her heart begins to beat faster as the prophetic gift within her whispers the significance of this particular baby boy. She approaches the couple. Luke doesn’t provide much detail as to what happens next. He simply says:
And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem (Luke 2:28)
It is not accident that Anna should speak of redemption in this moment. She has met Joseph and Mary who are “redeeming” the One who will one day redeem mankind. Let’s explore the word “redemption.”
It describes the process of redeeming something or someone. You have to redeem to have redemption.
Breaking this down even further, it’s important to note that deem lies at the root of redeem. To deem is assign value. We say, “What do you deem the value of the property to be?” So, to re-deem is to re-value something, particularly by re-purchasing it. If you buy something, lose it, then buy it back, you’ve redeemed it.
In this amazing moment in the temple, Anna begins to give thanks and praise to God, because the Spirit has revealed the truth to her. This baby boy is the long-awaited Redeemer of Israel.
Anna knew the Scriptures, including the prophecy of Isaiah 59:20: “The Redeemer will come to Zion, and to those who turn from transgression in Jacob, says the Lord.” Zion is the prophetic name of the temple mount in Jerusalem.
So, Anna, after eighty-four years of praying, fasting and serving in the temple, sees this prophecy fulfilled with her own eyes. The Redeemer has come to Zion.
Redemption is the overarching theme of the Word of God. When you hold your Bible in your hands, you’re holding a redemption story. The greatest of all time, in fact.
By necessity, every redemption story begins with a loss- often through theft or betrayal. This story is no different. On the Bible’s opening pages, we see our original ancestors betray the loving Creator who had placed them in charge of a garden, as well as the wider world in which that garden sat. That betrayal results in their selling themselves into slavery.
As a loving Father unfolds His plan to purchase mankind back and restore us to freedom, we repeatedly see types, pictures, and foreshadowing of this redemption narrative on the pages of that story.
Isaac is doomed to die as a sacrifice, when at the last minute, God provides a ram as a substitute, effectively buying back, the boy’s life and freedom.
Ruth rendered destitute in a foreign land by the death of her husband, is rescued from poverty by a “kinsman redeemer” who pays the price that restores her to her husband’s land and home.
The Bible overflows with examples of this theme, but perhaps the most beautiful and striking of these is the story of the prophet Hosea and his unfaithful wife. The entire book of Hosea is essentially the story of a prophet who is asked by God to live out a redemption narrative as a prophetic message to the spiritually unfaithful nation of Israel.
In the first chapter, God directs Hosea to go purchase the freedom of a prostitute and maker her his wife. He does so and they have three children together. But eventually she decides to return to her previous life, ultimately becoming a literal sex slave again. Then in chapter three, God direct Hosea to go and buy her freedom once again, and to restore her as his wife. And he does so (Hosea 3:1-2). The entire series of events is a powerful prophetic picture at two levels.
First, it shows how God, as Israel’s spiritual husband, would eventually pursue and forgive Israel, even though the nation that God had initially redeemed from slavery in Egypt has wandered away in the adultery of idolatry. That unfaithfulness would ultimately lead to the nation of Judah being exiled and held captive in Babylon for seventy years. Even so, God would come and redeem her a second time, and lead her back into the land of promise.
At a higher level, Hosea is prophetically depicting how God sent His own sinless Son as the purchase price to redeem lost, dying humanity back to Himself. What a price He paid. What love and mercy He displayed in buying us back from slavery and sin and death.
Jesus once told His disciples, “the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Matt. 20:28).
There is a powerful, personal message here for you and me. This story shouts that even when we wander away from God- even when our unfaithfulness puts us in bondage to consequences and curses- our faithful, forgiving Father pursues us with His love. He stands ever willing, ever able to redeem and restore us.
That’s what Anna saw prophetically when she looked into the face of a baby in the temple courtyard that day. This is why she testified of it “to all those who looked for redemption in Israel.”
On this Christmas Eve we celebrate redemption. Our redemption comes from God’s only begotten Son who comes to our lives through personal invitation and promises to be with us eternally. Hallelujah, we are redeemed!