i just wanna be a sheep!

whenever i watch a CHRISTmas pageant at a church, i am always amused by the characters that are portrayed by the children.  there's always the marys and the josephs, the magi, the shepherds and angels.  sometimes there is usually a live baby to portray Jesus if the child's parents are particularly brave and trusting.  although, the child playing Jesus, in my experience, does not have to be a boy (i have seen girls, even ones in little CHRISTmas dresses), and does not necessarily have to be a newborn (i have seen toddlers in the manger!  i never knew hebrew women gave birth to 20 lb babies!).  however, one of the most memorable characters i have seen was a child at a church in the town where i attended in seminary who was playing a sheep.  the usual practice is to give the more talkative ones (like i used to be) the parts with the most speaking such as an angel, a shepherd, etc., and the more shy ones were given the parts that required no speaking.  well this particular year, in an effort to include everyone, the children's director felt the need to even give children the roles of farm animals.  maybe the director misjudged this young boy's shyness, or perhaps acting was his way of expressing himself, but for whatever reason this particular sheep must have missed the memo that he was a sheep for a reason, and was less than content to stay in the background unnoticed.  throughout the production, about every minute or so, you would hear a loud "baaaaaaaaa" coming from this sheep.  the crowd would snicker, the actors would look over at the over-amorous sheep in annoyment at first, and eventually would end up giggling with the crowd as the production waxed on.  this only further encouraged the sheep-who-would-not-be-ignored.  by the time it was over, very few people remembered much about the play, save that little 3 year old boy and his heralding sheep!

as mentioned in my last post, there were two characters in the CHRISTmas story that always get looked over, but deserve their own chance in the spotlight of CHRISTmas.  the first was simeon.  simeon was of the tribe and house of judah, being a representative of CHRIST's hope for the jews located in israel.  the second person in the story is anna, the prophetess.  she is mentioned in luke's gospel right after simeon's story is told, and her portion of the story is smaller than simeon's, yet contains just as much relevance then, as it does now.  like that little sheep, her story is crying out from the background, refusing to be ignored (which is why luke included her). 

as we get into her story, we always need to remember that every story, every person, and every event from the Bible is included for a reason (even the genealogies of the old testament).  God clearly wants to communicate some truth to us, and we simply need to dig a little bit (after all, treasure is not always left in the open!) to find that truth!

the first thing that we see in anna's story is that she was a prophetess.  in those days, women were considered lower than men, and held to tighter scrutiny, so for her to be recognized as a prophetess, she would have needed to have an impeccable reputation (a prophet during that day would have been stoned if even one of their prophecies proved wrong), especially if she was to be respected by the men. 

the second thing that we see is that she was of the tribe of asher.  now, at face value, this does not seem like much, but when you do some research, you will find that there is a whole book's worth of information in that small statement.  in a short summary, the tribe of asher was one of the northern tribes of israel, and were dispelled to the country of media (modern day iran) during the babylonian diaspora referenced in 2 Kings.  we can tell this from the name of her father, phanuel (meaning "face of God"), and her name anna (another form of hannah).  these were two names that were not popular in judea at the time of CHRIST's birth, but were popular among the diaspora because of their fondness of the book of tobit, which frequently referred to the "face of God", thus increasing the use of the name phanuel.  this was a book that called for the hope of the return of the jews in the diaspora to jerusalem.  subsequently, tobit's wife was named hannah, which led to the name's popularity among the eastern diaspora.

a third important fact was that she was an aged widow.  there were two expressions of loyalty to jerusalem among the diaspora.  the first was paying the annual half shekel temple tax, that was collected among the diaspora and then taken to the temple in jerusalem by a representative.  the second way of showing loyalty was a pilgrimage to jerusalem during the key festivals associated with the temple such as passover, pentecost, or the feast of tabernacles.  it is quite possible, and actually very likely, that anna made that pilgrimage when her husband died, and out of her love for jerusalem and the temple that was instilled by her father, committed herself to serving in the temple.  she would have known about the prophecy of the Messiah that would reclaim the glory of israel, and would have, like many others of the period, been anxiously awaiting the Messiah's coming. 

the fourth thing we see about her is that when she saw mary and joseph come in with the infant CHRIST, she immediately recognized Him as the promised Messiah through the revelation of God and began to thank God and to spread the good news of His birth to all of those who, like her, were anxiously anticipating the redemption of jerusalem.  luke intended for his readers to see that just as God chose simeon to represent the hope of the Messiah to the jews settled in israel, He also chose anna to represent that same hope to those who were still dispelled throughout the world.

today, we can see the annas among the faithful in His church, if we will just look.  there are many, like anna, that society views as lower class citizens.  even churches today tend to look down in pity on those who are maybe from a lower socioeconomic group, and some churches in sin even look down on those who are of what they consider an inferior race.  however, we see from anna's story that no matter what their standing in society is, they can be, and are, used by God.  we can also see her faithfulness despite her circumstances.  there are many that find it a hassle to drive 15 minutes to church each week, yet she was willing to make the long pilgrimage to jerusalem, braving scorching heat, wild animals, and thieves along the way.  i can remember my dad telling me how he used to walk to church every sunday morning, which was a considerable distance from his house, and unless he caught a ride with someone, it would take him a couple of hours to get there.  he would leave early in the morning, get to church and stay there all day until after the evening service, and then walk back.  very few of us have that level of commitment today.  but still, there are those in parts of the world, that brave arrest, death, and all sorts of other dangers, just to go to church each week.

there are also those, like anna, that have chosen to take their tragedies and use them to minister to others.  steven curtis chapman's family lost a child due to a tragic automobile accident in their driveway a few years back.  statisticians will tell you that a marriage that loses a child has a very high probability of ending in divorce.  yet, the chapmans have turned their tragedy into a ministry to others who have gone through the loss of a child.  and finally, God chose anna to reveal His promise to a group that was for all practical purposes an afterthought.  we know from josephus, the jewish historian of that time, that jews in jerusalem still held the jews of the diaspora in high regard, but for the most part, the diaspora was disconnected.  had it not been for a few faithful like anna, they might have been totally absorbed into the pagan cultures of the babylonians.  there are those out there today that feel disconnected for whatever reason or another.  they are the neighborhoods that are avoided.  they are the countries that are closed to the gospel.  they are the CHRISTians that feel abandoned by the church (many rightfully so).  but among those, there are the faithful, staying hopeful, and telling everyone who needs hope, like them, about the Messiah and the hope He brings.

are there any of you out there that feel like you are disconnected?  or maybe that God can't use you because of your particular circumstances?  perhaps a tragedy has struck you and you have lost hope.  take heart, and learn from anna.  God can still use you, and wants to use you, if you just make yourself available to Him.  if you are out there and you are an anna, keeping the faith, always hoping and telling others about Him, stay strong.  finish the race.  you may be the only representative of the one Hope that those around you will ever see!  be that sheep, never settling for a lesser part, but doing all that you can to be the best sheep, the best anna, that you possibly can!