Luke 2:36-52

Transcript

00:00:00:37 – 00:00:27:22
Clint Loveall
Everybody, thanks for being with us. Thanks for closing out the week with us on this Thursday. Hope you all are doing well as we continue through Luke, Luke and and only Luke has a series of stories after the birth of Jesus. There are three stories essentially. Two from Jesus infancy and one from his childhood. And these are really the only words like this that we hear.

00:00:27:23 – 00:00:54:28
Clint Loveall
They’re not anywhere else. Yesterday, we looked at the Prophet Simeon, who was at the temple and recognized Jesus as the Messiah. Today, we follow up on that theme here as we meet a woman named Anna. So verse 36. Let’s read through this and then we can talk about it. There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Daniel, the tribe of Ashur.

00:00:55:04 – 00:01:19:30
Clint Loveall
She was of great age, having lived with her husband seven years after her marriage. Then as a widow to the age of 84, she never left the temple, but worship there with fasting and prayer night and day. At the moment she came, she began to praise God and to speak about the child to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

00:01:21:07 – 00:01:57:14
Clint Loveall
Michael, not a not a character we meet anywhere else in Scripture. Fascinating that they used the word prophet or prophets of a woman. Also interesting that we’re told she never leaves the temple. She was widowed after seven years or she now is 84. There’s a little bit of there’s a little lack of clarity in the actual language, but it appears as though the text is telling us she was married seven years and then is 84 at the time of this, which is a significant age in Jesus day and time.

00:01:57:32 – 00:02:23:33
Clint Loveall
But she prays, she fasts, she’s devout, she is a prophetess, which again, is a rare word that we encounter very occasionally in Scripture. And when she sees the child, she begins to praise God and speak about the child again to all who are looking for the redemption of Jerusalem. Language similar to what we heard yesterday in the Simeon story.

00:02:24:01 – 00:02:41:31
Clint Loveall
We want to keep on track here because this is obviously a story about Jesus that is the metanarrative here, that’s the through line. And yet we have this moment where we meet this woman who by all accounts seems to be a remarkable woman. And it is in some ways remarkable that she’s in the story.

00:02:42:19 – 00:03:08:47
Michael Gewecke
We have a few cases now already in Luke where we have some placement of, you know, the person’s lineage. And here that happens again. We’re told here that not only is she a prophetess, but she is also someone who has a standing within the nation. She she’s a person who comes from the tribe of Asher, as you have here in your text.

00:03:08:47 – 00:03:32:11
Michael Gewecke
And I think we saw Zachariah and I believe we were told that he is of the lineage of Aaron. So that puts him in that libidinal strand. I mean, these characters Luke has at certain points sort of wanted to make sure that we see that there’s a bridge to that Old Testament, that promise made to the people of Israel here that happens again.

00:03:32:52 – 00:03:54:22
Michael Gewecke
Clint has already emphasized how rare this title of prophets is used in the Scripture. I think that’s very helpful. I think when you put that together, the idea of the rareness of that title, the fact that she’s of the tribe, of Asher and she’s of great age and she’s obviously faithful because the tech says in our translation here, never left the table.

00:03:54:54 – 00:04:27:59
Michael Gewecke
Temple Excuse me, but worship there with fasting and prayer night and day. The the implication of this is that this woman is very fervent in her faith. She’s very faithful to the practice of that faith. And so here we see in her lips almost as if Luke is going to balance what we had in yesterday’s study, when Simeon sees the child and then launches into this beautiful song of praise here, it’s as if Luke wants us to know.

00:04:28:12 – 00:04:53:07
Michael Gewecke
But he’s not the only one here. And this older woman, she this faithful woman, this person deeply connected to the history of Israel, she too, sees the savior and she praises God and speaks about the child for whom the people were waiting for, for this redemptive work. And I think, Clint, you know, that’s it’s vintage Luke. It’s a person that doesn’t get mentioned in other gospels.

00:04:53:20 – 00:05:18:48
Michael Gewecke
It’s a story that we only have in this place. It’s a title given to a woman that if we could understand the context in day in which it was written and handed off, was in many ways shocking for a woman to be told that. I mean, just remember, we have in some of the pastoral works that come later in our New Testament, literal words about women speaking in public, speaking in gathered assemblies and things like this.

00:05:18:49 – 00:05:32:40
Michael Gewecke
And I think the fact that she is praising God, speaking about the child, seeing him for who he is, I mean, this is a momentous moment. And Luke records it in a way that I think we are incredibly grateful that he does.

00:05:33:10 – 00:06:16:01
Clint Loveall
Yeah. You know, it’s always you have to always be careful trying to ascribe motives to a writer that did his work so long ago. But in this story already, we’ve seen praise given of Elizabeth saying that she was devout. Mary has been called favored one and responded with this beautiful lyric or the Song of Mary. Now we have Anna clearly, Luke is not at all resistant to the idea of faithful, active women, women for whom the Holy Spirit is important, for whom their faith is is central to their lives.

00:06:16:17 – 00:06:37:40
Clint Loveall
Luke has already, in just these two chapters, lifted that up in in at least three instances in significant ways. The other part of this, I think we see, Michael, particularly when we couple it with the story we’re going to see next, is that the temple matters in the early part of the story of Luke. You know that Simeon is there, Anna is there.

00:06:37:40 – 00:07:04:03
Clint Loveall
You have these two, though. They’re different genders. You have an older man who’s had a promise from God filled with the spirit. You have a devoted older woman who’s been through difficulty in life and recognizes Jesus. Both of them recognize Jesus and respond with praise. And that happens at the temple. And that sort of leads us to our third story, which is, I think, one that a lot of people know.

00:07:04:03 – 00:07:24:32
Clint Loveall
It’s really the only story we have of Jesus childhood now. There are others that don’t make the Scripture, but in the Bible, in the four gospels that we know as Scripture, this is really the only one. First we get told verse 39, when they finished everything required by the law, they return to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.

00:07:24:57 – 00:07:51:55
Clint Loveall
The child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom, and the favor of God was upon him. So here we just have a general reference to Jesus growing that transition, essentially from boy to either young man. Probably that’s more fitting in their culture. We’re going to we’re going to hear a story when Jesus is about 12, 12 seems awfully young for the idea of young man for us.

00:07:52:15 – 00:08:22:11
Clint Loveall
But in Jesus culture, it wouldn’t have been that unthinkable to be 1314 on the verge of manhood, to have significant responsibility, to to be to be pretty close to what would have been considered adulthood, at least in in many ways. So let’s jump in there and I’ll read this for you. Every year, his parents went to Jerusalem for the Festival of Passover, and when he was 12 years old, they went up as usual when the festival was ended and they started to return.

00:08:22:12 – 00:08:43:33
Clint Loveall
The boy, Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but his parents didn’t know it. Assuming that he was in the group of travelers, they went a day’s journey. When they started to look for him among their relatives and friends, they did not find him. Then they returned to Jerusalem to search for him. After three days, they found him in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

00:08:44:06 – 00:09:05:40
Clint Loveall
All who had heard him were amazed. They were amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished and his mother said, Child, why have you treated us like this? Look, your father and I have been searching for you in great anxiety. He said to them, Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house?

00:09:06:05 – 00:09:39:54
Clint Loveall
But they didn’t understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart, and Jesus increased in wisdom and in years in divine and human favor. So again, the only childhood story we have, and it’s a strange one. Mary, Joseph and Jesus go to make what is probably an annual well tells us that an annual pilgrimage to the temple again suggesting that they’re devout, suggesting that they follow the customs and requirements of their faith.

00:09:40:26 – 00:10:08:18
Clint Loveall
This time at 12, Jesus is there and doesn’t return with them. They’re traveling in a group, probably a large group of family and friends or people that are headed back to the same direction. And so Jesus is sort of lost in the shuffle. They realize it. They go back probably probably the reference to go gone three days is the the day they traveled, the day they missed him and found him on the next day, in other words, the third day.

00:10:08:43 – 00:10:28:44
Clint Loveall
It’s possible that it means it took them three days in Jerusalem to find him, though that that seems less likely. But it’s possible. Again, the language has some looseness to it. And when they do find Jesus, this is the point of the story, not how long it took when they find him. They are astounded by what they see.

00:10:28:46 – 00:10:57:37
Clint Loveall
Jesus is teaching this 12 year old boy is not only speaking with adults, which would have been relatively uncommon. They are amazed at what he is saying and I mean, this is one of those stories, Michael, that tells us a couple of things that kind of establishes Jesus pedigree. It gives us a foreshadowing of what is to come of Jesus being a teacher, of people being amazed.

00:10:58:22 – 00:11:15:52
Clint Loveall
And then it introduces this idea of my father’s house, which we can get to in a moment. But again, we don’t we don’t see a story like this really in any other gospel. But it it fits how we like to think of Jesus. And it’s an interesting addition here in Luke.

00:11:16:24 – 00:11:44:21
Michael Gewecke
There’s several things happening that I think are important. The first is looking back at the ground. We’ve already traveled here today. That’s to remember that when Luke wants to tell us a historical account, an account built upon witnesses and he wants to lay out for us the story of Jesus, his birth and his growth. It’s fascinating. What? Just amazing sections of time he’s going to skip over.

00:11:44:22 – 00:12:14:20
Michael Gewecke
The brevity of this account should strike us that in less than two days of this study, we’re going to go from him being born to all of the stuff that’s going to relate to him being before his adult ministry. And so here we have this prophecy that happens. Then immediately following that, we have well, I think it’s just a fascinating short little section in our Bibles where it says the child drew became strong, filled with wisdom favor of gods upon him.

00:12:14:33 – 00:12:38:20
Michael Gewecke
And as if that’s it, as if that’s the story to be told. Now we’re skipping ahead in time. Now we come to this text that the text in the temple. And yes, it does demonstrate the family’s face, their their willingness to put down work and to do what is asked of them. In fact, the families were expected if they were able to go to Jerusalem for three feasts a year.

00:12:38:21 – 00:13:03:10
Michael Gewecke
So whether they did that or not, we don’t know if they kept all of them, but we know that they kept this, it says annually. And so what’s what’s striking here, though, is how Jesus is astonishing. These teachers of the law, but not just them. He’s also astonishing his parents, because we have that here in verse 48, his mother said, Why have you treated us like this?

00:13:04:51 – 00:13:31:31
Michael Gewecke
We’ve been searching for you and great anxiety. The commentators point out the the great anxiety here is a is a forceful word that it’s actually rarely used. So the idea here that they were they were shocked. And even, you know, Joseph and Mary, when they find him here in verse 48, they are they’re struck in the midst of this, seeing him, the anxiety of the moment.

00:13:32:09 – 00:13:49:28
Michael Gewecke
And then Jesus says to them something, I think we’ve got to know that Luke is always telling this story in relation to the story that he knows he’s going to tell. We haven’t read it yet, but we’re going to get there. Jesus says to his parents, Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house?

00:13:49:49 – 00:14:20:18
Michael Gewecke
And we’re going to hear later in this book, Jesus is going to ask a very remarkably similar question Why are you searching for me or who are you searching for? And that here they find him in the temple. They’re later going to find him resurrected. And I think the amazing bookend is that Luke is present here, that Jesus is about the work of doing astonishing things from the very beginning of his life through literally the end of his life and beyond.

00:14:20:18 – 00:14:39:37
Michael Gewecke
And that’s already been set up in a narrative like this. It’s set in the temple to start. It’s going to end with Jesus becoming the temple who becomes the sacred place for the sake of all people. And yes, that’s rushing ahead in the text. But if you get farther down the road, you’re going to see that all of these sort of bricks come together to make the building.

00:14:40:26 – 00:15:16:13
Clint Loveall
There’s a sense, I think, in which this story, as it moves toward the conclusion, it is a reminder for the reader that Luke is not telling what we might think of as a biography. In other words, if you read biographies at all, a person’s childhood is generally highlighted. There’s a great deal of connection made between our growing up and the people of our childhood and what we go on to do here, Luke, is minimizing that we do get this story because it fits Luke’s purposes.

00:15:16:37 – 00:15:41:22
Clint Loveall
But notice here at the question, Did you not know that I must be in my father’s house? That is a poignant reminder of where Jesus comes from, of who his father is in the context of the story. That detail matters. And then notice especially so. And I think the convincing thing in that is the next verse. But they did not understand what he said to them.

00:15:41:22 – 00:16:11:42
Clint Loveall
And this is really the first time we’ve seen that kind of phrase in Luke. We’re going to see it more. But in regard to Jesus claims something about himself, and they didn’t understand what he said. They didn’t get the significance of him calling the temple my father’s house. At this point, that’s not clear yet. And then, you know, to soften that we do get this, they return to Nazareth and you have this wonderful line again.

00:16:12:01 – 00:16:43:10
Clint Loveall
His mother treasured all these things in her heart as as a way of storytelling. Luke uses Mary to be the voice of what all this means. She’s pondering, she’s treasuring. And that is a signal to the reader that we ought to be doing the same thing. And so here, here we have that. And then verse 52 again, there’s this massive jump and Jesus increased in wisdom and in age and in divine and human favor.

00:16:43:10 – 00:17:09:00
Clint Loveall
In other words, Jesus continues to be well-rounded. Jesus continues to grow in all of the ways that a person needs to grow. And that sets the stage for then Luke to be ready to move on and tell the ministry aspect of Jesus story, which doesn’t take him proportionately long to get to two chapters. But the Gospel of Mark, for instance, starts there.

00:17:09:00 – 00:17:30:12
Clint Loveall
The gospel of John in many ways starts there. So Luke has given us a little bit of a prelude, but not much of one, though he has used it well. And as we turn the corner to Jesus adulthood with this material in the background, we have a pretty good foreshadowing of some of the some of what’s coming.

00:17:30:12 – 00:18:02:25
Michael Gewecke
I think we’ve already seen Mary treasuring and pondering numerous times. And I think it’s worth noting that there’s a personal it’s not just even storytelling. You can almost imagine Luke having had interviewed and questioned Mary, and there’s almost a personal note to a story like this, a reminder that Jesus, when he came, didn’t just change the world. He changed individual all people’s lives, and he changed his mother’s life forever.

00:18:02:47 – 00:18:30:14
Michael Gewecke
And for all of the skipping that happens in this story, for the brevity of that back story, there’s these beautiful human moments and even words like this, which would be easy to pass over. Jesus increases in wisdom and in years and mean divine and human favor. That’s a beautiful way of saying that as he grows, he he looks more and more like the God who sent him as as the son.

00:18:30:14 – 00:18:52:39
Michael Gewecke
He looks more and more in favor amongst those humans who he lives with and around. And and he continues to grow. It’s it is striking and I think it’s easy for us to to open up a book like Luke and to want to skip ahead to where’s the good stuff, where’s the miracles and the teaching and the stuff that drives the story forward.

00:18:52:39 – 00:19:20:06
Michael Gewecke
But here Luke makes it clear that from the very, very first parts of the story that actually begin before Jesus, God has been doing significant, substantial, wondrous ponders some even type works. And here we see Mary as she sort of becomes the exemplar for who we are to be. And as people to hear this, to receive it, to reflect upon it, and allow that to mean something in our lives as well.

00:19:20:21 – 00:19:45:10
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think Luke is working hard to paint a picture of Jesus that we are astounded by that makes us ponder, that makes us treasure. It’s less profound, Michael. But one last detail here. In case anybody were inclined to read this and think, Oh, Jesus hid from his parents, and then he kind of gave them a salty answer when they asked where he was.

00:19:45:55 – 00:20:08:38
Clint Loveall
Notice that Luke anticipates that with verse 51. He went down there with them and came to Nazareth and was obedient to them. So Luke wants to make sure we understand that Jesus, the adult of course, is going to live obediently. But in fulfilling that role, he is fulfilling that in his family as well. And so he is an obedient child.

00:20:08:38 – 00:20:21:34
Clint Loveall
He is a good child. He is not wayward. And in case anyone were tempted to think there’s some disrespect in this story, I think Luke just wants to make sure that we understood that’s not what he was telling us.

00:20:22:05 – 00:20:41:24
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, I mean, Luke has told us through other means, such as? Like Zachariah statement that might not be read as being a statement of a lack of faith. Luke makes it clear to us, the reader, what’s actually happening there. And I think that Luke’s a good writer for that. That said, I think you’re right to point out we’re at the end of a week here in the middle of the study.

00:20:41:33 – 00:21:00:59
Michael Gewecke
Next week we’re going to turn the page. We’re going to be in the third chapter. And in many ways, we now build upon this foundation that Luke has laid. And we move into the story that many of the other gospel writers are going to begin with. And so we turn our attention to the proclamation of John the Baptist as he reenters the story.

00:21:01:17 – 00:21:03:42
Michael Gewecke
And we kick this off in a new in the new stage.

00:21:04:35 – 00:21:22:33
Clint Loveall
Yeah, we move into the heart of the story Luke wants to tell us, which is the Ministry of Jesus. We get kind of a reunion and a crossover with John the Baptist to pick that story up, but only to point us toward the Jesus story ultimately. So hoping to be with us next week. Thanks for being with us today.

00:21:22:33 – 00:21:37:21
Clint Loveall
Thanks for listening. And we’re grateful for the time and hope there’s something in it that is helpful or interesting. As always, let us know.