2026.07.12 | Anna
“Faces of Our Faith: Anna”
Luke 2:27b-38
Preached by
Rev. Dr. Marvin Lance Wiser
Eden United Church of Christ
Cherryland, CA
12 July 2026
This morning we continue our summer worship series, Faces of Our Faith: Bold and Untold Stories, with a woman named Anna.
Her story occupies only three verses in the Gospel of Luke, but Luke gives us a surprising amount of information about her.
Her name is Anna—the Greek form of the Hebrew name Hannah, meaning grace or favor. She is the daughter of Phanuel, meaning the Face of God, and a descendant of the tribe of Asher, whose name means happy or blessed.
So before Luke tells us anything else, he introduces us to Anna: Grace, from the tribe of Blessedness. He tells us that she was married for only seven years before becoming a widow, and so Anna has lived a long life marked by both loss and faithfulness.
Luke tells us that she remained near the Temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer. And then, on what must have appeared to be an ordinary day, Mary and Joseph arrived carrying the infant Jesus.
They had come to fulfill the requirements of the law after his birth. To most people around them, they probably looked like one more young family bringing one more child to be presented to God. But two elderly people recognize something more. First Simeon, and then Anna.
Luke calls Anna a prophet. She is the only woman in the New Testament who is both named and explicitly given that title. Interestingly, Luke does not preserve the words of her prophecy. Instead, he tells us that when she saw Jesus, she praised God and began speaking about the child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Esta mañana continuamos nuestra serie Rostros de Nuestra Fe con la historia de Ana. Aunque su historia ocupa solo tres versículos, Lucas nos ofrece un retrato extraordinario.
Su nombre, Ana en hebreo, significa gracia, y pertenece a la tribu de Aser, cuyo nombre significa bendecido. Después de enviudar siendo muy joven, pasó muchos años dedicada a la oración y al servicio en el Templo.
Cuando María y José llevaron al niño Jesús para presentarlo al Señor, la mayoría vio solamente a una familia más. Pero Simeón y Ana reconocieron algo extraordinario. Lucas llama a Ana profetisa, la única mujer del Nuevo Testamento nombrada explícitamente con ese título. Al ver a Jesús, dio gracias a Dios y anunció la buena noticia a todos los que esperaban la redención de Jerusalén.
Anna’s name also connects her to another woman in Israel’s story. Centuries earlier, Hannah prayed faithfully at the sanctuary for a child. When Samuel was born, she brought him to the house of God and sang a prophetic song about a God who raises the oppressed and overturns the power of the mighty.
That song becomes an important biblical backdrop for Mary’s Magnificat earlier in Luke’s Gospel.
And now, shortly after Mary sings her song, another “Hannah” appears in the Temple. The first Hannah brought the child Samuel to the sanctuary at the beginning of Israel’s monarchy, who would become king-maker for David. This Anna encounters the child-King Jesus from the lineage of David while Israel lives under the shadow of the Roman Empire.
At the Temple, then, several strands of Israel’s long story come together: Mary and Joseph arrive with their child; Simeon takes Jesus in his arms; and Anna, a prophet named for grace and descended from a scattered tribe named for blessedness, recognizes the significance of the moment. Luke says she immediately begins speaking about Jesus to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.
That phrase suggests that Anna was part of a larger community of hope. She apparently knew who was still waiting, who was still praying, and who had not given up on the possibility of redemption. And when the moment came, she knew where to take the news.
El nombre de Ana también nos recuerda a otra gran mujer de la Biblia: Ana, la madre de Samuel. Ella llevó a su hijo al templo y cantó un himno sobre un Dios que levanta a los oprimidos. Ese mismo canto inspira más adelante el Magníficat de María, la madre de Jesús.
Ahora aparece otra Ana en el Templo y ella reconoce en el niño Jesús al Mesías esperado y comienza a anunciarlo a todos. La fe de Ana fue formada por una vida de oración, espera y esperanza. Nos recuerda que Dios suele revelar sus mayores sorpresas a quienes permanecen atentos y fieles, aun después de muchos años de espera.
Anna’s face of faith is one shaped by a long life: by grief and memory, prayer and community, identity and hope. She represents those people whose contribution to the story may occupy only a few verses, but whose years of faithfulness have prepared them to recognize something important when it finally appears. And without further waiting, we now make room for another story of resilient faith from within our own community.