Coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:38
Day by day, Anna went to the temple. But when she was there, what did she see? She saw the same things that our Lord Jesus would see thirty years later when He came to the temple.
Jesus and Anna would have seen the commercialization of faith, as the temple had been overrun with traders plying their wares. They would have seen the deadness of so much institutional religion. All those priests in the temple, but not one of them could recognize the Christ when He came! They would have seen the self-righteousness of so much that went on in the temple. People who thought highly of themselves trying to impress others and demanding from God what they thought He should do for them.
Anna’s heart must have ached when she went to the temple. All these people showing up for worship, but how many of them even knew how to pray? How she longed for the day when the temple would be filled with people who really loved God and lived to serve Him.
But there were some who really loved God, and Anna was one of them. Here and there she had gotten to know others who, like her, were also waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem, longing for the day when the promised Redeemer would come, when God’s city would truly be filled with God’s praise arising from the hearts of God’s people.
If you are a Christian, redemption speaks to you of the purpose and calling of your life.
As you reflect on Christ’s redemption, say to yourself today: “I have been bought back at the greatest price and for the greatest purpose. I am not my own. I belong to Christ, and I must seek freely and gladly to live for Him.”
