Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Will you pray with me?
Dear heavenly Father, we praise you and thank you for bringing us through this year, for bringing us safe and listening to you open our ears and our minds and our hearts to hear your word as we once more celebrate the miracle of your coming to us in the midst of our pain and grief and sorrow, bringing your word of love.
In Jesus name, we pray. Amen.
The scripture this morning is from Luke 2.
It's after Jesus birth 21 to 24, and another couple of verses 36 to 39. It's the tale of Jesus in the temple.
When the eighth day came, it was time to circumcise the child, and he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.
When the time came for their purification according to the law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord. As it is written in the law of the Lord, every firstborn male shall be designated as holy to the Lord.
And they offered a sacrifice according to what is stated in the law of the Lord. A pair of turtle doves or two young pigeons.
There was also a prophet, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel of the tribe of Asher.
She was of a 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 worshiped there with fasting and prayer night and day. At that moment, she came and began to praise God and to speak about the child who all were looking for for the redemption of Jerusalem.
Now, when Mary and Joseph had finished everything required by the law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own town of Nazareth.
This is the word of the Lord.
[00:02:16] Speaker B: So back in 2008, the movie Iron man was released. This was the first of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or mcu, movies that my wife, my daughter and I have enjoyed watching over the years.
Each movie focused on one larger than life superhero. There was Iron man, who could put on his armor and gain the ability to fly and have the weaponry of a small army. There was the Hulk, AKA Bruce Banner, who would get angry and then become many sizes bigger, stronger and greener than an ordinary human being. And there was Thor, who not only had superhuman strength and the power to fly, but he was literally a God taken from Norse mythology.
And then, since just one superhero wasn't enough, eventually the Marvel Cinematic Universe began presenting films that included a whole team of these superpowered individuals called the Avengers. And the stakes of these movies got bigger and bigger. In the second Avengers movie called The Age of Ultron, released in early 2015. The villain was a robot figure created by artificial intelligence.
Can you imagine that artificial intelligence?
Ultron sought to eradicate the whole human race. That was his goal.
A team of superheroes fighting for the very existence of humanity. How could the stakes get any bigger? Well, this is how they could get bigger. Let's have the whole galaxy be in conflict. Let's have a team of superheroes called the Guardians of the Galaxy.
Well, a film came out with that title in 2014. The scale of these films had gone to truly galactic proportions. And then.
Then in late and summer 2015, as if to take a detour from this trend of bigger and bigger, a new MCU film was released. And this movie was not called Giant man or the Amazings or the Incredibles or the Marvels or the Eternals or the crew, you know, the people who are going to save the entire dang universe.
Instead, this film was called Ant Man.
As with Iron man, the main character's power came in putting on a special suit only for Ant Man. This suit didn't give him the power to fly or to shoot things or become a God, but instead, just to become really, really small.
And the villain in this film was not Ultron trying to eradicate the human race. It was a man who put on a costume himself, a yellowj costume, so he could become as small as a bee. This is a film about an ant fighting a bee.
It's like though. And critics loved it, and so did my family.
It's like those behind the MCU recognized, wait, we don't have to go bigger and bigger. There is a winsome story to be told in the small and the humble.
And so they featured a hero the size of an ant in the New Testament. In reading the four Gospels, I love how the Gospel of John begins with a global, even galactic scope to the portrayal of the one we call Jesus the Christ. Remember the great opening of John's Gospel. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
All things, all things came into being through him. And without him. Not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life.
And the life was the light to all people. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
That's the opening of John. How could you get much bigger in scale? At the beginning of time was the Logos in all things. The stars and the planets and everything that exists came into being through the Logos. And it is this Logos that took on flesh and dwelt. Among us in Christ, bringing light and life to all the world, let's say all the universe. I love how John's Gospel opens with this portrait of the cosmic Christ, galactic in scope and power.
But I love too how the Gospel of Luke begins.
It's like Luke is a different film director and Luke wants to hone in on how God was wondrously at work in the small, the humble, the poor.
John's Gospel begins with the camera zoomed out so far you can see the whole universe at its creation.
At the start of Luke's Gospel, the camera zooms in on little individual people like Elizabeth or like Mary, who describes herself in Luke 1 as poor and lowly. It was she the angel visits with news of a messiah's birth.
The focus on Luke is not on the high and mighty like Emperor Augustus. Instead it's on the people impacted by that emperor's decree, by a census that forces a couple, Mary and Joseph, to relocate at a most inopportune time to return to Joseph's hometown of Bethlehem for the census. And they're powerless to change this. They're impacted by these policies. Luke points the camera at Mary and that man to whom she was engaged. And then we see them as Mary gives birth, and they're of such modest, humble means. We learn that when Mary gives birth, they have to lay the child in a feeding trough for animals.
And then when heavenly messengers came to earth, as Ashley remind us in the children's sermon, the news reached not the royal courts nor the priests in the great Jewish temple. It landed on the ears of herdsmen who spent their days and nights working outdoors with animals. Luke's Gospel draws our eyes time and again to how God's message of salvation and deliverance comes not first to the high and mighty, the royal and the revered, it comes to the humble, humble, the small, those not in the corridors of power, but out in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night. For this Savior we will read later in Luke chapter four, would be precisely the kind of minister who brought good news to the poor, release to the captive, sight to the blind, and who let the oppressed go free.
Well, in today's passage, when we read that it is time for Mary to end her period of purification following her son's birth, the camera remains fixed on the actions of the humble and the small. Mary heads to the temple to end her 33 day purification time as prescribed in Leviticus 12. And when Mary brings her offering to the priest, we're told it is the low income option the financial assistance option, the food stamp option.
We read in Leviticus 12 that if a woman couldn't afford a sheep to end her purification time to mark that end, she could, if she needed to get. This low income option, could offer instead two turtledoves or pigeons. And Luke's gospel makes it clear it was that low income option that Mary takes. That's the kind of category of persons in whom God, according to Luke, is working then at the Temple. Who is it who recognizes the meaning of this baby, less than two months old, that Mary has brought with her?
Is it a priest or a governor?
No.
The two people with eyes to see what this child represents are elderly figures, Simeon and Anna, neither of whom held a prestigious or prominent title in the religious and political spheres of their time. But they are described as people with prophetic power, foreshadowing that day on Pentecost when we read, the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all flesh, and old men would dream dreams and people would speak words of prophecy.
Simeon sees the baby Jesus and speaks these words over him. My eyes have seen your salvation, O God, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples a light for revelation to the Gentiles, the non Jews, and for glory to your people, Israel.
And then in Luke 2, the camera moves from focusing on Simeon to Anna.
And Anna, we're told, is a prophetess. A prophetess. And that reference might well call to mind for observant readers or listeners, other prophetess figures from the Hebrew scriptures. We've been looking this advent at prophetess figures in our scriptures. And a reader, when they hear of Anna as a prophetess, might well think back to Miriam, the first woman to be listed as a prophet. You might remember how, after God had delivered the Hebrew people from bondage in Egypt, after God had delivered them from Pharaoh's hand and destroyed Pharaoh's army, it is Miriam who leads the women in singing a song of victory, praising God for what God has done.
Reading about the prophetess Anna, it might have called to people's minds that prophetess Deborah, who was also a commander of commanders of the armies of Israel back in the time of Judges. Deborah was both a judge and a commander and a prophetess. And she, like Miriam before her, after God had delivered God's people from the hand of oppression, this time from Jabin of the Canaanites, Deborah, like Miriam, leads the people in a song of praise to God for the wondrous things God has done, freeing the oppressed.
These figures might have been called to mind, as Anna is described as a Prophetess. But in other ways, Anna seems so, well, humble compared to them.
You know, Deborah was a judge and commander in chief. Anna, we read, has no prestigious title. It's clear she has no priestly heritage or family connections. Luke makes clear she's not from the tribe of Levi. She's from the tribe of Asher.
She doesn't sit on a judicial chair, nor is she married to a prominent politician, businessman or religious leader. She is a widow.
She's been a widow we read, for 84 years.
And by most interpreters rendering of this, it's 84 years after her husband's death, making her more than 100 years old.
Can one still make an impact on the world as a single woman over a hundred years old?
Well, last Wednesday some of us went caroling at Monte Vista Grove and we got to visit Barbara Beskin in Stuart Cottage.
This longtime Presbyterian attended this church for a time.
Barbara is an author, inventor, designer and artist. We got to see some of the art displayed on the walls of her room. When she was younger, Barbara served as an occupational therapist in the army, retiring at the rank of major.
And during her time in the army she pioneered new forms of occupational therapy, inventing new therapeutic devot devices for those who'd suffered injury or trauma.
Then at the age of 89, Barbara watched a segment of 60 Minutes and learned about a design company called Ideo. She sent a letter to them explaining her background and they hired her to develop yet new products.
Thanks to her, a new walker mounted rear view mirror was developed and glasses with facial recognition. Barbara is now 101.
Has she laying down the hammer?
No, no.
She's now working on a film documentary and on an autobiography.
Did Anna put down the hammer at over a hundred years old?
No.
Not only does she practically live at the temple, so devoted is she to prayer and fasting and worship, but when she sees the child Jesus, it's like she puts on that superhero costume of a prophetess.
And this widow, more than a hundred years old, spreads the earth shattering news that the redemption of Israel had come in a child she herself had seen firsthand. She is a witness with the poor and humble that lean on God. With an elderly widow like Anna, God can make a superhero, a prophetess with a song of salvation for Israel and through Israel to all the world.
I wondered as I read about Anna and preparing for this sermon what it would look like if Anna was portrayed like a Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero, you know, and what did I do?
I asked AI to create such an image.
And then I thought, what's a good title for that movie. You know, if it were part of the MCU films, and I thought it would be something like this.
Rise of the Anawim Anawim is a Hebrew word for the poor, the humble, the afflicted, the low.
Originally, anawim may have just referred to the physically poor, financially poor.
But over time, some historians have noted anawim referred more broadly to those who could not trust in their own strength, but had to rely in utter confidence on God and did so. This category of people included not only the poor, though it certainly did include them, but anoim also included the sick, the downtrodden, the widow, the orphan, the stranger or immigrant, and those who saw themselves as utterly dependent on God and others for their strength and survival.
The Rise of the Anawim what do you think?
The opposite of anawim, the arch villain, you might say, or at least a very different kind of person, as Luke portrays the story, is not simply the rich, but the proud and self sufficient who felt they have no need of God or God's help.
Anna is portrayed as one squarely in the category of Anawim, a widow who leaned entirely and in her whole being on God. And it is to this widow that God gives eyes to see and proclaim the inbreaking of redemption in Jesus Christ.
It makes sense, doesn't it, that someone like Anna, a member of the anawim, would see what so many others failed to see, that she would be given eyes to recognize what Jesus represents. For who better than one who is poor or a widow or recognizes themselves to be small and significant?
To see, to truly see how in Christ God became so small and humble, to bring us and all the earth the good news of salvation, to lift us up to new life and life and a kingdom where all are welcome and all have enough.
In the book of Philippians, Paul would describe the move of Christ like this. He'd write how even though Christ was in the very form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form a slave.
Being born in human likeness and being found in human form, Christ humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even death on the cross.
Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
In Christ we see God's deep love for the poor, the sinner, the outcast, the needy. And as we recognize our need for God, as we recognize our shortcomings, our humility, our smallness, and lean on God for strength, taking the lead of the Anawim time and again, we find the very power unleashed on the earth in Christ is at work in us, lifting us up.
This past year has brought a time of loss for many in our community, in our community as a whole, for a number of households in this congregation specifically.
And one overwhelming feeling of such a period can be powerlessness.
Just feel like there's nothing you can do in the face of these huge forces and entities.
A wildfire, an enormous insurance company, permitting and regulations, a mortgage company, Lord have mercy.
It can make you feel so small and constantly in need of assistance.
And yet the story of the Christian church, the story of our Savior, is that in precisely those times we feel small and powerless. When we enter the ranks, officially or unofficially, of the Anawim, we can find ourselves given a power we had not touched on before, a superpower.
As in our need, we lean on God. We find the very power that placed the sun, moon and stars in their courses above, holds us, holds those we love, tells us we are beloved, lifts us up and gives us the power to overcome any adversity in Christ, at work in us.
Thanks be to God.
When I think of modern day Annas, I think not only of Barbara Beskin, though she does come to mind. I also think of Rosalynn Orwa.
Okay, she's not over a hundred years old, as you can see in that picture, but she is a widow. And in her God has done remarkable things through her. God has proclaimed a song of hope and empowerment. A film about her life could be called Rise of the Anawim.
Rosalind grew up in an indigenous Luo community in Western Kenya. She calls herself an inquisitive loudmouth.
She was known in school for asking hard questions of teachers and others, especially when it came to gender and what women could or could not do.
She became happily married and enjoyed life with a man she loved. And then in 2008, her husband died in post election violence.
And she writes of how widows in her community were cast aside. She learned firsthand, denied their husband's property and inheritance, barred from attending church and having to abide by certain dress codes in that community.
Her father also passed on around that time, leaving her mother a widow as well.
A pair of widows.
And then Rosalind, with her mother's encouragement, founded a non profit called the Rona Foundation.
The mission was to care for orphans and widows, since they knew firsthand what that was like.
With Rona, Rosalind hosts empowerment workshops that bring widows together, offers them safe spaces to heal. They form connections with one another. And I can tell you, in the process of recovery after the Eaton fire, getting to together with others who've been through that experience is so vital. She brings widows together. And not only that, but provides them job skills and grants to support them. Rosalind then joined a group of lobbyists in drafting a UN resolution to recognize widow's rights.
It's one of the first ever United nations resolutions on widowhood to get passed, and it was passed in 2022 by the United Nations General Assembly. A powerful statement of the human rights globally for widows. And who got it passed? A widow in a rural community in western Kenya.
Friends in Jesus Christ, the very power that first created the universe came near to hold us. When everything around us feels lost, it's that power of God we know in Christ that lifts us up into God's embrace. And by that power of God at work in us, we too can help lift up widows, orphans, the immigrant, the sick, the hurting, the lonely. We can tell them in word and deed of the love of Christ our Savior, the very one whose birth we celebrate this season.
Merry Christmas, friends. In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, Amen.
