I’ve been listening to some sermons lately of various speakers I’ve enjoyed through the years. I was listening to a sermon I heard on 12/24/06 from a series called Wise Women of Christmas. I appreciated the sermon because it was the first that didn’t come across as a married man being uncomfortable talking about singleness.

The text for the sermon was Luke 2:36-38.

36 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, 37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. [5] She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. 38 And 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.

It is interesting that even though Anna was a widow her father’s name and her tribe’s name were mentioned but not her husband’s. Also, it is not mentioned if she had children. The minister pointed out how too often in today’s church a woman is measured by her having a husband and children yet even though Anna had a husband God didn’t see a need to have her identified by that in Scripture.