![]() Within Western theology, it was generally recognised from the time of Saint Ambrose that Mary never committed a sin. Virgin and Child tempera on panel painting by Antonio Veneziano, circa 1380. In short, Mary was said to be a virgin because of an accident of translation when “young woman” became “virgin”. Whereas “almah” means only “young woman”, the Greek word “parthenos” means physically “a virgin intacta”. In the Greek Old Testament, the original Hebrew word “almah” had been translated as “parthenos”, thence into the Latin Bible as “virgo” and into English as “virgin”. Matthew was using the Greek version of the Old Testament. In proof of this, Matthew quoted a prophecy from the Old Testament that a “virgin will conceive and bear a son and he will be called Emmanuel”. She was said to be “with child from the Holy Spirit”. The gospel of Matthew is the only one to tell us Mary was pregnant before she and Joseph had sex. In spite of their differences, Jews, Christians and Muslims worship the same God Here, then, are five things we do know about her. Indeed, Mary is mentioned more often in the Qur'an than in the New Testament. She is present at a wedding where Jesus turns water into wine she makes an attempt to see her son while he is teaching and she is there at his crucifixion. Outside of the accounts of the birth of Jesus that only occur in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, she is specifically mentioned at only three other events in the life of her son. In the New Testament, there is nothing about her birth, death, appearance or age. Its purpose was to show who Jesus is.Mary, the mother of Jesus, is unquestionably the senior saint within the Christian tradition. Like many stories in the New Testament, this is not about the woman Anna but about Jesus.Anna, a holy and wise woman, saw things that were not yet apparent to others: she ‘saw’ the destiny of the small child Jesus when she held him in her arms.Phan’u-el means ‘face of G od’. His name may be a play on words, since Anna was among the first to recognise the face of God when she saw the infant Jesus. She is identified as the daughter of Phan’u-el 38 And coming up at that very hour she gave thanks to God, and spoke of him to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.Īnna/Hannah means ‘grace’ or ‘favor‘. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. What happened when Anna saw Jesus?ģ6 And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phan’u-el, of the tribe of Asher she was of a great age, having lived with her husband seven years from her virginity, 37 and as a widow till she was eighty-four. It is not clear from the text whether Anna heard these words, or not. The Law did not require the child’s presence at the Temple when payment was made, but on this occasion the two ceremonies were held together.Īnna came in just after Simeon proclaimed Jesus to be the long-awaited ‘salvation which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel’. The firstborn of animals was sacrificed, but the firstborn of men and women were redeemed by a payment of 5 shekels when they were one month old (Exodus 13:13, Numbers 18:15, 16). Moreover, a first-born child, male or female, had to be ‘redeemed’.Įach firstborn was regarded as holy or consecrated to God. The Presentation of Jesus in the Temple, by James TissotĪfter the birth of a male child, the mother was ritually unclean for seven days and had to remain at home for a further thirty-three days after which, on the fortieth day, a purification sacrifice had to be offered (see Leviticus 12:2-8). Mary and Joseph are there at the Temple because they have brought their newborn son Jesus for the customary ceremony. to suggest that the waiting, and the certainty of an eventual reward, has kept her alive.to parallel the long years the Jewish people have waited for their Messiah.What is the point of telling us how old she is? Perhaps it is twofold: Not only that, but Anna holds him in her arms. ![]() The reader knows too that the Holy One has actually come. I can’t think of another example.īut here the text dwells on how long she has lived: the long, long years she has waited for the Holy One of God. Talking about the age of a person, man or woman, in the New Testament is rare. Anna is an elderly Jewish woman of at least eighty-four years, possibly more. Judith’s situation (if you put aside her seduction and murder of the enemy general Holofernes!) was similar to Anna’s. Judith and Anna both lived to be about the same age. There is a nice parallel here with another famous widow, the Jewish heroine Judith, who like Anna did not remarry after her husband’s death. Anna’s tribe and family, and that after seven years of marriage she became a widow.We are given a surprising amount of detail about Anna.
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