After Words: Anna the Prophet & Mary the Apostle

Sometimes I like to write what I call “after words,” which are words that I was contemplating as I prepared for a sermon, but which ultimately didn’t become a part of the sermon itself. In this post, I want to explore a connection between Mary Magdalene and Anna, made by Jennifer Powell McNutt, which I find beautiful and compelling. The sermon explored Mary both as a type of Eve and a type of Mary. McNutt writes,

“At the garden tomb, Mary Magdalene becomes a type of new Eve paired with the Virgin Mary in bringing a message of new life.”1

Mary is the first woman in the garden of new creation. Unlike Adam and Eve, however, she did not run and hide, not even when her world was turned upside down. Rather, she stayed in the Garden tomb and was faithful to the Gardener from Genesis 1, who now makes a reappearance in John 20.

Mary’s faithfulness can also be contrasted with Judas’s betrayal. Judas led his “detachment of soldiers,” along with the powers that be, to a Garden he knew Jesus frequented with his disciples, and there betrayed him.2 In a sense, just as Mary the Mother of Jesus and Pontius Pilate are both named in the Creeds we recite as two ways of being human, here Mary Magdalene and Judas represent the way of faithfulness and unfaithfulness; love and betrayal. There are all kinds of Scriptural connections to make when we read about Mary Magdalene. The one I didn’t name, but was moved by as I studied, is the comparison with Anna.

Each night during compline, I pray Simeon’s prayer, the Nunc Dimittis (Song of Simeon).

Lord, you now have set your servant free
to go in peace as you have promised;
For these eyes of mine have seen the Savior,
whom you have prepared for all the world to see:
A light to enlighten the nations,
And the glory of your people Israel.

This prayer, recorded in Luke 2, is very precious to me. I recently acquired a beautiful icon portraying the scene from my friend, Fr. Danial Lucas. I love Simeon’s song. It’s always close to my heart. But let us not forget Anna!

Anna’s words are, unfortunately, not captured by Luke. However, there are hints that she is a very powerful woman. Jewish New Testament Scholar Amy-Jill Levine notes that, though at first glance, calling this eighty-four-year-old woman a “daughter” appears “infantilizing,” there are other details which demonstrate her authority.3

Her tribal recognition means that she represents the Northern tribes taken into exile, and taken from history, in 722 BCE. She represents the tenacity of holding on to her identity. Her husband goes unnamed, and thus she, like Mary, emerges as the more important member of her spousal relationship. She is not simply identified by her father’s name, but, unlike everyone else in the text save for Jesus via Joseph’s genealogy, she receives an explicit connection to one of the tribes.4

Anna, the tenacious prophet, held on to her identity, and thus to hope in God. She is the one who holds on to hope at the beginning of Luke. Mary Magdalene, in similar fashion, holds on to Jesus not just after she recognizes him, but before, too. The pattern of Anna’s life is repeated in Mary’s. As McNutt puts it,

Like Anna waiting at the temple faithfully, Mary Magdalene returns and lingers at the tomb. Like Anna recognizing Jesus as a baby, Mary Magdalene recognizes Jesus when he calls her name. Like Anna prophesying that Jesus the Redeemer has come, Mary Magdalene is called to proclaim that Christ is risen. Like bookends in Luke’s Gospel, Anna and Mary Magdalene point us to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Messiah, our Redeemer. In the words of Mary Magdalene, “I have seen the Lord!” (John 20:18).5

I find this parallel fascinating and wonderful! And as we enter this Easter season, I pray that we may follow the example of Mary, who herself followed the example of powerful, faithful women before her. Mary, “the Apostle to the Apostles,” teaches us so much about waiting with hope for the manifestation of the resurrection to be revealed in our own lives and communities. May God make us faithful, like Anna the prophet, and Mary the Apostle.