The Messiah Anna Longed For

Psalm 40:6-7 Sacrifice and offering You did not desire;
My ears You have opened.
Burnt offering and sin offering You did not require.
Then I said, “Behold, I come;
In the scroll of the book it is written of me.

Much of this Psalm is Messianic. It is, because though David wrote the words, he could not fulfill the promises or the emphatic statements within its verses. He was just too human.

But Jesus, the promised Messiah, could.

Still, I have to wonder how all the officials of the temple responded to these words. Day after day they administered the sacrifices. They conducted the precise sacrifices that the Law demanded. God had told them to do this. God had given them the heritage and the lineage fulfill the duties of the temple.

And yet, He said, repeatedly in the Old Testament that He didn’t delight in sacrifice.

How did the descendants of Aaron deal with those words? If they took them seriously, it would diminish their purpose. Perhaps that played a part in the reaction of the religious leadership when the Magi came to town. They knew all the answers about the Messiah, but not a one followed the foreigners to learn more.

Anna lived in the temple for decades. Did she stop hearing the bleating of sheep? Did the blood on the robes of the priests cease to make an impact?

I think she never grew comfortable with these things. Prayer and fasting was her sacrifice. It was also her way to focus her worship to the Messiah who would come.