Ss. Joachim and Anna of Enduring Faith and Love: the Grandparents of Jesus, the Parents of the Theotokos, the Most Blessed and Most Favored

According to the “Protoevangelium of James” and the “Evangelium de Nativitate Mariae”, though Joachim of the Davidic roots and Anna of the Levitical roots had tried to have a child for a long time, Anna had never conceived for many years. Because of their childlessness, Joachim was put shame by Issachar the high priest, when he and Anna tried brought their sacrificial offering in the Temple. Issachar said to Joachim that his gift was not worthy for acceptance because he was childless. Though this grieved this righteous couple so deeply, they never flag in their faith. Though it seemed hopeless for them to have a child, given their advanced age, Joachim and Anna hoped for God’s grace that they would be like Abraham and Sarah, who received a son, Isaac, at their old age.  So, while Anna prayed unceasingly at home, Joachim went to and remained in the mountain area, vowing not to return home until his wife, Anna, would conceive.

Joachim and Anna never let this hardship into a crisis of their faith. And God responded to their steadfast faith by sending Gabriel, one of the Archangels, to this couple, announcing that Anna would conceive a daughter most blessed. And this most blessed daughter is Mary, whom Gabriel directly called “most favored one”(Luke 1:28), referring to the fact that she is full of grace, giving no space for a trace of the Original Sin. Namely, she is the Immaculate Conception. And it is because God had chosen her to serve as the Theotokos.

With this announcement of conception of Anna, Joachim headed back home, greeted by Anna, who waited for his return at the city gate, as depicted by Giotto di Bondone’s 14^th century painting.

Imagine if Joachim and Anna lost their faith and hope to despair because of the insult by Issachar the high priest… Would they have conceived Mary? Then, would the world have received Christ?

The time when Joachim and Anna were during the intertestamental period, during which there was no prophet at all after Malachi until John the Baptist.  It was rather a dark period of the Israelites’ history as they were ruled by the Romans though they had a short period of national sovereignty upon the Maccabean revolt (167-141 BCE) against the Seleucid Empire, which had ruled and oppressed the Israelites. No prophet, no Messiah to guide and shepherd them. But pagan Caesar to ruled them.

It was during this dark period of the Israelites’ history that Joachim and Anna served as a vehicle to bring the Theotokos to this world so that Christ would be brought to the world of darkness as a great light (Isaiah 9:1-7), fulfilling the prophesized sign of the virgin conceiving the Son (Isaiah 7:14).

The First Reading (Jeremiah 14:17-22) parallels the situation of the intertestamental period of Joachim and Anna. When Jeremiah prophesized God’s judgement, it was the Babylonian Empire that brought hardship to the Israelites for their sinfulness.  But during the time of Joachim and Anna, it was the Roman Empire. Amidst of his dark time as the Babylonian Empire was coming to destroy Jerusalem, Jeremiah said, “Is it not you, Lord, our God, to whom we look?”(Jeremiah 14:22), showing his faith in God and hope for His care, as Joachim and Anna kept their faith and hope during their hardship with shame.

Jeremiah also said, “Let my eyes stream with tears night and day, without rest, over the great destruction which overwhelms the virgin daughter of my people, over her incurable wound”(Jeremiah 14:17). The “virgin daughter” is referred to Jerusalem, which was doomed to be destroyed by the Babylonian Empire but to be restored during the post-Exilic period. In light of Joachim and Anna, the “virgin daughter” who was to suffer with “incurable wound” is their daughter. Specifically, the virgin daughter’s incurable wound is a symbolic prophecy of Mary’s seven sorrows, which was also foresaw by Simeon when Mary and Joseph presented their Son, Jesus, in the Temple (Luke 2:25-35). And Mary’s sorrows, “incurable wound” are due to her Son, the grandson of Joachim and Anna.

Though the virgin daughter of Joachim and Anna has suffered greatly with the “incurable wound” because of her Son, it was to overcome the darkness of this world with the Kingdom of God, which is brought by her Son, as reflected in the Gospel Reading (Matthew 13:36-43). In this reading, the grandson of Joachim and Anna, the Son of Mary, Jesus, is described as the sower of seeds for the Kingdom, and the seeds are us, the faithful, who are joyfully willing to do the greater work of Jesus (i.e. John 14:11-12).

With their enduring faith and love, Ss. Joachim and Anna teach us how we persevere and overcome a dark period of hardship with steadfast love and faith, keeping hope in God’s care and grace, against despair. Such is what made them harbingers to bring the sower of the seeds for the Kingdom during the darkness of the intertestamental period of more than 400 years, through their daughter, who is the virgin who has suffered with the incurable wound.