Lk. 2:34 may allude with its ‘falling and rising’ and ‘sign that will be opposed’ language. Moessner rightly calls this passage a qualifier of the ‘nationalistic hopes’ possibly engendered by Zechariah and Mary, as it shows that division is part of God’s plan.53 In v. 38 the prophetess Anna speaks about Jesus ‘to all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem’. This NE hope, as expressed in Isa. 52:9,54 recalls both the ‘consolation of Israel’ in Lk. 2:25 (with its Isaianic overtones; cf.