Honouring those who are ‘full of sap and green’

We often comment on how much some people manage to pack into a relatively short life. We think of people like Henry Martyn, the missionary to India and Persia who died at the age of 31, or the Scottish minister, Robert Murray McCheyne, who died of tuberculosis when just 29 but whose life and ministry continues to be a challenge to us all.

But without taking anything away from these men, what I find even more remarkable is not what some have achieved in running what we might call a sprint, but what others continue to accomplish in what is more of a marathon. The Psalmist speaks of the righteous who “still bear fruit in old age; they are full of sap and green” (Ps.92v14).

Think of Moses and Aaron who, aged 80 and 83 respectively, began their life’s calling in bringing the Israelites out of Egypt. Think of Joshua and Caleb in their 80s, taking on new challenges. Daniel was over 80 when he was thrown in the lions’ den and received the visions that make up the second part of his prophecy. Zechariah and Elizabeth were both, according to Luke 1v7, “advanced in years” when their son John the Baptist was born. Simeon and Anna, in Luke 2, were both elderly and Anna appears to have been at least 84. Paul describes himself to his friend Philemon as “an old man”.