Friday 21 December 2012

Background

Another day, another angelic visitation. Luke's Gospel takes usaway from the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth (verses 5-25) to atown in Galilee and a young woman who is engaged to be married. Thecircumstances of the visitation are different from that toZechariah, but many of the details are similar. The same angel(Gabriel) is the messenger. Gabriel greets by name his addresseeand tells them not to be afraid. The news is that a child is to beconceived. The child, who is destined for greatness, is given aname. There appear to be good reasons why this pregnancy might nothappen (at least not immediately in Mary's case) and Gabriel isquestioned. Gabriel responds with an assurance of hisauthority.

Unlike Zechariah, Mary is not left speechless and is able toarticulate her assent to this surprising news. There are othersignificant differences between the two stories. It is clear thatJohn is the lesser figure. Jesus is to be called "Son of the MostHigh" (v. 32), is to ascend to the throne of David, and is to enjoyan unending reign (v. 33). These ideas are reminiscent of psalms72 and 132 which exalt the Davidic ruler.  Luke'sGospel does not need to spell out that this means that Jesus is theMessiah. We have already been told that the man to whom Mary isengaged is a descendant of David (verse 27).

It is not Davidic descent but Jesus' extraordinary conceptionthat will fit him for this role. Mary will be overshadowed by theHoly Spirit. Throughout this passage, the emphasis is on the divineaction. Mary is greeted as "favoured one"; the root of the Greekword is 'charis' which is often translated as 'grace' (hence, 'HailMary, full of grace'). Mary is told that she has found favour('charis') with God. So any questions that Mary might have aresubsumed into the declaration that all this is divine initiative.'Nothing will be impossible with God' (verse 37).

To Ponder

• Presumably, Mary and Joseph would have expected to be parentsin due course. How do you respond if God's timescale for your lifeturns out to be different from yours?

• Both the Gospels of Matthew and Luke are clear that Jesus'birth was miraculous. How important is the idea of the virginalconception to your faith?