In Elizabeth’s sixth month the angel Gabriel is sent
from God to Nazareth in Galilee, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was
Joseph, of the house of David. Both Mary
and Joseph are of the house of David.
Mary is betrothed, or formally pledged, to Joseph, but they have not yet
come together and Mary is still living in the home of her parents. Tradition and the common practice of those
times tell us that Mary would have been around fourteen years old.
Here we come to the heart of a Christian doctrine
that many find challenging, but the issue is not that of a Virgin Birth, but
rather of a Virginal Conception. Any
virgin nine months pregnant is going to give birth, that is not the miracle;
the conception is. The actual miracle is
microscopic; the size of one sperm, the divine seed that forever unites God
with human flesh. This event is the hinge of history, even though secularists
today flee away from BC and AD.
While the angel who appears to Joseph remains
unidentified, the angel who appears to Zechariah (Lk. 1:11-12) is same Gabriel
who appeared to Daniel (Daniel 8:16; 9: 21), and the same one who appears to
Mary. This appearance to Zechariah was
actually the first of the angelic appearances that ended the long drought of
the famine of the hearing of the words of the Lord prophecied by Amos. (Amos
8:11-12).
Gabriel’s first word to Mary is often translated,
“Greetings,” or “Hail” but it also means “Rejoice.” “Rejoice, Hail, O favored one, the Lord is
with you.” The phrase “O favored one” is
translated by the Latin Vulgate as “gratia plena” or “full of grace.” The unmerited favor, the grace of the Holy
Spirit rests on her in unusual measure.
We are told that Mary is troubled, or agitated by
the greeting. She tries to puzzle out
what the greeting means. Being genuinely
“gratia plena,” full of grace she was probably quite unaware that she was at
all unusual. Self-awareness often spoils
potential saintliness. The angel says,
“Do not be afraid” you have found grace (charis) with God. She need not fear the grace she has received,
it is an unmerited gift from God, it is divine favor, the steadfast covenant
love of God that rests upon her.
The angel Gabriel is clear and direct in his
declaration, “Behold, look, you shall conceive in the womb, and bear, give
birth, to a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, Yeshua, God Saves.” Mary understands this to mean now, not at
some distant time. Today you have to go
to your obstetrician in order to determine the gender of a child, but not Mary
and not in this situation. The child is
to be the prophesied Messiah, and as response to ancient prophesy is to be a
male child, a son. Further the child is
to be named Jesus, Yeshua; a short form of Yehoshua, meaning Yahweh is
Salvation.
The implications of the Name are not made clear at
this point and we await the strong hint of pain that comes in the prophecy of
Simeon “a sword shall pierce through your own soul also” (Luke 2:35). But now only the troubling statement of
Gabriel is on Mary’s mind. Mary is
without doubt well aware of her lineage, and the lineage of Joseph. They are of the house of Judah, descendants
of David. But they are poor relatives,
not wealthy prominent heirs. To the
least of David’s line the promise is given.
The angel’s message in some sense seems unlikely, or
at the very least, a bit of a stretch.
“He shall be called the Son of the Most High” (v. 32). The expression “the Most High” is drawn from
an Old Testament Name for God, “El Elyon” which means “God Most High” (Genesis
14:18; Psalm 57:2 and other places). To
this Jesus, son of God Most High, the Lord God (Yahweh Elohim in Genesis 2:4)
will give the throne of his father David.
At Gabriel’s declaration of the coming Incarnation, the highest Names of
God are evoked, and that for a reason.
We are to understand that it is no less than YHWH [Yahweh] who is
initiating this act of divine humility.
There is in verse 33 an interesting twist, this
child to be born will rule over the house of Jacob forever. Often the phrase “house of Jacob” refers not
only to Israel in general, but to the Northern Kingdom. Both the house of David, the tribe of Judah,
and the displaced house of Jacob that once held sway from Samaria will be ruled
by him. Of his kingdom there will be no
end, even though earthly kingdoms come and go.
Mary asks a simple question, not as a matter of
doubt; and she may well have known the Messianic prophecy, “the virgin shall
conceive and bear a son” (Isaiah 7:14).
The question is rather an enquiry into how this is going to take
place. She also makes it clear that she
herself is a virgin. Certainly the angel
treats the question in this light. He
says “The Holy Spirit, the Ruach Ha Kodesh: will come upon you and the power of
the most high will overshadow you.” The
phraseology harkens back to the anointing of David by the Holy Spirit, “Samuel
took the horn of oil and anointed him in the midst of his brothers And the
Spirit of YHWH (LORD) rushed, came mightily upon him from that day forward” (1
Samuel 16:13).
Mary is to experience a distinct and powerful anointing,
a veritable baptism of the Holy Spirit who will overshadow her like the
Shekinah Kabod, the Cloud of Glory that both accompanies and cloaks the
manifestation of the Living God. Because
of that anointing, the child “will be called holy—the Son of God (v.35). The angel Gabriel further encourages Mary
with the news that her previously barren cousin Elizabeth is in her sixth
month, because “No rhema (not ‘nothing’ but no personal word from God, will be
impossible with God.” As God has spoken
his word to Zechariah, and to Mary, He will fulfill it, for no prophetic word
is impossible with Him. Mary’s answer is one of humble submission and
acceptance, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let it be to me according to your rhema,
according to your prophetic word” (v. 38).
