Fourth Sunday Of Advent
LUKE 1:26-38 (2 Samuel 7:1-5, 8b-12, 14a, 16; Ps. 89:2-5, 27, 29; Romans 16:25-27)
Today’s gospel is Luke’s story of the annunciation to Mary. A previous annunciation had taken place – to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptizer. Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth were elderly and childless. After the angel Gabriel brought Zechariah the news that he and his wife would become parents to a boy, he returned home from his duties in the temple at Jerusalem. Luke writes, “After these days his wife Elizabeth conceived.” Six months passed since that first annunciation. Luke continues, “In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary.” This story is a highly catechetical instruction using Old Testament themes. Gabriel is the chief messenger from God to a young Hebrew exile in the Book of Daniel. Gabriel appears twice in the Book of Daniel and twice in Luke’s gospel.
The angel notes that Mary was betrothed to a man named Joseph, a descendant of King David. David died about 960 B.C. The connection with David is of the greatest importance, since the Jews were looking for a new King David to rescue them from their enemies and establish their own kingdom, a kingdom described in Daniel 7:14, 18. For the new King David, see Isaiah 7:14; 9:6-7; 11:1-9; Jeremiah 30:9; Ezekiel 34:23-24; 37:24-25. Mary’s virginity echoes an Old Testament theme of the freshness required of anything dedicated to the intimate service of the Lord. See 1 Samuel 6:7; 2 Samuel 6:3; 1 Chronicles 13:7; Leviticus 21:14. A further basis for a proclamation of Mary’s virginity is the Christian interpretation of the standard Greek version of Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, a virgin shall conceive in the womb, and give birth to a son, and you shall call his name Emmanuel.”
Gabriel’s greeting to Mary: “Hail, full of grace. The Lord is with Thee.” Although Luke’s Greek is usually translated as “full of grace,” it would be more accurately translated as “highly favored one.” It is better to retain the translation “full of grace” because of its venerable use and its ancestry in St. Jerome’s fourth and fifth century translation from Greek into the Latin, “Ave, gratia plena!” “The Lord is with you,” in various forms was a greeting indicating a special mission for the one so addressed by a heavenly being. See Genesis 28:15 (Jacob); Exodus 3:12 (Moses); Joshua 1:5, (Joshua); Judges 6:12 (Gideon). Thus Mary is included in the ranks of earlier Israelite heroes. Mary is startled and confused. This is a standard biblical form in narrat-ing a vision. See Daniel 8:17; 10:11 – Daniel’s reaction to the Angel Gabriel; Job 4:14-15; Ezekiel 1:28; Revelation 1:17.
Reassurance from the heavenly messenger is also standard, “Do not be afraid!” See Genesis 15:1; Daniel 10:12; Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:12, etc. The message begins, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” Note how Luke’s (Gabriel’s) language is influenced by Isaiah 7:14 quoted above. Unlike Matthew, who gives a reason for the child’s name being Jesus, Luke does not explain. The child is described, “He will be great, …Son of the Most High, and will be seated on the throne of his ancestor King David.”
Luke already noted that Joseph was “of the house (descent) of David,” but emphasizes again the Davidic kingship of Jesus. So is Jesus’ Davidic descent, his royalty, from Joseph? Yes, in both Luke and Matthew, but Matthew recognizes a problem. Therefore in Matthew the angel com-missions Joseph to name the child. The principle, probably a legal principle, was that the one who names the child claims the child as his own. Thus Joseph is not only the foster father of Jesus but his adoptive father through whom Jesus inherits his human royal character.
“Of his kingdom there will be no end.” Here Luke echoes the description of a hoped for kingdom of the Jews in Daniel 7:14, 18, and especially a promise made to David in 2 Samuel 7:13, 16 about his son and successor Solomon and his descendants, “Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.” Mary questions, not-ing that she has no husband. Gabriel responds that the creative power of the Holy Spirit will bring about in Mary’s womb what has just been promised. Thus the child born of her “will be called holy, the Son of God.” Was the Lucan Mary treading on thin ice here, pushing the enve-lope? Earlier in this chapter the annunciation to Zechariah took place. He asked for proof that the birth of a son promised to him and Elizabeth in old age would come to pass. Gabriel’s response: Zechariah became deaf and mute until their son was born and named.
Mary did not ask for a sign. She just pointed out that for a woman to bear a son a husband was standard equipment. She spoke gently and Gabriel responds gently, without penalty. The angel even grants the sign or proof for which Mary did not ask. Mary’s relative Elizabeth, “in her old age has also conceived a son, and is now in her sixth month of pregnancy.” Luke includes in the angel’s reassurance words similar to those spoken to another elderly childless couple in Genesis 18:14, “With God nothing is impossible.” Mary’s response made her the first disciple of Jesus and the mother of our faith in God’s promises, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Be it done to me according to your word.”
