TEXT: The holy Gospel According to Luke 1:26-38

26 In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town of Galilee called Nazareth,
27 to a virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin's name was Mary.

Twice we have the word, "virgin" in this text.  There is an emphasis here found no where else in the scriptures.  This is the story of Mary, the Mother of God, the Mother of our Lord, and the Mother of the Church.

The story comes forth supernaturally from the readings of the Old Testament for today.  For here is the Second Eve.

The First Eve failed God and partook of a fruit, bringing death with Adam’s transgression to all.  The Second Eve brought forth the Fruit of her womb, Jesus, brought Life to all who would call upon his Name.

Here we have the picture of Mary’s holiness before God, of her intention to remain virginal, and of her complete obedience to the will of God.

She was betrothed to a man named Joseph, and the virgin’s name was Mary.

Now, Gabriel the angel speaks.  I would like to explore these words in their simplicity today, because they are often glossed over by many in Christendom who do not have the same devotion to Mary.

28 And coming to her, he said, "Hail, favored one! The Lord is with you."
29 But she was greatly troubled at what was said and pondered what sort of greeting this might be.

Here is a supreme example of humility.  Our Mother was highly favored by God, because of her humility before God.  Therefore, the Lord was with her.  She lived in the perfect Love of God, dear people of God.  Hers was a holiness that cast out all fear, because she was not afraid at all of the angelic Gabriel.  She lived and walked in the Presence of God, therefore, her Love was a mirror of the Love God has for you and me.  "The Lord is with you."

Still, so powerfully, she was greatly troubled at what was said.

Humility is like that -- for she wondered at what sort of greeting this should be?

She was obviously not ever aware of her own humility, such was her Love for God.  This was her complete Focus -- God, her LORD (Yahweh).

How ought we to be focused upon God, beloved?  Should we not be like the Immaculate One?

Yet, she was troubled at the greeting and, perhaps, "feared" that it might give her too much credit, as these words impacted upon her understanding.

So,

30 Then the angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.

You have found favor with God.

Do we not all desire these words? -- Yes, the words, "Favor with God?"  How fittingly were they spoken to Mary, the Mother of Jesus.  She had favor with God.  She had found this favor with God.  She had cooperated with God so fully in her holiness of life, she had found favor with God through the special graces imparted to her.

She was pure -- the Immaculate.  She was the perfectly clean vessel through whom God had chosen to bring his Son into the world, (Isaiah 7:14).

The promise was hers --

31 Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High,  and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father,
33 and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

What a blessed statement.

What a sound of glory to her ears!

This was the promise that many women in Israel had hoped for, to be the Mother of the Messiah, the Christ.

It was her womb that she would conceive and bear a son -- Jesus, meaning -- Yahweh is Salvation.
He would be great and be called the Son of the Most High.  He would be given the throne of David his father, and rule over the house of Jacob forever -- and there would be no end to his kingdom!

This was a promise that surpasses our understanding.

It is the grand plan of God!  Known only by God from before the beginning are all of the ways of God!

Yet, Mary does not doubt what has been said by the angel at all.  Mary just asks a question to clarify a certain point that she had vowed before God.

34 But Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I have no relations with a man?"

Here was a vow of chastity.  It was not to be that she would have relations with a man.  This question would have no meaning for us unless it meant that she had taken a vow of perpetual chastity.  If she was to know no man, how could she have a son?

But, her Motherhood would be much greater than what could be imagined in the heart of men.  Hers was to be a multi faceted Motherhood that God had ordained in seeing this holy woman of God!  Here was a perfectly clean vessel of holiness for that Holy One to come into the world through the womb of Mary.

Eve had been the mother of all living.

Yet, Mary, the Immaculate One, would be the Mother of God, the Mother of Jesus, the Mother of Immanuel, and the Mother of the Church, those alive in Christ, the Resurrection and the Life!

Gabriel continues --
 
35 And the angel said to her in reply, "The holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. Therefore the child to be born will be called holy, the Son of God.

This was miraculous.  We are not able to explain this.  It is the one and only Virgin Birth.  This is uniquely the work of God in the holy Ark of the Covenant.

I do not know if we can adequately contemplate these things without great effort.

The reality of bearing the God-Man in the pure womb of this Woman is completely something we stand in awe of, beloved, because how can words even express this intimacy between Mother and Child within?  Here was the Son of God within her.  Can we possible exhaust the intricacies between and graces bestowed by God with Mary?
What word are there to express this Immaculate Conception?  To call this Conception anything less than Immaculate is to call it common, and therefore, unholy, it seems.

Still, there is care in the total plan of God.

36 And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived  a son in her old age, and this is the sixth month for her who was called barren;
37 for nothing will be impossible for God."

Nothing is impossible with God.

When Eve and Adam failed God and partook of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, Mankind was swallowed up in an impossible situation from which to rise out of into relationship with God.

But,

God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever has faith in him might not perish but have everlasting life.  (John 3:16)

How precious is the promise we have in Mary?

Yet, more precious is the reality that we have in Jesus through Mary.

God chose the Woman in Genesis 3:15.

In the fulness of time it was Mary.  Mary cooperated with God’s perfect plan.

38 Mary said, "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

May you and I, beloved, have this mind within us, the mind of our Mother as the chaste virgin that God would have us to be unto him.  (II Cor. 11:2)

"Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word."

Oh, please, Listen to this again -- "Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word." And, then, let us remember well the eschatological (end time) vision of John that we see of our Lady in the heavens.  Let us become the remnant of her offspring and be true brothers and sisters to Jesus her Son, the Fruit of her womb.



Deus et Sanctissima.