Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Lord
Luke 1:26-38
The Birth of Jesus Foretold
In the sixth month, God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth, a town in Galilee, to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph, a descendant of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. The angel went to her and said, “Greetings, you who are highly favored! The Lord is with you.”Mary was greatly troubled at his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”
“How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be barren is in her sixth month. For nothing is impossible with God.”
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May it be to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.
**May it be to me as you have said…**
The liturgical calendar moves very quickly from Easter now and the resurrection of Jesus, to the Annunciation of Jesus. Mary, is visited by the angel Gabriel, and he tells her that she is to bear a son and give him the name Jesus, that he will be great and called the Son of the Most High.
The overlap of [historical time], is not in [conjunction] with real time, as these reading coming so close together in the Gospel cycles. So we are heading towards Pentecost [in real time] and the giving of the Holy Spirit that falls fifty days after the celebration of Easter in the Christian liturgical calendar.
Imagine the thoughts going through Mary’s head, the fear that could have taken her over and the denial had she not seen the angel from the Lord and believed in his words of faith. In our study of faith, we know that not only Mary had been visited, but also Joseph, her betrothed. Joseph was a harder sell, as we know than Mary. She responds to Gabriel’s message with, “Let it be done to me according to the will of God!”
Joseph on the other hand, tried to flee from this - as his fear was greater than his faith. If we read further in the story, Joseph was visited upon twice and the angel in Matthews Gospel, the visits Joseph because he was a righteous man, he was going to dismiss Mary quietly.
(Mt.1:19-25) The angel tells Joseph “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit…”
At first, Joseph was besides himself. Why should he take this woman as his wife, as they had not had “relations” to produce such a child, and the fact that God himself would come upon her in the form of the Holy Spirit to bless her. Joseph didn’t want any of this - and so it is written that the angel appeared to him twice to convince him to have faith and that it was his calling to take Mary as his wife and to raise Jesus in the customs of the Hebrew faith.
Joseph is a man of faith, a man of respect and a man with silent dignity. That he stepped up and did these things speaks of a greater man than we may take notice of at first, from the simple mentions of the Gospel narratives. In reading other Christian writings, and even those fiction writings about the life of Jesus as a child, Joseph was a quiet man who did not draw attention to himself openly, but when needed he spoke with care and authority. He took Jesus as his son and raised him according to how he was taught.
We can imagine Joseph and Mary to a degree, having to question what they have just been told, to acquiesce to the will of God and they live through the process of Purgation, Illumination and finally, one in union with God Almighty. This process of facing the darkness to be healed wholly, the the reception of God’s light which then calls them to a deeper union with God.
There are many people and personalities in Biblical Scripture that we can source to observe just how tried and true they are in their faiths. Joseph and Mary faced such trials in that time, Mary receiving life within her, Joseph taking her as his wife, traveling to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem for the census, taking care of the family, and after the birth of Jesus, Herod went on his killing spree because of his fear of this new “king of David” his decree of each first born son was to be killed, Joseph had to flee with his wife, son and family into Egypt where they lived and where purported Jesus grew up.
(Mt. 2:13-23) “Now after they had left [Bethlehem] an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph [a third time] in a dream and said Get up, take the child and his mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him…”
From this point of the Annunciation through the Incarnation of God, through Jesus Christ, and his life, death and resurrection, we take part in the three Christian Doctrines (a) the Trinity God in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit (b) the Incarnation, and (c) the Paschal Mystery, that Christians all over the world have since celebrated this past Holy Week.
Life was not easy on our little band of family. They faced so many things, the incarnation of God in Jesus, set in motion a series of events that shape, mold and impress upon us, the faith that we all share. That we should have the resolve to face our own lives and issues with the same faith and strength that the Holy Family did.
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