I mentioned in a previous posting how Luke interleaved the stories of John the Baptizer and Jesus, because they were interdependent. This soon becomes obvious, if you try to tell one story without reference to the other—which was my original intention! When you do, you suddenly realize that it can't be done! There is too much reference in each of the two stories to what is contained in the other. And so I will have to summarize briefly at each "seam" what has been told in the other story, the story of the conception and birth of Jesus.
We often say that Christmas was made for children. There are many ways in which we mean this. On the most obvious level, children are thrilled and fascinated with the gift-giving and gift-receiving side of the day, especially when what is given to them is something that they badly wished for.
But it is also a time for wonderful stories about mysterious and marvelous people and happenings. On the secular side there is the fairy tale about Santa Claus, which many parents like to perpetuate so that their children can tell them what they want Santa to bring them, and then secretly "play" Santa to the great joy of their children.
It is also a season in which many Christmas movies (sadly, now called just "holiday movies") are shown on TV. These usually tell of unhappy people discovering happiness at Christmas time through rediscovering what it means to love and to be generous to others. The archetype of these stories is Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. But today there are scores of such stories on TV at Christmas.
I enjoy such stories, and like to settle down to watch one of the Christmas TV shows which tells one. But for me this is not really what Christmas is about. For Christians the really exciting story isn't about Santa Claus, or about finding true love during the holiday season, or about an unhappy person finding happiness through a new resolution to change. Instead, it's about the birth of Jesus, who came to save us all from our sins and give us eternal life with God.
Some people would say that the Bible's story of the birth of Jesus is just as fictitious as the holiday TV stories. They think that it tells something that isn't real. It may be good enough for naive children, who are also able to believe in Santa, but offers nothing to grownups. This is a sad commentary on the way many adults view life and reality today. Each year Christmas offers us all an opportunity to change the way we think about reality. What is real isn't a job promotion, a new car, a paid-off mortgage, or an election won. What is real is God loving us and making a huge sacrifice in order to win us back to himself. This is the reality that Christmas points to: "for God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, so that whoever believes in him might have eternal life" (John 3:16). The birth of Jesus was the first step in history of God's greatest gift to us. He who was born in Bethlehem is the same person who died on a Roman cross outside of Jerusalem, and then rose again a few days later, overcoming sin and death, and able to give life and immortality to all who trust him.
Let us now consider in Luke's narrative how God announced to Mary what he intended to do in order to bring the blessings of salvation to all humanity.
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” 34 Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” 35 The angel said to her, “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 holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her. (Luke 1:26–38 NRSV)The story of the announcement to Mary of the birth of Jesus (Luke 1:26-38) has to backtrack a bit in what has just preceded, since she learns of the miraculous conception of Jesus within her virgin womb six months into Elizabeth's pregnancy with John ("sixth month" verses 26 and 36). At the time, Mary was living in the town of Nazareth far to the north of Jerusalem and even farther north from Bethlehem. She was engaged to be married to a man named Joseph, a carpenter in Nazareth. He was descended from King David, and some think that Mary too was a descendant of David.
The promised messiah was supposed to be a descendant of King David. But since the prophet Isaiah had predicted that the messiah would be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7:14), there could be no biological descent on the father's side with David. And so it was, that before Mary and Joseph had begun to live together and consummate the marriage, before Mary had ever had sexual relations with any man, God did a miracle and himself fertilized the egg in her womb, that would develop into the baby Jesus.
When the angel Gabriel told her how this would happen, Mary asked what any woman in her situation would have asked: "How can this happen without my having sexual intercourse with a man?" It was not a rebellious question, or indicating a refusal to believe. It was an innocent one. And so the angel answered, giving her the information that the Holy Spirit of God would miraculously cause her to conceive a child without a human father. To reinforce her faith, Gabriel also informed her that her aunt Elisabeth, who had been barren all the way into advanced age, had now too miraculously conceived. What had happened to her and would happen to Mary both showed what every Israelite ought to have known: the God can do anything. So with a childlike and obedient heart Mary believed the words of promise, and in the process became the model of every believer's faith: "May it happen to me just as you have said" (v. 38).
At this point in the gospel narrative Mary has not been told what the one born to her would accomplish: nothing yet about saving his people from their sins—that would be told to her fiancé Joseph according to Matthew 1:18-25. The message to Mary was that he would be holy, the Son of God (v. 35). Of course, later on she would be told many other things. But for now she merely believed on the basis of what God chose to tell her, an excellent example for us all.
39 In those days Mary set out and went with haste to a Judean town in the hill country, 40 where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. 41 When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the child leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit 42 and exclaimed with a loud cry, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb. 43 And why has this happened to me, that the mother of my Lord comes to me? 44 For as soon as I heard the sound of your greeting, the child in my womb leaped for joy. 45 And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her by the Lord.” (Luke 1:39–45 NRSV)Since the angel had told her (v. 36) that six months earlier God had caused her childless relative Elizabeth to become pregnant, shortly afterwards ("in those days" v. 39) Mary made a journey south toward Jerusalem to the village where her relative Elizabeth lived. Had Mary shared the angel's news to her with anyone else in her family? Her mother, her father, her siblings? If so, Luke is silent about it. Did she think her own parents or siblings would not believe her? Apparently, she had not told Joseph yet, since God did that directly through a dream (Matthew 1). Perhaps she thought that Elizabeth, who was herself the recipient of a pregnancy believed to be impossible by others, would be in a better position to believe Mary's own miraculous story.
What reason did she give to her parents or relatives for this trip? Probably that she had heard a rumor that Elizabeth, their relative, was pregnant and elderly, and that she might need some help with domestic chores in her final three months of pregnancy. It could be explained as a mercy mission.
Was it dangerous for a woman to travel that far alone on the roads of Palestine? There is no mention of anyone accompanying her. But perhaps she traveled with a group of others from Nazareth, going to Jerusalem on business. There would be safety in numbers, especially numbers of acquaintances (or even relatives) from a home town. Mary herself was just in her first month of pregnancy, so it would not have shown yet in her body. And when she shared the good news with Elizabeth, there is no indication that it was anything but a private exchange (v. 40-55). It is true that Elizabeth's response to the news was uttered in "a loud voice." But even so, Mary's travel companions—if she had any—need not have been within earshot. It is at this point that Luke records the first of several "canticles" (1:46-55; 1:67-79; 2:14; 2:29-32): poems—some quite short—that the text says were spoken ("said" v. 46), but which were early set to music and have become part of the Church's liturgy at Advent and Christmas.
The first of these, Mary's, is called after the first word of its Latin translation the Magnificat, which means "(my soul) proclaims the greatness (of the Lord)." A beautiful musical setting of a paraphrase of this poem can be found here. I recommend that you listen to it after you have read the text below.
46 And Mary said, “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord, 47 and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, 48 for he has looked with favor on the lowliness of his servant. Surely, from now on all generations will call me blessed; 49 for the Mighty One, whose very name is holy, has done great things for me. 50 His mercy is extended to all who fear him from generation to generation. 51 He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. 52 He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; 53 he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty. 54 He has come to the aid of his servant Israel, being mindful of his mercy, 55 according to the promise he made to our forefathers, to Abraham and to his descendants forever.” (Luke 1:46–55)This poem—which draws on themes from the song of Hannah in 1 Samuel 2:1–10—is a beautiful expression of Mary's thanksgiving to God for permitting her to carry and give birth to the Son of God. She rightly addresses God as "my Savior" (v. 47), not just the nation's Savior, since she too will be saved from her own sins by this Son of God. In vv. 48-49 she first focuses on the mercy and undeserved favor that God has shown to her personally, and in vv. 50-55 she praises God for what he has done and will do for her people Israel. According to v. 56 Mary remained with Elizabeth for the last three months of her pregnancy, and returned to Nazareth after John was born. In this way, Luke assures us that Mary was present—although unmentioned and in the background—during the events he will now describe in vv. 57-66, the birth of John the Baptizer. But these we will reserve for our next posting.
Mary's Magnificat is also a model for us in our prayer life. All our prayers should include praising God for his character—not just his power, majesty, and glory, but his mercy and justice. Mary praised him that he feeds the hungry and turns the rich away empty (v. 53). This doesn't mean God has no love for all his creatures, including rich ones. It means that he does not prefer the rich over the poor, but fills needs where they exist, not where they do not. As Jesus later on said, "It isn't the healthy who need a physician, but the sick" (Mark 2:17). When we pray, we should confess our needs to God, remembering that, however much we may feel physical or economic needs, the deepest needs that we have are for God's forgiveness of our sins and God's help in showing his love to others. And finally, like Mary, we need to keep God's promises in our minds and hearts ("according to the promise he made," v. 55), believing them and trusting that God will always fulfill them for us. Those promises are in the Holy Scriptures. If we do not read the Bible, we will not know those promises and will not be able to rely upon them.
