Hi everyone. Welcome back to logical Bible study. Today we're looking at a really famous reading. This is one that most Catholics know and love and it's read many times in the liturgical year and it's quite a beautiful reading in many ways, it teaches us about the richness of various things.
There's some information We learn from this about the Trinity, a whole lot of stuff about Mary about angels, and the way it weaves in the Old Testament, that it's really quite beautiful and there's a whole lot of different directions. You can take this reading in and so obviously we can't cover everything but we want to give you a glimpse at various things that Scholars have pointed out
about this famous text. So we're looking at Luke chapter 1 verses 26 to 38. Here's the reading for today. The angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth to a virgin betrothed, to a man named Joseph of the House of David. And the virgin's name was Mary He went in and said to her Rejoice, so highly favored. The Lord is with you. She was deeply disturbed by these words and asked herself what this greeting could mean. But the angel said to her Mary, do not be afraid.
You have one God's favor. Listen, you are to conceive and bear a son, and you must name him Jesus, he will be great, and will be called, son of the most high. The Lord God will give him the Throne of his ancestor David, he will rule over the house of Jacob forever and his reign will Have no end. Mary said to the angel but how can this come about since I am a virgin? The holy spirit will come upon you, the angel answered and the power of the most high will cover you with its shadow.
And so, the child will be holy and will be called Son of God. No, this to your kinswoman Elizabeth has in her old age herself, conceived a son and she whom people called Barren, she is now in her sixth month for nothing is impossible to God. Mary said, I am the handmaid of the Lord. Let what you have said, be done to me and the angel left her.
So I'm sure many of you have heard this reading before and you probably already know quite a bit about the various facts that play into what's going on in this text. But there's probably also some aspects of this that you may not be as aware of. So let's dive into it. What's the context? So just before this we have the story of Elizabeth and Zachariah. So Elizabeth has just become pregnant. Don't even though Zechariah didn't believe that it could
happen. So if you want to hear what happens just before this, you can hear that on December 19th every year. So the story of Zechariah and Elizabeth and then it leads straight into today. And of course, what we have today is the famous Annunciation scene when the angel appears to marry. This is the key text at various times in the liturgical year.
So you'll hear this every year on the solemnity of the Annunciation and also on the solemnity Of the Immaculate Conception. So it's the same Gospel reading for those key feasts, and it's also on various other Marian feasts, which is celebrated in different parts of the world at different times. So, let's start here at verse 26. Now, if you look at the Bible, verse 26 actually has a phrase here that it's not in our lectionary today. So it starts with in the sixth
month. So that means we're talking about this happens in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy. It says the angel L was sent by God to a town called Nazareth. So who's Gabriel? Well. He's actually already appeared in this chapter. If you look at the earlier story, he's already appeared to Zechariah so he's been busy in this time period. And in fact, he's already appeared in the Old Testament,
as well. If you look at the Book of Daniel Gabriel appears in the Book of Daniel to give various prophecies to Daniel about the Messiah. So, it seems that whenever Gabriel shows up in the Bible, he always has information. In about the Messiah that he's delivering to people, which is quite interesting. Verse 27. So he sent by God to a town called Nazareth. Now, we've all heard of Nazareth before because, of course, we know that's where Jesus grew up.
Now, in the time of Jesus, though, it's not a particularly special Town, there's probably only a few hundred people that live there. Scholars, think a population of about 300 is what you would have seen at that time, period. So it was kind of like a Backwater area of Galilee in the north northern part of Israel. It was not a special town at all. In fact, most people seem to have quite a dismissive attitude towards the town of Nazareth.
If you look at John chapter 1 verse 46, their Nathaniel says, can anything good come out of Nazareth? And this is a attitude. That's repeated several times in the gospels. What's interesting about Nazareth, though, is that it appears that it was populated
mostly by descendants of David? Not all the Jews at this time, were descended from David, but some of them were, and apparently, many of them chose as a group to stay in this town of Nazareth. Some scholars believe the root word of the towns named Nazareth is Nestor and that word means Branch or shoot. If that's the case, it may have deliberately been called that by the people who settled there.
And it could be based on this Old Testament, passage Isaiah 11:1, which talks about the coming Messiah, and it uses this language of Branch or shoot. It says, one day, there'll be a shoot of Jesse and that is a Prophecy of the Messiah.
So, shoot or branch. Is probably a reference to the Messiah particularly, in terms of the way he is, descended from David. So maybe the people who settled in this town deliberately named it because there were all descendants of David and they're expressing a Messianic, hope that one day, the Messiah will show up. So this is one explanation of what may have been going on a Nazareth at that time. It could have been populated by people who are descended from David and hoping that the
Messiah will come soon. If that's the case that gives us a good explanation for why Jesus grows up in there. Earth. Why did God choose for Jesus to grow up in Nazareth? He could have picked any other famous town for Jesus to grow up, and he could have grown up in Jerusalem for example, but instead he gets him, God gets Jesus to grow up in this town Nazareth. And it may be, because of the Messianic hopes associated with the people that lived in Nazareth, at that time, even
though it was a very small town. In fact, Nazareth is not mentioned at all, in the Old Testament and it says here that Gabriel is sent into Nazareth to a virgin. Who is proved now to understand what betrothal is. We need to unpack this a bit. So in that culture, marriage, worked differently, they didn't have engagement and then marriage, that's not how it worked. They had marriage in two stages and the first stage of marriage
was called betrothal. As soon as your betrothed, you're basically legally married, you are married. It's just that you haven't had the marriage ceremony yet and you haven't consummated the marriage. So, to get to this first stage, the betrothal stage, the groom would present a written of official document to the bride. So it was an official marriage from that point onwards, but she remained in the family home until about a year later.
When the husband would come and collect her and they would have the official marriage wedding ceremony in The Wedding Banquet, and then he would take her home to live with him. So it occurred in two stages but as soon as you are betrothed you are legally married. We need to keep that in mind as
we as we read this text. In order to break off a betrothal, you needed a divorce and that explains why in The Gospel of Matthew, it says that Joseph was thinking about divorcing Mary, because, although they haven't consummated the marriage they were in fact, betrothed and to break that you need a divorce. How old is Mary? This is a question that Scholars often debate, we don't know.
There is simply no way of knowing how much how old Mary is. But if we go by how old women typically were in that time period when they got betrothed, she's probably about 14 years old, so she's very young. That would be typical at that time. And she is betrothed to a man named Joseph of the House of David. So, Luke here is highlighting to
his readers. That Joseph is a descendant of David. He specifically says, Joseph is from the House of David, so he probably lives in Nazareth to, and he's a descendant of David, so it makes sense for him to live in Nazareth. This is important because the Messiah had to be a descendant of David. The Old Testament makes that clear. So, Luke goes out of his way to say that Jesus, legal father.
But Joseph is a descendant of David now, that's important because when Joseph is Jesus legal father and in that culture, legal fatherhood is equivalent to biological fatherhood in terms of inheritance. So if you were legally adopted, you would get all the legal inheritance rights of that family. Even if you're not biologically related to the father so Joseph is able to confer the Privileges of being a diabetic descendant to Jesus. That's important.
Jesus is fully. A descendant of David even though he's not biologically from Joseph. How old is Joseph? This is a question which is also debated. And again, there's no way of knowing there's actually two Traditions here. One tradition is that? Joseph was an older man who already had a previous marriage but his wife had died and that would give us an explanation of why he doesn't necessarily need more children. So that's one tradition.
But there is another tradition which says that he's actually quite a young man and you can take either of you as a Catholic. It appears that both Mary and Joseph, a descendant of David, if you track their genealogies, through their both descendants of David, it would seem. So Jesus is a descendant of David, both biologically from Mary and illegally from Joseph. He's a full descendant of David
in every respect. And Luke, he tells us the virgin's name was Mary now, Mary was a very common name in that culture. The name appears a lot in the New Testament. In fact, it be can be quite difficult to try and work out, which Mary is being talked about at the foot of the cross. It appears that there are four different Mary's there. It's actually a variation of the name Miriam. Remember Aaron and Moses had a sister called Miriam and that's exercise 6:20.
So based on that, many Jewish families. When they had a daughter, they would call her Miriam or Mary. Verse 28 that angel appears. And we don't know what Mary is doing at this time. She's probably inside doing something and then Angel just shows up. And the angel Gabriel says to her hail or more literally Rejoice. That's what hail means. Let's unpack this a bit. Well, there's various Old Testament passages which address Zion or Jerusalem and they tell
Jerusalem to rejoice. And the reason that Jerusalem is told to rejoice in the Old Testament is because Jerusalem's faithful children will experience God's blessings one day. When God dwells in her midst, the Old Testament is very explicit whenever it says for Jerusalem to Rejoice it's typically because of a prophecy that one day God will dwell in your midst. If you look at Joel, Chapter 2 and Zephaniah chapter 3 and
Zechariah 9:9. They all have this language of hail or Rejoice for Jerusalem here. We can see that Luke is apparently portraying Mary as the New Jerusalem and the time of the Fulfillment has arrived, the all that Messianic hopes have been looking for. Have finally arrived. Gabriel has come to bring good news to marry and then he says this to her. Hey y'all so highly favored. Now this phrase is given various different translations you. So highly favored can become a
full of grace. Of course, we're familiar with that from the Hail Mary prayer or it can be translated one who has been graced. First thing to say here is notice, he doesn't say that angel doesn't say to Mary Hail Mary, he doesn't actually call her Mary. Interestingly, now when we say the Hail Mary prayer as Catholics, we say hail Mary but that's not actually there in the original and that's actually really Important.
This is really significant wine. Hail full of grace or hail one who has been graced in that culture. If you said hail it, typically, what should come after that is the person's name. But that's not what the angel does here, the angel identifies, the woman not as Mary but as so highly favored, that's what he calls her hail. So highly favored. So Mary's this is a title for Mary full of grace or so highly. But it's a title that Gabriel
calls. Mary, remember Gabriel has Supernatural knowledge, so he gives her a title that must be truthful and appropriate. It's quite a specific one. So highly favored. It's actually the only place in the Bible where an angel address is someone by a title rather than a name and we should see that is significant. There must be a reason why the angel focuses on this title. What is this phrase mean full of grace? Or one who has been graced? The Greek here.
We're used to, of course, full of grace, but the Greek here, almost certainly should not be translated full of grace. Luke uses a different Greek expression for the English version of Full of Grace. If you go to Acts chapter 6, verse 8, there it talks about Stephen, the Martyr and Luke. They're actually cool, Stephen Full of Grace Scholars, agree that the best translation of this Greek phrase that that Luke uses there for Stephen. It really is full of Rice.
That's a good translation of it. But it's actually a very different set of Greek words that are used here in Luke chapter 1. So if we know that in Acts chapter 6, a different set of Greek, words means, full of grace, it probably means that it shouldn't be translated. Full of grace here, the Greek word that we see here in Luke chapter, 1 is kakarrot. 'Man a and other more literal
translations render. It as one who is perfectly full of God's grace, something like that or there's different ways of He's lighting it but it's certainly more than just full of grace when this word could carry two men. A it apparently seems to imply an action which was completed in the past but has present effects when we put all this together. Scholars say that this title that Gabriel gives Mary actually suggests that she is without sin.
She is literally full of grace. God has made her full of grace in the past and that carries into the present. It apparently means that she's without sin, and of course, this has strongly implications for the Catholic teaching on the Immaculate Conception. Gordon down Mary with an abundance of Grace. That's what the Greek word says. She's has an abundance of Grace. Why does God give her that? He's preparing her for the vocation of divine motherhood that he knows that she's going to have.
He wants to make her an example of Christian Holiness. And as a result, God chooses to preserve Mary entirely from sin and its inclinations. Now, this Doctrine, which we know is the Immaculate Conception, this was believed all throughout Christian history, but it was not Not formally defined infallible e until 1854 when Pope Pius the ninth in his encyclical in a fabulous Tales.
When he goes through all the texts about Mary including this one and he proclaims the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception. So it's largely based on what we see here in Luke chapter one. It's one of the most controversial Catholic teachings as you know, but when you unpack, the Greek here at does seem to point in that direction. And then the angel Gabriel goes on. He says to me. The Lord is with you.
These same words actually given to Gideon when he's called by God. If you look at Judges chapter 6, verses 11 to 24 Gideon, there is called by God. And those same words are directed to him. The Lord is with you. Basically, it means something like the Lord is in your midst. And that matches well with what the angel Gabriel has just said about hail, if you go to Zephaniah chapter 3 verse 15, there says hail to Jerusalem and then straight away. It says the Lord is with you.
So the angel Gabriel is using words here that have already been spoken in the Old Testament. So these Old Testament phrases are waived all throughout these early chapters of Luke. It's really quite amazing. So, so far, we have the first couple of lines here of the Hail Mary. So, Hail Mary full of grace, the Lord is with you. That all comes here from what we've seen in Luke chapter 1. Now, the following phrases come
from elsewhere. In Luke chapter 1, they come from later in the chapter, let's move on to verse 29. Luke says, she was deeply disturbed by these words or more. Literally, she was greatly troubled at the saying. So Mary is genuinely shocked at what has just come out of Gabriel's mouth, and then Luke gets more specific. He says, and she asked herself what this greeting could mean, so what's Mary troubled about?
It's not apparently not the fact that the angel has just showed up, that's not what shocks her what? Shocks her is, the greeting, the words that the angel uses, she's shocked that the angel calls Is her full of grace? As you would be verse. 30 Gabriel, says Mary, do not be afraid. So now, he uses her name, Mary all throughout the Bible, whenever an angel appears to someone, it is a very scary experience. There's something quite fearful about angels apparently.
So here, the angel says, do not be afraid. You have one God's favor. That's quite a beautiful phrase, isn't it? You have one God's favor that suggests that God has chosen her specifically for this time. Ask in fact, the word for favor is actually similar to the word for Grace. So when we say that Mary is full of grace, you can really say. She's full of fave. Oh, she's full of God's favor. Verse 31. The angel says you will conceive and bear a son.
Now, notice the passage doesn't tell us that she will conceive. Immediately. Some people take it that way, but it doesn't say that all it says, is that you will conceive. There's another reference to the Old Testament here. Remember Isaac and how his mother is Bauer Owen. Well, when Isaac is miraculously conceived, and then born in Genesis 17:19, very similar language is used you will conceive and bear a son. That's a promise that is given
to Isaac's mother. And here Gabriel goes on to say You must call his name. Jesus. This is a command. It's not I recommend you call him Jesus. It's you must call him. Jesus. Jesus name is quite significant. Jesus means God Saves. It was a reasonably common name in that culture but the Angel says it is an appropriate name for the Messiah, God Saves the significance of Jesus name and
how he comes to have that name. It's actually unpacked more in Matthew chapter 1 verse 32, he will be great, and will be called son of the most high. So, here the angel is going to say all these titles that Jesus will end up being called, he will be called son of the most high in that culture, a son was considered to be the best representation of a father. And that actually helps Soooo set some context here. In fact, the sun was almost considered to be in the image of
the father. So, when we see these phrases, Son of God, there's very strong trinitarian theology here. The Son of God, Jesus is the best representation of the father, and that comes out in some of the Parables later on, where is John. The Baptist is listed as the prophet of the most high. That's what was said earlier. In the chapter to Zechariah, Jesus is the son of the most high. That's really specific title Gabriel goes on, the Lord, God will give him the Throne of his
ancestor. David, what's this? Throne of the ancestor David? Well, the Old Testament prophesied that the Throne of Which had been temporarily lost. By the time of the Old Testament, it would one day be taken up again, by the Messiah. So at the time, David became king, God promised to David your house and your kingdom. Our firm forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever. So that's what God Said, directly to David in second. Samuel 7. Now, in the Old Testament, though.
The davidic line is eventually lost. There Are No More Kings after a certain time period, because the Israelites are Going into Exile. But still the prophets continually reminded the Jews of this promised that God had given David. They continually announced that one day there will be a future reunions of Israel under a
davidic messiah. One day there will be a davidic king sitting on David's Throne again and that will be the Messiah. So if you look at Isaiah 11, a zekiel 37 Hosea, one Amos 9, all of these prophets are repeating the same message. There will be a messiah that sits on David's Throne again. So the Jews were looking forward to this. One of Luke's key themes in his gospel, is the regathering of God's people.
And of course, we know that Jesus has come to bring all of God's people together into God's glorious Kingdom. So, there's so much you could say about this, but we'll keep moving verse 33. The angel says, he will reign over the house of Jacob forever. As in, he's going to be the king of Israel permanently. He will reign over it forever. Already hear the gospels are hinting. The part of Jesus mission is to be the king of the Jews.
He's going to be various titles, but one of them will be king of the Jews. So, remembered his crucifixion. One of the accusations about Jesus that's made is that he is King of the Jews. Well, that's actually basically, right. That's what Angel Gabriel says to Mary, he will be king of the Jews. And his reign will have no end or you can translate that Kingdom of his kingdom. There will be no end. Jesus has a kingdom. He is a king.
So, Jesus is going to be the king of the Jews, but probably what, not many Jews realize at the time about the Messiah was at the kingdom, is going to be much more vast, and deep than just, allowing Jewish people. In the Kingdom of the Messiah, would be the kingdom of God. It's going to be open to everyone and it's going to be Eternal. So they did understand that the I would be a king.
But here, the angel tells Mary and this is unpacked further in the gospels that he's going to have a much deeper and more profound Kingdom than they could have expected verse 34. Mary now, speaks, how can this be since I am a virgin. Now, more literally, this phrase actually reads since I know, not, man. Now, Mary is not disbelieving here, like Zechariah did remember when Gabriel told Zechariah that his wife was going to have a child Zechariah?
L, can't believe it here when Mary says, how can this be? She's inquiring as to how that's going to take place. So, whereas Zechariah Zechariah wants proof. Mary wants instructions. There's a difference here. Now Scholars point out that Mary's response here is a little strange. Gabriel has said to her you're going to have a son and Mary's response is, how can this be since I know not. Man.
Now she's betrothed. So if she was expecting that, That she was going to have normal relations in her marriage. Then it shouldn't be. That surprising. That an angel would appear to her and say, you're going to have a child. So she shouldn't be that shocked by the news and yet, apparently she is she says how can this be? Since I know not man. So some scholars believe here that when she says, I know, not man, maybe it means something like I have taken a vow not to
know any man. Which is an interesting way of looking at it. So and this is a genuine view that's out there because there are some other texts, which are outside the Bible but apparently, written around this time period which tell us a little bit more about Mary.
Now we're not sure because they're not in scripture, so they're not infallible, but perhaps they have some reliable historical information and one of these documents is the protoevangelium of James and that document suggests that Mary had, in fact taken a vow of virginity Earlier in her life. So she had planned to never have relationshi had planned to stay
a virgin. So when she says here, how can this be since I know not man, what she's actually saying is I'm planning not to know him and say how can I have a child. So this is a legitimate interpretation it. We're not 100% sure if that's correct. But some Scholars think the statement here does imply that there have been some famous people in history who have believed this interpretation to so st. Gregory Of Nyssa. Believe that that's true about
marry. That marry did literally take a vow of virginity and also Saint Augustine believe that Mary had taken a vow of virginity that's not Catholic teaching. But it is a widely held Catholic view that Mary planned to never have relations in her life. So that's why she's surprised. You Gabriel answers our question. He says the holy spirit will come upon you, the angel answered. So the Angels answer is basically no man will be involved because God Do all the
work, that's the answer. The the angel gives this is truly a miraculous pregnancy. The holy spirit will come upon you to bring about the birth. Now it's not an entirely clear biologically how this pregnancy happened, what was the genetic set up? That makes this happen, we're not sure some Scholars have suggested that maybe Mary contributed her egg, whereas the Holy Spirit made a completely new sperm or something like that, but really, we have no
idea. It could, it could have been done in a way that It can't even be putting two scientific language either way, though we have here a virgin birth of urging that's conceiving, which is a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. Remember, Isaiah 7:14 says, Behold a virgin shall conceive and you shall name him Emmanuel. Now that prophecy actually was fulfilled in a sense in the time of Isaiah. But here it has a deeper and
greater fulfillment. Now, there's some interesting links here in terms of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. So when Mary becomes pregnant, there's no male genetic input from Joseph because Joseph does not have relations with her. So from this, we know that the sin nature is not passed on to Jesus from a father. So here, the Catholic, teaching on the Immaculate Conception can be helpful. Mary herself was born without sin.
This is a Catholic teaching, so she didn't really have a sin nature to pass on to Jesus. This is one way of looking at it. So Jesus did not receive the sin nature from his Earthly father, because he doesn't have an Earthly biological father, and Mary did not have a sin nature to pass on to him. So Jesus did not inherit a sin nature from either, Earthly parent.
So this is one interesting aspect of the Ocular conception, it's not the strongest argument for the Immaculate Conception, but it's interesting to think about God didn't have to do it this way. This is, he could have prevented the sin nature from being passed. The Jesus, even if Mary did have a sin nature, but it appears that he chose to do it this way. It's a fitting thing that God chose to do it this way, even though it wasn't strictly
necessary. So that's getting into some quite complex theology there, but hopefully, you find that way of thinking about it. Somewhat helpful, Angel Gabriel here, says the Over the most high will cover you with its shadow or you can translate this. The power of the most high will overshadow you. Basically this means that God will protect Mary during the
pregnancy. Interestingly, the word here for overshadow, it's only found in a couple of other places in the Bible. It's found that the Transfiguration to describe the cloud that overshadows them on the mountain. And also, it's in the Old Testament to describe how the cloud of God's glory overshadowed the tent of meeting. If you look at it, Exodus 40 verse 35, The Cloud of God's glory, which represents God himself, settles and overshadows
the tent. So some Scholars say, this is evidence that Luke intended his audience to understand that Mary is the new tent of meeting or the new ark of the covenant, because God overshadows her just like the Ark in the old Covenant, he is the Arc of the New Covenant, she is filled with God's holy presence, just as the Ark in the old Covenant was, which is quite a fascinating connection.
We'll talk about this. As more as we get to when Mary visits Elizabeth. There's some really interesting things that are said, they're all three persons of the Trinity are mentioned here by Gabriel. We have here, God, the most high doing the work, we have, Jesus, the son of God being conceived and Gabriel, says that she'll be overshadowed, the most high and the Holy Spirit will come upon her. So, all three are mentioned here.
Gabriel says, and so the child will be wholly, another word for Holy Sanctified. So this means Jesus will be set apart for the service of God even from within the womb, because of his miraculous conception, it makes sense that Jesus is. Holy God has set him apart for a certain purpose, which is to be the Messiah.
And then the angel Gabriel says specifically, he will be the Son of God. That's the term that the angel Gabriel says to Mary. Jesus would literally be the Son of God according to Gabriel. Now, some would say that one of the answers to the question of, why was the Virgin birth needed? And there's various answers you can give to this. One of the answers is that to ensure that Jesus could be considered the Son of God, literally in his Earthly form,
not just in his Heavenly form. We know as the second person of the Trinity, he's the son of God even before the world began. But maybe one of the reasons that God chose for it to be a virgin birth with, so that it could be obvious to people that he's also literally the Son of God in a biological respect as well. It doesn't have an Earthly. Father, God is his father. Verse 36 Gabriel says, no this to or a better translation. There is behold your kinswoman.
Elizabeth has in her old age herself conceived a son. Now, the full story of this is narrated just before this in chapter 1. At this point, Mary's not aware of that Elizabeth is pregnant because they didn't have internet mail wasn't particularly fast at that time. So Mary doesn't know that Elizabeth is pregnant Gabriel now tells her that Elizabeth is pregnant. He gives this too Ooh, her as a sign that God will indeed fulfill the words of Gabriel here as well.
He basically says God is already made Elizabeth your relative pregnant and now he's going to do that for you too. And she whom people called Barren is now in her sixth month. Now from this some people have said that means that Jesus and John. The Baptist are six months apart because in the sixth month of Elizabeth's pregnancy, the angel Gabriel appears to marry and says that she's going to be pregnant that could be right.
However, we don't know If Mary can saves straightaway, we do know that by the time she gets to visit Elizabeth in the Hill Country, Mary is pregnant by then. So, there isn't a particularly long time before Mary gets pregnant here, but we're not sure if she gets pregnant on this day, specifically verse 37, Gabriel says for nothing is impossible to God. Or another translation is full with God. Nothing will be impossible.
So God can overcome the infertility of Elizabeth and the Unity of Mary. Nothing is impossible for him. This language is taken straight from the Old Testament as well. If you look at Genesis 18, verse 14 and Jeremiah 32 verse 17. It's very similar. And Mary says here, to finish, I am the handmaid of the Lord. This same expression is used sometimes in the Old Testament and basically, it means I am the female servant of God. And then she says, let what you have said. Be done to me.
So, Mary freely and actively Embraces God's invitation to Bear the Messiah. In fact, the Greek here is more than just passive. She doesn't just passively say yes, the Greek e implies that she actively desires to fulfill God's will she wants to do this? now theoretically Mary could have said, no That's part of her free will. But she chooses to say, yes, and that's important and in that sense, she's a model for all Christians. And then the angel left her So that's the end of the text.
It's a longer text and it's quite a beautiful one, and we've really only scratched the surface. There's so much you could say about this and it's a text that's well worth meditating on now, the next event that occurs here in Luke chapter 1 is the visitation, its when Mary goes to visit Elizabeth and if you want to chase this one down, you
can hear this. Next section of Luke on December 21st every year and also on the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so you might like to go through the podcast archives, to find that next section if you would Like to, let's turn to the catechism and as you'd expect, there's so many places where the catechism references this event, this is a central event in the mystery of Salvation. And so there's sections in here about Mary.
So, parts of the catechism about Mary mentioned this. A lot parts of the catechism about Jesus mentioned this event a lot about angels about the Trinity, it's spread all throughout the catechism. So there's about 20 different paragraphs. In fact, maybe even more I'll include as many of these as I can, in the Notes and we'll just read out a few of them now, but there are so many of them. So let's just pick a few highlights of how the catechism
understands this particular event paragraph. 148 says, the Virgin Mary most perfectly embodies The Obedience of Faith by faith, Mary welcomes, the tidings and promise brought by the angel Gabriel believing that with God. Nothing will be impossible. And so giving her a cent behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord let it be done to me according to your word. Paragraph 269, this is in the section, about God, doing whatever he pleases.
Nothing is impossible with God, who disposes his Works according to his will. So that's an interesting link here. Paragraph 33 to this is about Christ's relationship with the angels angels have been present since creation and throughout the history of Salvation. Announcing this salvation from afar or near and serving the accomplishment of the divine plan, they closed the Earthly Paradise protected lat Saved Hagar.
And her child stayed, Abraham's hand, communicated the law by their Ministry. Led the people of God announced births and callings and assisted the profits just to cite a few examples. Finally, the angel Gabriel announced the birth of the precursor and that of Jesus himself paragraph or 30. This is about the word, Jesus. Jesus means in Hebrew God Saves at the Annunciation that angel Gabriel, gave him the name Jesus.
Has as his proper name, which expresses both his identity and his mission, since God Alone can forgive sins. It is God who in Jesus? His eternal son, made man will save his people from their sins in Jesus. God recapitulates all of his history of Salvation on behalf of men. Paragraph. 486 the father's only son conceived as man in the womb of the Virgin. Mary is Christ. That is to say anointed by the Holy Spirit from the beginning of his human existence.
So that one's a really interesting link there because it mentions how when the Holy Spirit comes upon Mary that is in a sense, an anointing of Jesus. When the Holy Spirit comes upon Mary paragraph, 48, a to this is about Mary's, predestination God sent forth his son but to prepare a Ready for him. He wanted the free cooperation of a creature for this from all eternity. God shows for the mother of his son or daughter of Israel.
A young Jewish woman of Nazareth in Galilee, a virgin betrothed to a man, whose name was Joseph of the House of David and the virgin's name was Mary. The father of mercies willed that the Incarnation should be preceded by a cent on the part of the predestined mother so that just as a woman, had a share in the coming of Death, so also should a woman contribute to the coming of life. Paragraph 4 90.
This is about the Immaculate Conception to become the mother of the Savior. Mary was enriched by God, with gifts appropriate to such a role that angel Gabriel at the moment of the Annunciation salutes her as full of grace. In fact, in order for Mary to be able to give the free Ascent of her faith to the announcement of her vocation. It was necessary that she be wholly, born by God's grace
through the centuries. The church has become ever more aware that Mary full of grace through God was redeemed from the moment of her conception. That is what the dogma of the Immaculate Conception confesses as Pope Pius and 9th proclaimed in 1854. The Most Blessed Virgin Mary was from the moment of her conception, by a singular, Grace, and privilege of almighty God.
And by virtue of the merits of Jesus Christ, savior of the human race preserved immune from all, stain of original sin, Paragraph 4 94. This is in the same section about Mary says at the announcement that she will give birth to the son of the most high without knowing Man by the power of the Holy Spirit, Mary responded with The Obedience of Faith certain that with God. Nothing will be impossible.
Behold I am the handmaid of the Lord let it be done to me according to your word, thus giving her consent to God's word, Mary becomes the mother of Jesus. Espousing the Divine will for sale. Ovation wholeheartedly without a single sin to restrain her. She gave herself entirely to the person and to the work of her son. She did. So in order to serve the mystery of redemption with him and dependent on him by God's grace. As Saint irenaeus says, being
obedient. She became the cause of salvation for herself, and for the whole human race. Hence not a few of the early fathers. Gladly assert that the not of Eve's Disobedience was untied by Mary's obedience. What the Virgin Eve bound through her disbelief Mary loosened by her faith.
Comparing her with Eve. They call Mary the mother of the living and frequently claimed death through Eve, life through Mary. So that's quite amazing Marian theology, which is coming through here in the catechism. Last paragraph will look at, as I said, there's so many of them, but we'll just finish with this one because this tells us how we can relate to marry today. So paragraph 2677 because she gives us Jesus. Her son, Mary is Mother of God.
And our mother, we can entrust Just all our cares and petitions to her. She prays for us as she prayed for herself, let it be to me, according to your word by entrusting ourselves to her prayer. We abandon ourselves to the will of God together with her thy will be done. So, that's a nice place to finish. It's been a longer episode today, but I hope you've learned something new.
If you have, please tell other people about this ministry and share this podcast with them, and will continue to look at the gospels in the coming days. So, that's a nice place to finish. It's been a longer episode today, but I hope you've learned something new. If you have, please tell other people about this ministry and share this podcast with them, and will continue to look at the gospels in the coming days.