Sunday
Sunday
The Annunciation
God sent the angel Gabriel to Nazareth … to a virgin pledged to be married to a man named Joseph.
Luke 1:26–27
After some four hundred years of silent waiting, suddenly God broke the silence, though not through a prophet but through an angel. The message that Gabriel brought to Nazareth all but overwhelmed Mary—partly because she was to become a mother although she was still unmarried and a virgin, and partly because of the superlative threefold description she was given of her son to be born.
Firstly, he was to be named Jesus, indicating that he would be given a saving mission.
Secondly, he would be great, for he would be given a further and more elaborate name, the Son of the Most High. Mary would not have understood this as meaning what we mean when we call Jesus the Son of God but rather that he would be the Messiah, since Son of God was an acknowledged messianic title (see Ps. 2:7–8).
Thirdly, he would reign over Israel forever. Indeed, his kingdom would never end.
Savior, Son, and King were the three titles that the angel told Mary to give him.
No wonder Mary was “greatly troubled” (v. 29), even completely mystified by the angel’s message, and asked him what it meant. Here is Gabriel’s majestic reply: “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…. For nothing is impossible with God” (vv. 35–37). We will reflect on the fact and meaning of the virgin birth on Tuesday and Wednesday this week, but meanwhile, tomorrow we must listen to Mary’s Song.
For further reading: Luke 1:26–32