Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary
Luke 1:26-38
The Great Conception
I went to the library this week and looked at several of those big art books. Most of the great painters have “The Annunciation” in their repertoire of paintings: Botticelli, Donatello, Raphael, and many others. In a museum in Venice hangs a masterpiece by Titian. Sister Wendy, the art critic, regards Titian as possibly the greatest of all painters; quite an opinion considering the competition: Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Rubens, and others. Titian was an Italian Renaissance artist, and he too has a work entitled, “The Annunciation.” The Annunciation refers to the angel Gabriel’s announcement to Mary that she would bear the Son of God.
In Titian’s portrayal Mary looks to be a woman of highly cultivated royalty. She kneels in a marble court of a king’s palace. Next to her are a workbasket, a quail, and an apple. What do they mean? The workbasket symbolizes her as an ideal mother who takes care of her household; the quail means she provides meat for her home, and the apple, first associated with the loss of Eden by Eve, is now restored, through her Son Jesus, Eden is restored. As Mary kneels, a dove hovers over her, a symbol of the Holy Spirit. Light from the dove shines down to the passage she is reading, Isaiah 7:14, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Emmanuel.” Gabriel appears before Mary as a winged-angel of youthful beauty, clothed in luxurious and jewel-bedecked robes. As he balances on a cloud, he announces, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!” In the distance is a flowery landscape suggesting that because of this event “the wilderness and dry lands shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.” By virtue of the redemption of her first-born Son, Jesus Chist, a global paradise would roll back earth’s curse.
Titian’s portrait is typical of the renaissance painters. Ingenius and gorgeous, but they drew Mary too old, and too rich. We want to examine now Luke’s account of the annunciation from Luke chapter one. It is a beautiful story and we find multiple applications for today.
The Church calls us to celebrate the Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary every March 25. It is logical. In nine months we’ll celebrate the Lord’s nativity. Luke 1:26 describes how God sent the Archangel Gabriel to the village of Nazareth where Mary lived. Most scholars today believe Nazareth was a lowly village and Mary came from a poor family. Evidence for her poverty can be seen in her presentation of Jesus in the Temple forty days after He was born. She offerd two doves for her purification instead of two lambs. The law permitted doves for sacrifice only for the poor who couldn’t afford lambs. Moreover, many believe that Mary was only twelve to fifteen years old. The Renaissance painters portray her as around twenty-five.
The angel Gabriel appeared to this lass and stated, “Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name Jesus.” When Mary asked how this could happen since she was a virgin, the angel told her that her pregnancy would come about through the creative action of the Holy Spirit. Mary acquiesced. She said, “Let it be.” And it happened. The Holy Spirit overshadowed her and she conceived. This conception was a miracle. It is false to say Mary conceived through sexual relations. The Bible is clear on that.
The virginal conception has come under attack in some circles. Liberal academics contend that the story of Jesus’ birth from a virgin mother was a myth borrowed from pagan sources. However, the myths prevalent in ancient times were crude and bizarre fables. A virgin got sexually involved with a god or with an animal. The difference is stark. The virgin birth myths of the pagan cultures do not compare with the holiness and wonder of the historical record of Jesus’ miraculous conception in Mary found in the biblical account.
How should we understand Mary’s conception? What did she conceive? The biology books tell us how miniscule an actual conception is. It takes a microscope to see the ovum, the egg, fertilized by the sperm. In Mary’s case her egg was fertilized through the power of the Holy Spirit. Gabriel announced, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you.” (Luke 1:35). What was conceived in Mary was the humanity of the Second Person of the Trinity. Jesus Christ was the eternal Son of God, of the same substance with the Father and the Holy Spirit. At the moment of conception human nature was added to the Lord’s divine nature. We shun the idea that God the Father became God the Son at the virginal conception; that would be the heresy of modalism. The Triune nature of the Godhead is immutable. The infinite Almighty, the Eternal Son of God, the Creator of the universe, became a tiny human embryo in the womb of Mary. It is amazing how Christ left His glory in Heaven, humbled Himself, and came to earth to be our Savior. Love and grace explain why He did it.
Is it still necessary to uphold the virginal conception? Yes! Several reasons can be given. First, it indicates one’s view of Scripture. If you deny the virgin birth, then you oppose the testimony of God’s Word. You land on a slippery slope of skepticism that erodes the reliability of Scripture. If you lack faith to believe what God’s Word says on this issue, then you may begin to doubt other Bible passages as well. Gabriel tells Mary why her conception would be possible: “For with God nothing will be impossible” (Luke 1:37). As we study the supernatural events in Scripture, that should be our mindset also: “For with God nothing is impossible.”
Second, the virginal conception implies that every life is precious beginning at conception. God the Holy Spirit was supernaturally involved in Jesus’ incarnation. The annunciation was a big event, a celebrated event. Mary responded with a happy song, “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” This song of gratitude is called the Magnificat. The Annunciation implies that every conception should be honored and protected. It is human life that is in the womb of the mother. Mary’s carrying of Jesus for nine months, and her joy in anticipating the birth of the Messiah is the paradigm for conception in general. God highly regards every embryo. It should be treated with respect. Hence, the annunciation has a pro-life message to it. Abortion is the killing of innocent life in the womb, and shouldn’t embryonic stem-cell research be considered the same way? These practices trivialize what is great and wonderful. They destroy human life.
Third, the virginal conception guards against gnosticism. Gnosticism is a super-spiritual movement. Actually, it is a pseudo-spiritual movement because it denies that God would deign to have any contact with lowly, earthly bodies. Gnostics opt for a non-physical deity and reject the physical incarnation of the Lord. They err. God the Son took upon Himself our human form and flesh and came into this world in order to redeem it. The virgin birth argues not only for a physical beginning, but for a historical one as well. This is one reason the Church refers to the Virgin Mary in the Creeds. “Jesus Chist was born of the virgin Mary.” Mary stands as a faithful witness to the physicality and historicity of Christ.
Why is Mary such a fine example for us? Gabriel said, “The Holy Spirit will overshadow you, and you will conceive in your womb a baby boy whose name will be Jesus. He will be called the Son of the Highest. Do you want to go through with this?” And Mary gave that famous response, “Let it be. I’ll do that. I’m willing and available. I submit to the Lord and obey Him. If I become disgraced because people think I got pregnant out of wedlock, let it be. If my finance abandons me when he finds out I’m pregnant, let it be. Let it be to me according to your word.” This is the great glory of Mary. This is why she deserves our admiration on this day as the “highly favored one,” the “woman most blessed” in all of history. Through her son came the world’s only hope, and this is why Mary has been praised by countless generations as the young girl who “found favor with God.”
Besides the shame and ridicule of the pregnancy, Mary suffered many other things. Her Son was rejected and murdered. She stood at the foot of the cross and watched Him die. A sword pierced her soul. How do we square this life of anguish and suffering with Gabriel’s greeting, “Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women?” If Mary was so blessed, why did she suffer so intensely? God’s favor does not automatically bring instant success or fame. His blessing on Mary, the honor of being the mother of the Messiah, would lead to much pain. In this we can identify with Mary. We too suffer anguish and disappintements. If sorrow weighs you down and dims your hope, think of Mary and wait patiently for God to finish working out his plan.
We should notice the humble and modest manner in which the Savior of the world came to earth. Gabriel was sent to an obscure town of Galilee, named Nazareth. The Renaissance painters for all their genius got it wrong when they put Mary in ivory palaces. The woman who was honored to be our Lord’s mother, was a poor maiden. Both in her status and her home, there was an utter absence of what the world calls greatness.
Most of us, had we designed the plan to bring God to earth, would have made Him the son of some rich heiress. We would have put Him in the home of a billionaire. But the fact that Jesus’ birth was like any other common birth says a lot about the great lengths God goes to in order to identify with the most humble people of the world. God may be the God of the universe, but he is not elitist. It would have been astounding humility if the Creator of the universe had come to earth in a mansion. But his humility surpassed that. He came to earth in a manger, as a poor man to be despised, and suffer and die. He came to die for you, to take your sin upon Himself as He hanged on the cross, to suffer the punishment you deserved, and grant you His righteousness, if you will but believe in Him and surrender your life to Him. He did all this out of love. His love inspires you and me to live for others, and to maintain a humble disposition. Let His example daily bring home to your conscience the precept of Scripture: “Do not set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble” (Romans 12:16).
Let us notice some of the other things Gabriel said to Mary. Reading Luke 1:32-33. [Read them.]
The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,” says Gabriel, “And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever.” The literal fulfillment of this part of the promise is yet to come. Israel’s salvation is still a thing of the future. Romans 11 promises that a day is coming when the Jewish people will be engrafted back into the Church, the one olive tree. The apostle Paul says, “blindness has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved.” (v. 25-26) In other words, once the fullness of the Gentiles have come in, once the nations have been baptized and discipled like Jesus told the Church to do in the Great Commission, then Israel will come to the Lord. They will get saved. God will do it. The Israelites will believe in Jesus as their Messiah and take up the Creeds and worship of the Church as members of the Body of Christ.
Finally says Gabriel, “Of His kingdom there will be no end.” All the non-Christian kingdoms eventually fall and pass away. They come to an end. God’s kingdom alone stands forever, and the saints of the most high shall take the kingdom. Before Jesus, every knee shall one day bow, and every tongue confess that He is Lord. His kingdom alone is the everlasting kingdom, and His dominion is the only one that will not pass away (Dan. 7:14, 27).
The baptized Christian should often dwell on these promises about the vicory of Christ’s kingdom, and take comfort in them. There is no reason for defeatism. Yes, things look terrible in the world, and we are threatened on all sides for the Gospel’s sake. Yet we can feel assured that we are on the conquering side. Ultimately, the kingdoms of this world shall yet become the kingdoms of Christ. For that blessed day let us patiently work, and watch, and pray. Now is the time for carrying the cross, and for fellowship with Christ’s sufferings. Like Mary we may suffer pain, and shame, and anguish. But a brighter day is coming. Eventually the gates of Hell will crash to the ground. The Church will triumph, King Jesus will reign from Heaven, and “of His kingdom there will be no end.”
On this day of the observation of the Annunciation of good news to Mary let us recommit our lives to Christ. Mary sang out in the Magnificat, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior.” Like Mary let us rejoice in Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. Let us worship our Lord with thankful hearts for the eternal Word of God made flesh for our redemption. And like Mary, may our hearts become humble and submissive, willing to do the will of God.
Let us pray.
