Bible for Catholic Nerds – The Annunciation

The Annunciation

The evangelist Luke prefaced the actual account of Jesus’ public ministry with a long narrative of the protagonist’s childhood. The first two chapters of the Gospel according to Luke are dedicated to the events preceding the public manifestation of Jesus. In chapter three, in fact, the evangelist, as a good historian and Hellenist, frames the event in time and space: “The fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius…”, etc., with reference to all the leaders of the time “the Word of God was addressed to John, in the desert.”

This presents the moment of the manifestation of Jesus in Israel. But what had happened to that man before? Where did he come from? Who was he? In what family was he born? How does Luke get the information he writes about? He was not present at those events, and neither were the apostles. Perhaps even Matthew and John, disciples of Jesus, had known the teacher as an adult. They were not present in his family at the time of his birth.

So, inevitably, this news depends on the testimony of other people who knew these facts, the people related to the family environment of Jesus, his relatives, the people of his family clan. Ancient tradition has often said that it was Jesus’ own mother who told the evangelist some important facts. It is possible although it is not documentable. We know that Luke stayed in Jerusalem for two years, from 58 to 60. The ancient Christian tradition says that Mary, mother of Jesus, remained in Jerusalem, until the moment of her dormition. When did that happen? This is not told by any source. We do not know if in those years, when Luke was in Jerusalem, Mary was still alive. If she was still alive, surely Luke knew her; and they talked and she was able to tell him something.

Another interesting element of the tradition makes Luke a painter; and often, there are ancient icons attributed to the evangelist Luke. The patron saint of Bologna, for example, is the ’Madonna of St. Luke,’ but also the “Salus Populi Romani” – an icon of which you can see the reproduction here on my right. It is attributed to the painter Luke. It is an ancient icon, preserved in Rome, in the basilica of St Mary Major. It is unlikely that the actual author of the painting is Luke.

Ecclesiastical tradition has meant that the evangelist made a beautiful portrait of Mary because, in the infancy narratives, the protagonist of Luke is above all Mary, the mother of Jesus. The portrait that Luke made of her is a literary portrait, not a painting. As a painter, however, tradition has also added this detail that often the icons representing Luke depict him at the easel, with a brush in hand, painting an icon of the mother of God.

Therefore, it is probable that Luke, in that period of stay in Jerusalem, met eyewitnesses and found written documents relating to the initial moment of the life of Jesus. He also met the relatives of John the Baptist, somehow related to Jesus. There must have been a narrative on the origins of the Baptist because Luke narrates the announcement of the Baptist’s birth and combines the events of John with those of Jesus. Perhaps the text he found in Jerusalem in the Judeo-Christian environment, was related to the Baptist.

A text, written in an elementary and ungrammatical Greek, typical of a Hebrew-speaking author who has learned Greek, but uses it with very simple formulas. In our languages, this is much less noticeable, but being able to read the original text, there is a huge difference between the first four verses of the work and the story that begins in verse five. The first four verses are the direct work of Luke. Instead from verse five onwards, the author cites a source, reproduces a text that he has not written, but he already found it written.

Many say that Luke, being a Greek, wrote the gospel in beautiful Greek. It is not true that Luke’s Greek is often mediocre, if not poor. But it’s not Luke’s fault; the responsibility is from their sources. Matthew’s Greek is much better; however, we know that Matthew wrote for a Hebrew setting and then one gets the impression that he used a less fancy Greek language. Matthew is precisely the opposite because he writes in an environment of the Jewish tradition. He doesn’t have to worry about preserving the ancient documents and with literary skills to come up with a beautiful current Greek language.

Luke, instead, as he comes from outside, and has known apostolic preaching through testimonies and ancient documents, has a veneration

for these texts and therefore does not allow himself to correct them or touch them, brings them back as relics, and we are faced with texts written in simple language with a mentality typical of the environment of the ‘hasidim,’ the faithful devotees, saints, the poor of the Lord who have a very deep and mature spirituality and await the revelation of God, the manifestation of the Messiah.

Immediately after the prologue, in fact, Luke narrates the announcement of the birth of John the Baptist. The scene is set in the temple in Jerusalem: “In the days of Herod, King of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah of the priestly division of Abijah; his wife was from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. Both were righteous in the eyes of God, observing all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly. But they had no child because Elizabeth was barren and both were advanced in years.” Notice how simple the language is, the syntax elementary, all short phrases. In the original, the verbs are even missing, the verb ‘to be’ is not used, the construction is elementary; he presented us with a familiar picture.

Two righteous persons from the Old Testament, two good old people but childless, and this childlessness is a drama in biblical tradition. We know many similar experiences because the son is the blessing of God. If the son is missing, it seems that the blessing of God is missing and this elderly Zachariah priest undoubtedly experiences the pain of the lack of offspring. The priestly reality was transmitted from father to son and that is why Zachariah felt the lack of the heir to whom to hand over his priestly ministry. It is said that he was of the class of Abijah, one of the 24 classes of priests; and each class did temple service for a week, every six months, fifteen days a year. In short, a few thousand priests were very numerous and each class guaranteed daily service for a week. The incense offering was a particular task that was performed by a single priest whose name was drawn daily by a lot.

Now, just as this evening rite of incense offering takes place, and that day, by chance, it is Zacharias’ turn to enter the temple of the Lord, something extraordinary happens. There is a divine revelation. The story takes up some apocalyptic texts related to the book of Daniel, but imitates the tales of ancient announcements. The closest is the story of the announcement of the birth of Samson, at the end of the Book of Judges. The angel Gabriel presents himself to Zechariah, at the right of the altar of incense, and announces the birth of a son. The old priest remains incredulous; it seems impossible to him that what has been said will happen. He certainly wanted it so much but it goes beyond his expectations he now considers impossible.

And this attitude of disbelief is marked by a traumatic event: he loses his speech. Zacharias leaves the temple where something happened that no one else has seen, and he cannot speak. People were worried because he was late in coming out; he stayed inside for too long, longer than he should have, and when he comes out he can’t speak anymore. They understand that something has happened, but they don’t know what. At the end of the week, Zachariah returns home to his village on the outskirts of Jerusalem. Luke’s story does not name it, but tradition identifies the town as Ein Karem. And Elizabeth finds her husband in this condition of muteness. There is probably a reference to the prophet Ezekiel who had a similar experience in the Old Testament. He remained mute for a certain period, as if to indicate a break, an interruption. Zachariah recovers his speech when his son John is born.

It is a passing phase; the old priesthood ends, the old Levite priest has gone speechless. That ends the Old Testament. The grace of God bursts into history to start a new reality in parallel to the announcement of the Baptist. Luke narrates the announcement of Jesus. In fact, immediately afterward, we find the splendid and well-known episode of the Annunciation. Luke does not describe the details of the environment, but simply places the characters, “In the sixth month….,” that is, six months after the conception of John the Baptist, following the angel’s announcement… “God sent the angel Gabriel” – the same one who had been sent to the temple, “to a city in Galilee called Nazareth.”

Note the contrast: the first annunciation takes place in Jerusalem, the center of tradition, the heart of Israel’s faith. In the temple – the holiest place in Hebraism, addressed to a man, a priest, an elder, therefore, by definition, with authority. In this second case, instead, the environment is the periphery, marginal, a small town in Galilee, outside properly of the holy land, which is Judea, around Jerusalem. Galilee is the district of these people, an environment also inhabited by many pagans.

The town of Nazareth is unknown in the Old Testament; it is never mentioned. Nothing ever happened that was worth remembering at that place. And the recipient of this announcement is a young woman, a virgin, named Mary, betrothed to a man from David’s house named Joseph. Why one of David’s family, originally from Bethlehem, is living in Nazareth is not explained.

This young woman to whom the angel Gabriel addresses is engaged to Joseph. In other words, the marriage contract had already been made. According to the usual practice in Judaism, marriage was celebrated in two moments; the first, with the official contract, involved all the duties of the matrimonial union, except coexistence. In this way, it became official that the two intended to get married and, therefore, dated for what was necessary to prepare the house. After some time, a few months up to a year, the two would go to live together, with a feast that marked the beginning of coexistence. In this time, between the marriage contract and the beginning of cohabitation, the announcement event takes place.

The angel Gabriel introduces himself to Mary and brings her a message. Luke reports a kind of theatrical text, where only the words are spoken, direct speech, no comments or descriptions. The angel says … Mary answers … the angel says … Mary answers … the angel left. Everything is direct speech, and in this direct speech there is, certainly, the literary and theological skill of Luke.

He is the narrator who intervenes to construct the text well which has a great theological message. The angel greets Mary with an important formula: Χαῖρε = Jaire = Rejoice. He does not call her by her name but by a complex adjective: κεχαριτωμένη = kejaritomene = transformed by grace. “The Lord is with you” – it is the greeting addressed to the leaders, to Moses, to Joshua, to Gideon when they were entrusted with a great task. Mary is amazed and wonders what sense such a greeting has. She realizes that this type of greeting is addressed to a great hero who is entrusted with an exceptional undertaking. The angel explains the meaning of such an important greeting: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. Behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name him Jesus. He will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom, there will be no end.”

Basically, the angel tells her: ‘You will have a son, this child will be the Messiah and will inaugurate the messianic kingdom.’ Mary is engaged to Joseph. The angel did not tell her ‘you are expecting a baby’ rather, he tells her that she “will conceive” a child. Therefore, there is no objection from Mary who does not say that she has not had sexual intercourse so it is not possible that she is expecting a child. But she asks how this will happen since ‘I have no relations with a man,’ and at this moment I have no intention of meeting a man. There is a desire for virginity on the part of Mary that needs clarification. It’s like going to a spiritual director; the young woman who has no other image from experience other than marriage, asks: ‘So, my idea of virginity is not founded. If you tell me that I am going to have a baby, then I will not remain a virgin.’

And the angel completes the announcement by explaining that she will be a mother precisely because she is a virgin. The virginity that is being talked about goes beyond the physical; it is the virginity of the heart: κεχαριτωμένη = kejaritomene = transformed by grace; it mentions the quality of that girl who is a woman totally marked by grace; redeemed perfectly and it is precisely the virginity of the heart of that woman, which will make the incarnation possible. She can become the mother of God because she is a virgin, because she truly accepts the announcement.

The angel explains that “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 called holy, the Son of God.” Not just Messiah, but Son of God. He adds a sign, almost a test: “And behold, Elizabeth, your relative, has also conceived….” Do you remember her? —the angel seems to say—. Everyone called her sterile, it seemed that she could not have children, instead, she is in the sixth month, for nothing will be impossible for God.” Mary does not react like Zachariah, she did not hesitate, but asked for an explanation, “How can this be,” and when the angel proposes this extraordinary modality that corresponds to her desire for virginity, she enthusiastically says: “May it be done to me according to your word! γένοιτό μοι = guénoito moi!

In Greek, it is optional, indicating the wish: I am really happy, ‘”I am the handmaid (servant) of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” It is not a term of humility. The servant of God, the prime minister, is the important person in court; it is the only time it appears feminine. Mary understands that she has been chosen to be plenipotentiary. She has been given a grand task and she accepts it. “Then the angel departed from her.”