The Announcement of Jesus

Most Old Testament texts about marriage reflect Israelite agrarian society in the early Iron Age. Families lived off the produce of the earth. Men, women, and children worked the land, to process its yield, in order to survive. The family property was owned and managed by the male head of the household, who would pass it down to his sons. Sons would remain in their parents’ household, marrying women from outside the immediate family and raising their children on their father’s land (Wright, God’s People, 53–58). Children contributed to the household labor pool, learned how to manage the family farm, and some inherited it upon the death of the family patriarch. In order to keep the property intact, the father would leave most of the inheritance to his oldest son (Deut 22:17).

The general Old Testament practice was for parents to arrange marriages for their children. The parents of a son had a significant stake in deciding who would enter their household and mother their grandchildren. Their role in securing wives for their sons can be seen in stories about the marriages of Ishmael (Gen 21:21), Isaac (Gen 24:1–9), and Er (Gen 38:6). When a man chose his own wife—as with Jacob, Shechem, and Samson—his parents still had an interest in his choice (Gen 28:1–5; 34:4; Judg 14:1–3).

She was engaged to a carpenter in Nazareth named Joseph (Matt. 13:55), and apparently both of them were poor (Lev. 12:8; Luke 2:24).

(Lev. 12:8; Luke 2:24). Among

She had not been chosen for this task because she possessed a particular piety or holiness of life that merited this privilege. The text suggests no special worthiness on Mary’s part.

God’s gracious choice, not Mary’s particular piety (cf. Gen 6:8); for unlike Luke 1:6, nothing is made of Mary’s personal piety either before or after this verse. The emphasis is on God’s sovereign choice, not on human acceptability.

Mary’s surprise was not primarily because it was not customary for a man to greet a woman but because it was not customary for an angel to greet a woman

Mary’s response reveals her humility and honesty before God. She certainly never expected to see an angel and receive special favors from heaven. There was nothing unique about her that such things should happen.

Gabriel affirmed both the deity and the humanity of Jesus. As Mary’s son, He would be human; as Son of the Highest (Luke 1:32), He would be the Son of God (Luke 1:35)

Gabriel affirmed both the deity and the humanity of Jesus. As Mary’s son, He would be human; as Son of the Highest (Luke 1:32), He would be the Son of God (Luke 1:35)

For unto us a Child is born [His humanity], unto us a Son is given [His deity]” (Isa. 9:6). The emphasis is on the greatness of the Son (cf. Luke 1:15), not the greatness of the mother.

Mary knew what would happen, but she did not know how it would happen. Her question in Luke 1:34 was not an evidence of unbelief (cf. Luke 1:18); rather, it was an expression of faith. She believed the promise, but she did not understand the performance. How could a virgin give birth to a child?

Elizabeth’s conception of John the Baptist when she was past childbearing age reveals God’s miraculous power and confirms the angelic message to Mary. God already had done the impossible in Elizabeth’s case so that the problem Mary raised in 1:34 is insignificant

For example, Deuteronomy 22:13–21 imposed a severe penalty on a bride whose husband discovered that she was not a virgin. She was stoned to death because she had besmirched her father’s honor and violated the reproductive rights of her future husband.

As pregnancy had lifted Elizabeth’s disgrace it would soon bring the virgin Mary disgrace. Both agreed to do what God required (see v. 25).

The Path I Feared

I said, “Let me walk in the field.”

He said, “No; walk in the town.”

I said, “There are no flowers there.”

He said, “No flowers, but a crown.”

I said, “But the skies are black,

There is nothing but noise and din.”

And He wept as He sent me back.

“There is more,” He said, “there is sin.”

I said, “But the air is thick

And fogs are veiling the sun.”

He answered, “Yet souls are sick,

And souls in the dark undone.”

I said, “I shall miss the light,

And friends will miss me, they say.”

He answered, “Choose tonight

If I am to miss you, or they.”

I pleaded for time to be given.

He said, “Is it hard to decide?

It will not seem hard in Heaven

To have followed the steps of your Guide.”

I cast one look at the fields,

Then set my face to the town;

I said: “My child, do you yield?

Will you leave the flowers for the crown?”

Then into His hand went mine;

And into my heart came He;

And I walk in a light Divine,

The path I had feared to see.