Sunday 21 December 2014

Psalm: Psalm 89

Background

Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent, when traditionally ourthoughts turn to Mary, and her part in the coming of theMessiah.

This passage shows off Luke's skills as a storyteller, withbeautiful narrative, wonderful characterisation, and a spectacularintroduction to the main plot. But throughout the Gospel, thepurpose is simple: to share the story and truth of Christ. So thisstory, on the surface about Mary and her encounter with an angel,is more fundamentally about Jesus and his identity as theMessiah.

Much is made in this passage of Mary's identity as a virgin. Itis mentioned twice at the point at which she is introduced, and herown instinctive objection is, literally, that "I do not know a man"(translated by the NRSV as "I am a virgin"). The verse which hasgiven rise to this expectation of virgin birth is Isaiah7:14: "Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear ason, and shall name him Immanuel." The word for 'young woman' canalso be translated 'virgin', and by the time of Luke's Gospel, thisis a strong tradition of interpretation, followed by the Greektranslation of Jewish scripture. Thus, it became one aspect ofpopular expectation about the Messiah, that he would be born to avirgin.

Similarly important is Joseph's lineage. If he is to be eligiblefor the role of father (biological or adoptive) of the Messiah, hemust in some sense stand in the line of David. There were manyunderstandings of what, or who, the Messiah would be, but they alllooked to David as prototype or ancestor. This point is reinforcedin verse 32, where Mary's son is to be given the throne ofDavid.

And in case all of this doesn't emphasise strongly enough Jesus'identity, there are the names which he is given. He is referred toas "Son of the Most High" (v. 32) and "Son of God" (v. 35). He isconnected by lineage to David and to Joseph, but more cruciallystill, he has a very direct connection to God.

To Ponder

• The main character in this story is Mary, but the focus is noton her but on her unborn son. Her importance lies in her purity(verse 27), her obedience (verse 38) and her identity as a mother.And yet she is one of the few women to be named, and important,through the Gospel story and throughout Church history. She iscritical to the central event in God's interaction with creation.How has this affected the place of women in the Church and intheology? To what extent has it had a positive effect, or anegative?

• Mary gives her consent, but for a moment, God's plan forsalvation seems to stand in the balance, and the world holds itsbreath, waiting for her response. Could she have said 'no'?