CRITICAL NOTES
Luke 1:26. The sixth month.—I.e. not of the year: the reference is to the time indicated in Luke 1:24. Nazareth—St. Luke alone informs us that this village was the place of Mary’s residence before the birth of Jesus; from St. Matthew’s narrative we might have inferred that it was Bethlehem. The two Gospels are thus shown to be independent of each other, though there is no contradiction between them. Nazareth was an obscure village; it is not mentioned in the Old Testament, the Talmud, or the writings of Josephus. “This is important in its bearing on the originality of our Lord’s teaching. In Nazareth the only instruction He would receive would be in His own family and in the synagogue; there He would not be under the influence of Grecian culture, nor that of Rabbinical teachers, with whose whole spirit and system His own was most strongly contrasted” (Speaker’s Commentary).
Luke 1:27. Espoused.—Rather, “betrothed,” “contracted”: a ceremony which among many nations has always preceded marriage, and to which great importance has been attached. House of David.—Mary’s own descent from David is nowhere asserted, though it seems to be taken for granted in Luke 1:32; Luke 1:69. The two genealogies are those of Joseph; it is most probable that Joseph and Mary were first cousins, so that her genealogy would be involved in his. Mary.—The same name as Miriam.
Luke 1:28. Highly favoured.—One on whom grace or favour has been conferred. The Lord is with thee.—Perhaps should be, “The Lord be with thee”: a frequent form of salutation in the Old Testament. Blessed art thou among women.—Omitted in the best critical editions; probably taken from Luke 1:42.
Luke 1:31. Jesus.—This is the Greek form of the name Joshua, which means “the salvation of Jehovah,” or “Jehovah the Saviour.” In two passages of the New Testament the name Jesus occurs when the reference is to Joshua: Acts 7:45; Hebrews 4:8.
Luke 1:32. Shall be called.—Shall be publicly recognised as what He really is, the Son of God (2 Samuel 7:14; Psalms 2:7; Psalms 89:27). The throne of His father David.—A clear revelation of His Messiahship. The prophecy of the physical descent of the Messiah from David is found in Psalms 132:11.
Luke 1:33. There shall be no end.—A universal and supernatural kingdom. Cf. Isaiah 9:7; Daniel 7:14.
Luke 1:34. How.—“The question of Mary expresses, not unbelief, or even doubt, but innocent surprise” (Speaker’s Commentary).
Luke 1:36. Thy cousin Elisabeth.—Rather, “kinswoman”; the exact nature of the relationship is unknown. It does not follow from this that Mary was also of the tribe of Levi; as intermarriage between members of different tribes was allowed, except in the case of heiresses. Reference is made to the pregnancy of Elisabeth as an example of the power of God’s creative word.
Luke 1:37. Nothing.—Rather, “no word.” R.V. “no word of God shall be devoid of power.”
Luke 1:38. Be it unto me.—The words reveal not only obedient submission, but patient, longing expectation.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— Luke 1:26-38
A Chosen Vessel and an Angelic Declaration.
I. The chosen vessel of the Divine purpose.—A village maiden, of whose previous history we know almost nothing, has the quiet tenor of her life in the little belated village of Nazareth strangely broken by the appearance of the angel Gabriel. Of the maiden’s birth, parentage, and breeding we are told nothing. An ancient and constant tradition asserts that she was one of the many descendants of David who had sunk into obscurity and penury; and the tradition must be true, if we are to read the title “Son of David,” often given to Jesus, in a literal sense. But we may infer from what we are afterwards told of her that she was
(1) a devout student of the prophetic scriptures, giving to “hiding” and “pondering in her heart” any Divine word of hidden significance, since her Magnificat is a chain of citations from, and allusions to, the Old Testament writings;
(2) that she specially pondered the Messianic prophecies, as if she cherished the hope, in common with all Jewish women, that Jehovah might “condescend to her low estate,” and make her to be mother of the “Son of the Highest,” since she turns all the texts she cites to a Messianic use; and
(3) that she was not simply “just” or “righteous” in the Jewish sense, but one of those pure and saintly souls who are utterly devoted to a Divine life and service. There must have been eminent spiritual preparedness in this “graced” flower of Israel and humanity. For
(4) when she understands the angelic errand and message, and is conscious of all the pain and shame it will bring upon her, even to the loss of her maiden name and honour, she meekly submits herself to the Divine will, saying, “Be it unto me according to Thy word.” Mary asks no sign, like Zacharias. Her question is one of maidenly simplicity. And “supernatural faith, never so taxed in any earth-born one before or after, is rewarded with the promise of the overshadowing Spirit and power of the Highest.”
“Yes, and to her, the beautiful and lowly,
Mary, a maiden, separate from men,
Camest Thou nigh, and didst possess her wholly,
Close to Thy saints, but Thou wast closer then.”
II. The angelic declaration.—The angelic declaration gives the sum of Divine revelation and the Church’s doctrine concerning the person and government of the Redeemer.
1. His pure and perfect humanity is proclaimed. Jesus, the Saviour of men, was to be conceived and born of a human mother, and therefore possessed of every essential element of our nature, including its subjection to infirmity and the possibility of death. He entered into the world a true man.
2. But He—the same Jesus—was to be the “Son of the Highest,” having no father, but God, through the power of the Holy Ghost. “The altar of the Virgin’s womb was touched with fire from heaven.” “Conceived of the Holy Ghost” is an article of faith on a level with “born of the Virgin Mary.” In His eternal generation Son of God, in His human birth Son of man, both names are for ever to belong inseparably to His one person, to be used interchangeably in His own Divine majesty. “He shall be great”; not, like His forerunner, “in the sight of God”—“great” as God’s equal, and head of humanity.
3. The angel adds the substance of Messianic prediction concerning the “increase of His government.” Gabriel’s words are a text waiting for illustration and expansion by a higher than angelic interpreter.
(1) He is the Messiah, seated on the throne of “His father David.” These words descend from heaven to earth—from the “Son of God,” a revealed truth beyond Jewish expectation, to the “Son of David,” the current Messianic hope when Jesus appeared.
(2) He is the Messianic King of an eternal kingdom. The angel does not burden the Virgin’s soul with any announcement of the via dolorosa by which her Son would reach His Messianic throne. He is predicted to rule over the “house of Jacob,” the true spiritual Israel, in a dominion which, unlike the kingdom of visible Israel, is to “have no end.” Beyond this the angel’s commission does not extend. In due time angels will again take up the theme, and fill the world with its echoes.
III. The response of faith.—To such an undreamt-of, sudden, overwhelming call—a call to such a glorious destination, and to such a pinnacle of unearthly and unique greatness—the greatest summons ever sent from heaven to a mortal creature—there is the prompt response of profound and humble obedience: “Be it unto me according to Thy word.” What tides of shame and wonder, fear and rapture, swept through the pure heart of this gentle maiden we cannot even conceive. Betrothed, and standing on the verge of her new life with Joseph, there is in the angel’s presence neither dejection nor exultation. The humble Virgin, after his departure, remains in her sweet humility the same. With perfect readiness of trust she receives her Divine commission, and surrenders herself in lowly meekness to the Divine will.—Cox; Pope.
SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luke 1:26-38
Luke 1:26. “A city of Galilee.”—Very different are the circumstances of the two visits of the angel Gabriel to announce the birth of John the Baptist and of Jesus. The first is paid to the priest engaged in sacred duties in the Temple at Jerusalem, the second to an obscure maiden in a humble dwelling in Nazareth. Nazareth, as we know, was held in ill repute by the Jews, and indeed the whole province of Galilee was regarded by them as semi-heathen; yet here it was that one was found whose piety and faith were surpassed by none of whom we read in Holy Scripture—who was counted worthy to be the mother of the Saviour. “This message announced the exaltation of man’s nature above angels (Hebrews 2:5; Hebrews 2:9; Hebrews 2:16); yet an archangel joyfully brings it, and angels celebrate the event (Luke 2:13). There is no envy in heaven” (Wordsworth).
Luke 1:27. “House of David.”—The royal house of Israel, with which were associated the memories of the past glory of the nation, and the hopes of its future greatness, was now in very humble circumstances. Its representative was now a village carpenter; while the throne was occupied by Herod, who was regarded by the majority of the people as an Edomite and a usurper. The contrast between the two illustrates the saying of Solomon, “I have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking as servants upon the earth” (Ecclesiastes 10:7). It is interesting to notice that the mother of John the Baptist, and his mother of Jesus, bore names associated with the first high priest of Israel: Elisabeth is the same with Elisheba, the wife of Aaron; Mary the same with Miriam, the sister of Aaron.
Luke 1:28. “The angel came in.”—There seems to have been less to startle Mary in the appearance of the angel to her than in the case of Zacharias. He comes into the house in a natural way; while Zacharias sees him suddenly appear in the sacred precincts of the Temple, from which all were debarred but the priests in the exercise of their office. She seems to have felt more perplexity at the strange salutation that fell on her ears than fear at the presence of the heavenly visitant. There is nothing in the salutation uttered by the angel to justify the offering of anything like worship to the blessed Virgin: she is addressed as one who has received a special blessing from God, which distinguishes her above all ordinary women. The Vulgate rendering, gratiâ plena, is ambiguous; it should rather be gratiâ cumulata. She is not the fountain of grace, but one who has received grace, from God. Doubtless Mary’s daily prayer had been that she might enjoy the favour of God; and now this prayer she learns is fully granted, and, in addition to it, an honour she would never have hoped to possess is bestowed upon her.
Luke 1:29. “She was troubled.”—In her countenance her astonishment and perplexity are expressed. But she remains silent. “She would rather not answer the angel than speak thoughtlessly of what she could not understand” (Bernhardt.)
Luke 1:30. “Fear not.”—So vast is the distance between us as creatures from our Creator, so deep the gulf that sin has dug between us and Him, that not even the holiest men or women can fail to be affected with fear, whenever the feeblest ray of the Divine glory bursts upon them. Yet the purpose of God in the revelation of His mercy through Christ is to abolish this fear. Hence the apostle says, “For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Romans 8:15).
“Found favour.”—It is the condescension and favour of God, and not any merits of her own, which give Mary her distinction. “By these words the angel witnesses that she is on the same level with all other saints. He does not praise her for her piety, but simply because of the great grace of God by which she is chosen to be the mother of His own Son” (Luther).
Luke 1:31. “Thou shalt conceive.”—Now was the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14 to be fulfilled. And the angel foretells that those other statements given to Israel by messengers from God of Messiah’s universal and unending rule will in like manner find accomplishment. The mind of Mary seems to have been imbued with the scriptures of the Old Testament, as is abundantly indicated by the free use she makes of them in her song of praise. To her knowledge of them the angel now appeals, and her firm faith that God would fulfil all the promises He had made to His people must have strengthened her to believe what was now promised to herself personally.
“Jesus.”—The reason for this name being given is noted in St. Matthew’s Gospel—“for He shall save His people from their sins” (Luke 1:21). It is not a name given by men to Him, after the manner in which grateful nations have bestowed titles of honour upon their deliverers and benefactors, but is given to Him by God. He is our Saviour, not merely because we regard Him as such, but because God has appointed Him to this office: our faith is built not on an earthly but on a heavenly foundation.
Luke 1:32. “He shall be great.”—In these words Gabriel bows before the majesty and power of Jesus—renders to Him that homage which He is to receive from all in heaven and earth. “At the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth” (Philippians 2:10). He was great in heaven, where all obeyed His will; but He is to acquire additional glory by His life on earth, where He endures the contradiction of sinners against Himself. His humility and shame, His immeasurable patience and love, His submission to sufferings and death, win for Him an even deeper adoration than was rendered to Him before. Not that He really became greater than He was; but that His inherent greatness became more fully manifested by His condescension and love.
“Throne of His father David.”—Jesus is head over all things to His Church. He establishes His gentle sway over the hearts of His people, subduing them to Himself, ruling and defending them, and restraining and conquering all His own and all their enemies.—Foote.
Luke 1:33. “Reign over the house of Jacob.”—But His kingdom is not to be confined to one people. Israel is indeed the centre of His kingdom, but all nations are to become subject to Him. The covenant being made with Abraham and his seed, it was becoming that Christ should belong to the chosen people. But all who manifest the faith of Abraham become his spiritual children, and therefore subjects of Messiah’s kingdom. In this way the barrier that divides Jew from Gentile is virtually broken down, and those who had been afar off are brought nigh. Nor is the prophecy annulled by so many of the Jews having rejected Jesus as the Christ; for their history as a nation is not yet concluded, and there is reason to hope that by repentance and faith they will yet submit themselves to the Saviour (see Romans 9:25).
“For ever.”—A kingdom that would endure for ever had been promised to David (2 Samuel 7:16). But as long as it was ruled over by men it was not secure against loss and overthrow. It was only when it came into the hands of Christ that it became eternal and unchangeable (Daniel 7:14). Nor are the words “for ever” to be taken in any limited sense, as signifying for a great while, or as long as the world endures; but as implying an everlasting rule, to be manifested, indeed, more clearly when this earth shall have passed away.
Luke 1:34. “How shall this be?”—The fact communicated by the angel Mary accepts with implicit faith. It is the manner in which it is to be accomplished that she cannot understand. Her question, therefore, does not manifest unbelief, but a natural wonder as to the method of fulfilment. She indicates her astonishment, and not her distrust. The incredulity of Zacharias on receiving a much less astonishing message is very marked, if we compare it with Mary’s attitude on this occasion. The lowly village maiden shows herself possessed of more faith in God than was found in the priest whose duties brought him into constant relations with God.
Luke 1:35. “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee.”—Her wonder, not being incredulity, is solved, in so far as the mystery of God’s creative power can be made clear to a finite mind; and a sign, for which she had not asked, is given to strengthen her faith.
“That holy thing.”—We may notice in this phrase an implied distinction between this child and all others. From the first moment of His earthly existence He is holy in Himself. John the Baptist was to be filled with the Holy Ghost from his mother’s womb (Luke 1:15)—from the first he is to be consecrated and set apart for the great work of his life. In this sense he may be said to have been sanctified; while Jesus is one with that God from whom sanctification proceeds.
“The Son of God.”—Not here (as Luke 1:32) in the Messianic sense, nor essentially by the eternal generation, but because the human nature of Christ was the direct and miraculous production of Divine power.—Speaker’s Commentary.
The Mystery of the Incarnation.—The words spoken by the angels in the synoptical evangelists are few and brief. We can almost count the syllables, accorded as if penuriously. In particular we owe to St. Luke those angel-uttered words which form so exquisite a shrine for the dogma of the Incarnation. In the angel’s answer to Mary’s question we have a sentence whose fulness of thought and delicate transparency of expression come to us from the sphere in which the Miracle of miracles was wrought. The whole sentence is packed with thought, and is a Divine mixture of reserve and enthusiasm. It is like a smile of heaven over the glory of the eternal wisdom and love in bringing its most consummate work from the labyrinth of antenatal fatalities through which man passes into the world. It is thus that the purity of an angel speaks to the purity of a virgin. Yet if not a word too much is said for the delicacy of a maiden’s ear, not a word too little is employed to indicate even the physiological process by which the Incarnation was effected. It is the 139th Psalm translated into one of the tongues of heaven. Yet not the less really is the material process summarised which had been so nobly prophesied in the psalm of the Incarnation.—Alexander.
The Office of the Holy Spirit in the Incarnation.—The Holy Spirit was the immediate agent in the immaculate conception of “that holy thing.” Not that He was therefore the Father of the blessed Son, but He was the vehicle of the paternity. Not again that He so acted that the Son as God had nothing to do with the act of the Incarnation. The Son, in Divine will, willed to assume our nature, and so assumed it; but again the blessed Spirit wrought the process whereby the will was carried out.—Moule.
The Beauty of the Narrative of the Annunciation.—I have always felt myself at a loss to say whether the sublimity or the exquisite delicacy of the language here employed is the more to be admired. Calvin seems to have been struck with it, and the best expositors have felt it.—Brown.
The Spirit in the Son of Man.
I. The early beginnings of this wonderful life were implanted in the virgin mother by an act of the Holy Ghost.—In the annunciation to Mary not only is the supernatural conception declared, but the part of the Spirit in that mystery, about which it is almost impossible to speak, is defined and emphasised. Before the first stage of organic development had dawned He so wrought and ruled that the life fostered in this unique mother was protected against all the frailties of an earthly lineage, and made fit to blend with that Divine consciousness now or hereafter to be infused into it. The Spirit antedated the conception, and was present not as a competing but as a creative and dominating force in life. So richly was the Spirit given to Christ, that His holy influences were pulsing in those rudimentary stages of life which precede all signs of consciousness and moral responsibility.
II. The part of the Spirit in the conception (as well as in all the after-work of Jesus Christ) seems to suggest that independence of persons in the holy and blessed Trinity, about which we know so little, but which clearly preceded all the economies of human redemption. These sacred names of Father, Son, and Spirit do not represent merely latent potentialities in the Divine nature waiting for some crisis in human history before they can awake to consciousness and effective operation. In the eternal Godhead there was a co-relation of life scarcely suggested by the parallels of our rigidly defined human personalities. And the action of the Spirit in the miraculous dawn of Christ’s earthly life was the continuation of an influence which penetrated His consciousness and benignly wrought there prior to the Incarnation.—Selby.
Luke 1:36. “Thy cousin Elisabeth.”—The sign given was one of a kind to encourage the faith of Mary in the message of the angel. The creative power of God had been exercised in the case of Elisabeth. Neither her barrenness nor her old age could nullify the promise which had been made her of a son. In the gift of a sign where no sign was asked, we have an example of God’s constant procedure. Each day we live we receive fresh testimonies of His goodness by which our faith may be confirmed. The mercy and favour which others receive from Him should enable us to trust all the more firmly in Him at those times when we cannot understand His dealings with ourselves. Notice, “thy cousin Elisabeth.” The relationship to Mary, and the name she bore, are mentioned as known to God. There is something wonderful and affecting in this fact, though, after believing that God is omniscient, evidence of His being so may not seem remarkable. But the truth is, that we cannot realise what is meant by omniscience, and therefore find special knowledge of the kind here surprising.
Luke 1:37. “No word of God shall be devoid of power.”—Nothing that God promises is He unable to perform: all that He says He does. “This affirms not only God’s almightiness, but even more fully His absolute faithfulness to His promises, the thought most necessary to Mary. The denial of what is miraculous is the denial both of almightiness and faithfulness” (Schaff).
Luke 1:38. The Humility and Faith of Mary.—As David (2 Samuel 7:28), so does David’s daughter sink down in child-like humility and faith into the hands of her God, and let His will be her will. It is well for us that the Lord thus found on earth a believing heart, devoted to God, otherwise He could never have become man. “She was no unconscious vessel of the Divine will, but, in humility and faith, a fellow-worker with the purpose of the Father; and therefore her own unity with that purpose was required, and is here recorded” (Alford). Mary has restored woman to honour: the faithlessness of Eve brought us to sin and death; the faith of Mary brought us a Saviour from sin and death. “The heart of Mary is now filled with the Holy Spirit, who can also prepare her body to be the temple of the God-man” (Lange). “The holy Virgin came to her great perfection and height of piety by a few, and those modest and unattractive, exercises and actions. St. Paul travelled over the world; preached to the Gentiles and disputed against the Jews; wrote epistles; suffered dangers, injuries, affronts, and persecutions to the height of wonder; whereby he won for himself a crown. But the holy Virgin attained perfection by the means of a quiet and silent piety—by internal actions of love, devotion, and contemplation; and instructs us that the silent affections, the splendours of an internal devotion, the union of love, humility, and obedience, the daily offices of prayer and praises sung to God, acts of faith and fear, of patience and meekness, of hope and reverence, repentance and charity, and those graces which walk in a veil and silence, make great ascents to God, and as sure progress to favour and a crown, as the more ostentatious and laborious exercises of a more public religion” (Taylor).
Complete Consecration of the Being to God.—“And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word.” So much is said in the word of God concerning the depravity of the human heart, and so familiar is the fact to us from what we know of ourselves, that it strikes us with wonder and admiration when we come across a record of a human life in which we can find no outstanding blemish. Acts of heroic faith, and instances of remarkable integrity in circumstances of temptation, are numerous in the sacred record, but there are only very few examples of persons who have, all through the history that is given of them, lived before God in all good conscience. The Virgin Mary is one of these exceptional cases. And we cannot doubt but that piety like hers is the highest and purest service that can be rendered to God. The devotion that prompts to heroic deeds at great crises in the life, or in special circumstances of trial and difficulty, is admirable; but that which leads to quiet, unostentatious obedience to God, in the unromantic circumstances of every-day life, is surely superior to it, as it is far more difficult to cultivate and maintain. Several points in the history before us are worthy of notice.
I. Though the faith of the Virgin was so mature and strong, there can be no doubt but that she was young in years. The piety of the young, when it is spontaneous and deep, has a charm and freshness all its own. Beautiful as is the sight of the prodigal turning from his errors and vices to a life of holiness, a still more attractive charm is associated with the goodness of those who have never strayed from God—whose memories are not sullied with the records of a guilty past, and whose energies have not been wasted in the service of evil. Nor is there any reason in the nature of things why piety like that of the Virgin should not be the rule instead of the exception. For devotion to God, and holy obedience, are not a yoke of bondage, which we can only accustom ourselves to bear by long and laborious effort: they are the very conditions of our present peace and happiness.
II. The qualities of mind and heart displayed by the Virgin—her innocence, integrity, simplicity, humility, and obedience—prepared her for playing her part well in the new circumstances in which she found herself. She could not have anticipated the possibility of receiving such a message. For though in the Old Testament Scriptures it had been predicted that Christ would be born of a virgin, the prophecy was veiled and obscure, and it was not until the angel brought this message that the mystery was fully disclosed. But her consecration of herself to God in the ordinary circumstances of daily life enabled her to meet this sudden call upon her faith, and to rise to a high degree of heroic self-devotion in this new emergency in which she found herself. A great lesson is suggested to us all in this fact. How we shall act in some sudden crisis of life is predetermined for us by our habitual conduct, and by the character we build up in quiet times, when there is no strain upon us, and we are simply face to face with plain, every-day duties. The sudden emergency is the test by which the strength or weakness of our characters is brought to light. If, therefore, we wish to be prepared act nobly in special circumstances of trial and difficulty, the only wise course we can take is to do the duties that meet us now in a spirit of uprightness and of humble reliance upon God.
III. The spirit of true self-consecration shines out in the words, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word.” It is not merely that of passive resignation, in which the human will is completely subordinated to the Divine will; but there is also a desire to carry out the Divine will. We are often resigned because we cannot help ourselves. But a higher resignation is that which leads us to yield ourselves to God in the full confidence that He knows what is best for us, and with the strong but humble desire to co-operate with Him in the promotion of His great designs.
“Be it unto me according to Thy word.”—Almost the very first word which Scripture records of the mother of our Lord is a word of piety—a word of sweet maiden piety. It is a reverent assent to a Divine revelation, and complete submission to a conviction which has entered her soul as a message from heaven, setting her apart to a consecrated life. The spirit of this noble expression of piety is not too powerful at the present day.—Roberts.