The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary (March 25, 2021)

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be alway acceptable, O Lord, our Strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”

We are gathered, today to celebrate the Feast of the Annunciation, the day when the angel confronted Our Lady to tell her of her role in God’s plan.

It is important that we appreciate Mary’s role because what we affirm about Mary has direct bearing on what we believe about her Son.

One of the great moments in the history of the Church where is is evident was in the Nestorian controversy which occurred in the 4th and 5th centuries. Nestorius was a bishop in the Church, the Archbishop of Constantinople even. He began the controversy by stating that the proper title for Mary is Christotokos which means “the mother of Christ.” The problem with this title was that he was rejecting the traditional and orthodox title of Theotokos which means “the mother of God."

I assure you, this is not merely a semantic or inconsequential debate on a minute point of doctrine. Nor is holding an orthodox view of Mary the same as the excessive Roman Catholic devotional practices that developed later on.

But by saying Mary is the mother of Christ, Nestorius was splitting Christ into two persons. But, as orthodox Christians, we affirm that Christ is one person with two natures — human and divine. You can put the orthodox argument in a simple syllogism:

Mary is the mother of Jesus.

Jesus is God.

Therefore, Mary is the mother of God.

The point in this is to answer the question why we have a feast day celebrating the Virgin Mary: theological statements about Mary directly impact our theology about Christ.

Isaiah 7:10

In Genesis 3, God punishes Adam and Eve for their transgression in the Garden. Yet, in the midst of the punishments, there is a promise made to the woman (which is also a punishment for the serpent) in verse 15, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seen and her seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” Adam and Eve are promised a descendant who would be bit on the heel by the snake but ultimately be victorious by crushing Satan’s head. This is the first articulation of the Gospel, often called the Protoevangelion.

By the time we get to tonight’s Old Testament reading from Isaiah 7:10, we see the promise given to Adam and Eve fleshed out further: “the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold a virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call his name Immanuel [which means God with us].” So the promised seed comes via a virgin.

It has become fashionable for people to deny the virgin birth, citing it as a scientific impossibility.

Of course, this presumes a certain kind of arrogance endemic to modernity: of course it’s a scientific impossibility and it was always known do be as such. It’s not as though it was common in the ancient world for virgins to be walking around pregnant.

The Virgin Birth is the only possibility because Christ had to be both fully human and yet fully God to both identify with us while bridging the gap between God and mankind.

Luke 1:26

In Luke chapter 1, this ancient promise is fulfilled in the Virgin Mary.

The Angel greets her using words now enshrined in the Hail Mary prayer: “Hail thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.” Mary receives favor from God through his grace to play a key part in God’s drama of salvation.

There is a puzzling passage in 1 Timothy 2 where Paul blames Eve for the fall but then, as if to provide consolation, says “women shall be saved through child-bearing.” What does that mean?

It means that in Woman, the curse is reversed. In spite of Eve’s fall, women is saved because of Mary’s participation in the birth of Our Lord.

Mary is the antithesis of Eve: Eve’s actions which led to the Fall are reversed in Mary’s child bearing.

Further, Mary is a type of the Church where we are born again.

It is important that we remember Mary and keep her front and center. She is not only the Mother of God but in birthing Christ, she becomes our Mother.

Her significance is that she always points us to the beautiful work of her Son for our salvation.

So let us go through the rest of Lent keeping Mary close at heart that we might better see her Son.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.