The Annunciation

Many years ago in the town of Nazareth in the north of Palestine there lived a young Jewish girl, the best and purest there could ever be.  Her parents’ names were Joachim and Anne (the same St Anne who is in our Prayer Book Calendar and Common Worship Lectionary against July 26th), and her name was Mary.

Archaeological evidence indicates that in the 1st century AD Nazareth was a relatively poor Jewish village covering less than 10 acres, with a population of 200-400 people.  The houses were built of stacked field stones with thatched roofs and floors of beaten earth, probably covered with wicker mats. (1)

One day, when Mary was probably about 15 years old (2), something very wonderful happened to her.  She suddenly she saw before her one of the Archangels from the Throne of God.  His name was Gabriel.  “Greetings, favoured one!” he said, “The Lord is with you” (NRSV, Luke 1:28).

Mary could not understand what all this meant, and so the angel went on: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God.  And now, you will…bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.  He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High…and of his kingdom there will be no end”.  The angel then told Mary that her Son would have no human father and so would be called Son of God.  “Then Mary said, “Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word’.  Then the angel departed from her” (NRSV, Luke 1:29-38).

We call this the Annunciation of Our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary because the angel made known or announced that she was to be the Mother of the Son of God.  We remember this each year on March 25th, often called Lady Day because Mary is also known as Our Lady.

The Birth of Christ

Registration in Bethlehem

Mary was already engaged to Joseph, the carpenter of Nazareth, and soon after the angel had appeared to her they were married.  Joseph’s parents did not come from Nazareth but from Bethlehem, a town about 70 miles to the south, where King David had once lived.  So it was that when the Government wanted to make a list of everybody (a kind of National Registration) and said that everyone must go to his home town to give in his name, Joseph had to go to Bethlehem.  Mary also decided to go with Joseph.

Jesus is born

I think perhaps they reached Bethlehem in the late afternoon and no doubt Mary and Joseph were glad to see the twinkling lights as the lamps in the houses were lit, for they must have been on the road now for four or five days.  They went first to the inn which was very busy.  “No, no more room: absolutely full up, can’t take any more”.  It was the same all over the town.  People had been coming in all day and there was not a bed to be had anywhere.  But just a moment, there was one place which was warm and dry, not very clean perhaps but better than nothing at all.  There was a little cave which was used as a stable for cattle.  There would be some straw which was softer to lie on than the bare ground.  So Mary and Joseph turned in there.  And during the night her little Son was born.  She wrapped him carefully in bands of cloth and settled him down in the cosiest place she could find, the manger or trough from which the cattle ate their hay.  There she watched him in the light of a lantern.

The shepherds

The quiet of the cave was broken by the sound of footsteps outside and looking up she saw a shepherd, standing rather shyly, I think, at the entrance.  Behind him were others and when they saw that they were welcome they came quietly in. They had been spending the night up on the hills above the town keeping watch over their sheep.  They had lit a fire in case any wild animals tried to disturb the flock, and while they were warming themselves before the blaze the angel of God suddenly appeared and round them shone a light so bright that the fire seemed to grow quite dim.  The shepherds were frightened when they first saw the angel standing by them.  “But the angel said to them, ‘Do not be afraid; for see – I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, who is the Messiah, the Lord.  This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger’.  And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favours’ “ (NRSV, Luke 2:10-14).

When the angels had gone the shepherds, without waiting, ran from the hills to the town of Bethlehem below where they found Mary and Joseph, and the Baby lying in a manger.  It was the first Christmas Day and before them lay God the Son.  He, who made the heaven and the earth, had now come to visit this world of ours as a tiny Infant and was sleeping in an armful of hay.

St Luke mentions the manger three times.  He does so because the manger was a sign to the shepherds – it told them which baby they were looking for.  And the shepherds were told that this Baby, lying in a manger, is the Messiah. (3)

The Wise Men

Later the Wise Men came to pay Jesus their homage and immediately afterwards Mary and Joseph took him to Egypt to save him from being murdered by King Herod.  When Herod was dead they returned to Nazareth.

SUMMARY

1. The Archangel Gabriel announced to Mary in Nazareth that she was to be the Mother of God the Son, and she was to call him Jesus.

2. He was born in a stable in Bethlehem.  He had no human father – Joseph was his foster-father.

3. Jesus’ first visitors were the shepherds, and we call his Birthday, Christmas Day.  Later the Wise Men came to pay him their homage and immediately afterwards Mary and Joseph took him to Egypt to save him from being murdered by King Herod.  When Herod was dead they returned to Nazareth.

References

1. Reed, J.L. (2007) The HarperCollins visual guide to the New Testament.  What archaeology reveals about the first Christians, New York: HarperCollins.

2. Daniel-Rops, H. (1955) Jesus in his time, London: Eyre and Spottiswoode.

3. Wright, T. (2004) Luke for everyone, London: SPCK.