As the Orthodox Church gears up to celebrate the Nativity of Jesus Christ, the Sunday after the Annunciation to Zechariah is commemorated, the church commemorates the Annunciation to Mary. The Annunciation to Mary is commemorated twice in a year, the first which will be commemorated on this Sunday and the other on March 25, which falls during the Lenten season. I would like to share a few thoughts that came to me when contemplating towards the coming Sunday.
Mother Mary has been a subject for many poets, artists, sculptors, writers and theologians. Songs and hymns have been dedicated in her honor, and churches, seminaries, monasteries and shrines have been erected in her memory since the apostolic times. She is known as the ‘Queen of Heaven’, the ‘Mediatrix’ and most importantly, the ‘Theotokos’ (which means ‘bearer of God’). Liturgical hymns speak of her as the flower that bore the fruit, the golden censor, the New Jerusalem, the ewe that bore the Lamb, and her womb is said to be more spacious than the heavens. She is said to be more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious beyond compare than the Seraphim. Her memory is invoked at every liturgical service and the Holy Eucharist is begun by calling to remembrance Mother Mary who bore Christ and John the Baptist who baptized Him. Mother Mary is certainly very special to Christians and will always be remembered for being the mother of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
It is ironic, that while Mother Mary is so highly honored by the Church, we should never miss out the low status and powerlessness that she had while she lived and walked in Palestine. If we look at the Gospel narrations of the time of the Annunciation, we can surmise that Mary was not a person of power, but a simple girl in a small town of Galilee, far from the mighty halls of power in Jerusalem and much further than those in Rome, and was unconnected with the motives of the power mongers of the world. She was a member of a despised race, the Jews, a nation that had lost the last bit of its national sovereignty to the Romans in 63 B.C.
In world that respected age, she was young; in a culture that valued marriage, she was single; in a society that revered wealth, she was poor. When we look across the various New Testament references about Mary and Jesus’ family, we can very well conclude that Mary was not considered a celebrity by the world around her. And in this ‘low degree’ was rooted her greatest boast of her invincible humility. Mary was humble, of low degree, powerless in this age, and because of this, God exalted her, making her honorable and powerful – indeed, more honorable than the Cherubim and reigning with her Son in heaven:
The Queen stood at Thy right side, arrayed in golden robes all glorious.
(Psalm 45:9)
While reading the Gospel portion, we realize that the Angel Gabriel’s announcement emphasizes two truths:
- ‘you will conceive in your womb’: Lord Jesus took his flesh-His human nature- from Mary herself.
- ‘He will be great and will be called the Son of the Highest’: the child in Mary’s womb is the Son of God
Thus, the one Person, Jesus, the eternal Son and Word of God, is both fully human and fully divine. This truth is very crucial to understand so that we can defeat the false teaching that Mary conceived a mere man who was later joined by the Son of God. (Source: Orthodox Study Bible)
In the encounter between God’s messenger and the young maiden destined to Mother of God, her “overshadowing” by the Holy Spirit is “Good News” for her and for the entire world! For even though, the Feast of Nativity celebrates the birth of the Word of God, it is the event of Annunciation that reveals the Incarnation, or the “becoming flesh” of the eternal Word of God. It is the Word’s conception in the womb of the Virgin Mary that is the “moment” of the Word’s “enfleshment”. Hence the Church insists on the feast of Annunciation to be celebrated on March 25 as well, as a new human being begins to exist at the moment of conception.
My last thought is regarding the role that Mary played in the story of Nativity. Was the Virgin Mary randomly chosen for the role of being the Mother of God? Was she compelled to fulfill the will of God, regardless of her spiritual relationship with God? Was she a mere instrument overwhelmed or even “used” by God for the sake of God’s eternal purpose? On the contrary, the Annunciation to Virgin Mary is understood and presented by the Church as the supreme example of synergy in the Holy Scriptures. The word synergy denotes the harmonious combination and balance between divine grace and human freedom that can occur between God and human beings. Mary’s faithful response is that of highest obedience to God. The Incarnation is not only the work of God, but it involves the free response of mankind in the person of Mary.
God does not compel, but seeks our free co-operation to be a “co-worker” with God in the process of salvation and deification. In this way, God respects our human self-determination, or what we refer to as our freedom or “free-will”. It is the Virgin Mary’s free assent to accept the unique vocation that was chosen for her from all eternity that allows her to become the Theotokos, the God bearer. This is of course found in her response following her own perplexity:
Behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
St. Luke 1:38
This teaching on synergy finds classical expression in a justifiably famous passage:
The Incarnation of the Word was not only the work of the Father, Son and Spirit – the first consenting, the second descending, and third overshadowing – but it was also the work of the will and faith of the Virgin. Without the three divine persons this design could not have been set in motion; but likewise the plan could not have been carried into effect without the consent and faith of the all-pure Virgin. Only after teaching and persuading her does God make her His Mother and receive from her the flesh which she consciously wills to offer Him. Just as He was conceived by His own free choice, so in the same way she became His Mother voluntarily and with her free consent.
Saint Nicholas Cabasilas’ Homily on the Annunciation
May the prayers of our holy Mother and Theotokos be a stronghold to us.
Your brother in Christ Jesus
Jobin George
