The Fourth Sunday of Advent
Prepare the way for the Lord. Read this week’s readings here.
Details From Mary
We move back again in time in this week’s Gospel, to where we find a very personal passage featuring Mary. Luke’s Gospel is peppered with these unique moments, and Bible scholars believe that Mary, or someone very close to her, was an important source for Luke when he was writing his Gospel. This theory is very logical, because there are a number of moments in this Gospel that only Mary would know this amount of detail. This moment is one of them.
Saying Yes to God’s Plan
Mary’s answer to the angel Gabriel was essential to the plan of salvation. She was saying “yes” to a lot – women found to be pregnant (from another man) while engaged could be stoned to death (Deuteronomy 22:23-24). In the Gospel of Matthew (1:19-21), Joseph was going to divorce Mary quietly, to avoid her being stoned. However, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, and Joseph was reassured. We say this in the Hail Mary all the time: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.” In verse 42 of Luke chapter 1, Elizabeth says this to Mary when Mary visits her. Mary agreeing to be the Mother of Jesus, and all she had to endure for all of our salvation, truly makes her the first of the saints, The Mother of God.
Truly, The Greatest Story Ever Told
- Jesus and John are relatives through their mothers
- John was chosen to be Jesus’s Messenger
- John’s Father Zechariah was a Temple Priest
- Mary stayed with Elizabeth for three months
- Zechariah was mute until John was named
- Mary was a virgin; Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit
- Gabriel visited both Zechariah and Mary