52 - Gabriel's Message

Luke 1:1-1:80

Luke does as he promises, to set out an "orderly account" of the events of Jesus life, teachings, death and resurrection, and later, in Acts, of the birth and spread of the early church.

At the beginning, God's angels announce first to Zechariah and then to Mary what was about to happen.  Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth, who are, like Abraham and Sarah aged and barren, are to have a son, John, who will:

"turn many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.  With the spirit and power of Elijah he will go before him, to turn the hearts of parents to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready a people  prepared for the Lord."

Annunciation by Henry Turner

Then the angel Gabriel appears to Mary, and says, as in other angelic appearances:  "Do not be afraid."  He tells her astounding news:

"you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.  He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.  He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end."

Mary responds with what we have come to call the Magnificat, from the first word in Latin, as her soul "magnifies" the Lord. 

This beloved canticle is said or sung frequently in the daily offices, and too little in other services.  Mary praises God for his mercy on those who fear him, for scattering the proud, and bringing down the powerful from their thrones.  Like the prayer of Hannah, she praises God for having lifted up the lowly, and [having] filled the hungry with good things (Hannah says:  He raises up the poor from the dust; he lifts up the needy from the ash heap...).

Finally John the baptizer is born, and Zechariah praises God with another canticle called Benediuctus Dominus Deus in the Book of Common Prayer:  Blessed be the Lord God of Israel.

 What do the Magnificat and the Benediuctus Dominus Deus mean to you?