God planned every Word of the Scripture He co-authored since before He breathed life into Adam. Scripture is the Word of God. The 2nd Person of the Trinity is the Logos, The Word God speaks. He is the 10 Commandments and Scripture. He is Christ. So every word of Scripture matters. But not every word represents God's direct thoughts, because it is often a narrative, and not every person in it is in line with God's will.
Until Christ, we paid special attention to the prophets as representatives of God's thought. But they were men. Although they represented God's will accurately, they failed as men, at times.
Not so with God's Archangels. They do not fail. They do not misunderstand. They do not make mistakes in the messages they convey. When an archangel shows up, we sit up and pay close attention, because we know this is a special moment, and we know we can trust every Word he says. Indeed, we must! It's required.
Their demeanor, too, is important, as is the reaction to them. In Daniel 8:16-17, Daniel meets Gabriel, and he "fell on his face trembling." Archangels are spectacular, beautiful, and terrifying. In Judges 13, an angel who was likely Gabriel announced to Samson's barren mother that she would conceive. She told her husband that he was "terrible" or "awful" in the majestic but super scary sense of the word. When Gabriel appeared to Zachary to announce John the Baptist's conception, Zachary was terrified, which goes to my point about how angels appear.
What he did is important for my second point. We're obliged to believe every word they say. Because Zachary said, essentially, "that's impossible. My wife and I are old."
For doubting, Gabriel struck him dumb until John's naming day, when he spoke John's name.
Remember, the Holy Spirit Himself ensures that these details make it to us.
A. How people perceive Gabriel matters.
B. Every word he says matters, as if God spoke it Himself. Indeed, Gabriel means "power of God."
The very next time we see Gabriel is in the same chapter of Luke. What happens is absolutely astounding. If you're not paying attention, you'll miss it completely. Gabriel greets Mary with the salute "Hail!" This salutation, especially then, was one given from inferior to superior, e.g. "Hail Caesar." Next, Gabriel gives her a title: "Full of Grace." Remember, this is an Archangel. He does not waste a single word. Each word has meaning. Gabriel is saying there is no evil in her whatsoever. That she is immaculate, and completely filled with God's grace.
Don't believe me? This is Martin Luther:
"She is full of grace, proclaimed to be entirely without sin—something exceedingly great. For God's grace fills her with everything good and makes her devoid of all evil."
Personal {"Little"} Prayer Book, Luther, 1522.
And:
"It is a sweet and pious belief that the infusion of Mary's soul was effected without original sin; so that in the very infusion of her soul she was also purified from original sin and adorned with God's gifts, receiving a pure soul infused by God; thus from the first moment she began to live she was free from all sin."
Martin Luther's Sermon: "On the Day of the Conception of the Mother of God," 1527
The next words Gabriel utters are: "the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women." Remember - the Archangel speaks for God. Every word is precise. Every word matters.
Again, Martin Luther agrees:
"[She's the] highest woman and the noblest gem in Christianity after Christ. She is nobility, wisdom, and holiness personified. We can never honor her enough."
Martin Luther Sermon, Christmas, 1531.
And:
"No woman is like you. You are more than Eve or Sarah, blessed above all nobility, wisdom, and sanctity."
Luther Sermon, Feast of the Visitation. 1537.
"Mary is the Mother of Jesus and the Mother of all of us even though it was Christ alone who reposed on her knees...If he is ours, we ought to be in his situation; there where he is, we ought also to be and all that he has ought to be ours, and his mother is also our mother."
Martin Luther Sermon, Christmas, 1529.
Indeed, then Mary herself confirms the amazingly reverent salutation of this angel then, in her humility, she becomes troubled by it: "Who having heard, was troubled at his saying, and thought with herself what manner of salutation this should be." It's a singular salutation. No angel has ever greeted a human in this way. It's also a title of enormous implications, one that her humility would not have allowed her to presume.
Gabriel then goes on to tell her that she will conceive and give birth to Our Lord. Note well her response: "How shall this be done, because I know not man?" Now pay close attention: Gabriel spoke in the future tense. Mary is betrothed (legally married, but not final). A future conception would not be unusual at all here - except that she was a consecrated virgin. This was not uncommon back then. Joseph would certainly have known.
Note also that she does not question that it will happen at all, she simply asks how God is going to do it. And note finally that this little virgin does not seem surprised that an angel is talking to her, or afraid.
Again, Martin Luther agrees:
"He, Christ, our Savior, was the real and natural fruit of Mary's virginal womb...This was without the cooperation of a man, and she remained a virgin after that."
Luther: Sermons on John, chapters 1-4. 1537-39
"Christ...was the only Son of Mary, and the Virgin Mary bore no children besides Him... "brothers" really means "cousins" here, for Holy Writ and the Jews always call cousins brothers."
Luther: Sermons on John, chapters 1-4. 1537-39.
Today is the Feast Day of the Annunciation of Our Lord to Mary by the Angel Gabriel.
Today is the day the calendar turned to zero, and hope began.
Today is the day that God asked consent of a little virgin, and the Holy Ghost became her spouse.
Today, the Word became flesh, because she said "yes."
THANK YOU, my Lady.
@JonahofNinevah
March 25,2021
