Nine months prior to Christmas, the Feast of the Annunciation on March the 25th is one of the most ancient of the Church’s festival occasions; and in many ways it marks the beginning of the Gospel. Coming as it does in the midst of Lent, it stands out in sharp contrast to that season of repentance. And that is really to the point at hand; for the Light of God in Christ Jesus shines in the midst of deep darkness, in order that you may see and believe and live by that Light, now and forevermore.
Here in the Annunciation — in the Word of the Lord spoken by the Archangel Gabriel — God takes hold of His Creation. As He once took hold of dirt, in order to make the Man, and as He then took hold of the Man’s rib in order to make the Woman for the Man, so here He takes hold of Blessed Mary’s flesh and blood, in order to make the New Man for you and your salvation. He takes hold of Mary’s flesh, and God Himself becomes the Man who knows you and gives you Life.
In taking hold of St. Mary’s flesh God makes Himself a part of His own Creation, and henceforth He lives His divine, eternal Life in His own Flesh, so that you might live your own life-in-the-flesh with God. He thereby takes hold of His whole Creation, but in particular the Man and the Woman, the King and the Queen of His Creation, that He might bestow His good gifts upon them in Love.
That God is conceived and shall be born of this Woman is good news for you and for all people. For St. Mary is your sister in the flesh, a daughter, not only of David’s household and family, but of Adam and Eve, like yourself. But now, in bearing the Son of God, the Savior of all the children of men, she also becomes the Mother of all the Living, of all who are reborn as the children of God by the washing of water with His Word and Spirit — as God the Son is conceived in her womb.
God thus takes hold of His Creation, in order to bring Creation to completion and perfection in the Person of this Son. All is not yet accomplished on this day, but all has begun to be accomplished.
God here becomes Man, the Word becomes Flesh. And why? That He should offer His Body as a Sacrifice and raise that Body again from the dead, and so that He might feed you with His Body.
All of this great Salvation, by which God gives you divine, eternal Life, begins here and necessarily depends upon His work today in the Annunciation of His Word to the Blessed Virgin Mary.
By the Incarnation of God’s Son — which simply means that God, the Son of God, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity actually becomes Flesh, conceived and born of the Woman, flesh of her flesh and blood of her blood — by His Incarnation, by His Holy Cross and Passion, and in His Resurrection from the dead, all of Creation is redeemed and sanctified for the Life everlasting.
That is how it is, and why it is, that all things are given to be received with thanksgiving and are sanctified to your use by the Word of God and prayer; for God Himself lives in the Flesh forever. Let no one say that His Creation is evil or beyond all hope. His Creation is rather a cause for great rejoicing and thanksgiving, notwithstanding the curse of sin and the burden of death in the wake of Man’s tragic Fall. The Incarnation is not only the proof, but the very means by which it is so.
What is more, not only is all of Creation redeemed and sanctified, beginning with this Incarnation of the Son of God in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary; but in particular, the reconciliation of Man to God has here begun. Your fellowship with God is here begun and established in the Body of Christ Jesus, in whom God and Man are truly One — not simply joined together, but truly One. So it is in Him that you are reconciled to God and united with Him in holy fellowship. Indeed, that is your Life, to live with God in Christ Jesus, also in your flesh, in both your body and your soul.
And as Christ lives in perfect faith and holy love, so it is that you now live in faith and love, since you are baptized in His Name and live and abide in Him. From this point onward, everything He does, even as the tiniest Fetus in the womb of His Mother, He does as the true Man. He lives by faith in His God and Father, just as Man was and is created to live by such faith; and He lives in love for all the children of men, whom He is not ashamed to call His own brothers and sisters.
In this Holy Gospel you are given to know the way that God regards you, and the way that He receives and reconciles you to Himself. Here His great Love is made manifest, that though in the flesh you fell, and though with your body you sin, and though you have departed from His ways, He loves you and embraces you to Himself, both body and soul, within Himself, in His own Flesh.
It is in the light of this Incarnation of God the Son — beginning with His conception in the womb — that you likewise regard and receive your neighbor in Jesus’ Name and for His sake. That begins with your tiniest neighbors of all, with infants in the womb, who are so ill regarded by the world, but whom God the Lord has delighted to make His own brothers and sisters in the flesh.
So has taken for Himself and lived in His own Flesh all the stages of human life, from the womb to the tomb. Every circumstance and every situation, every temptation, every hurt and fear, and every frailty of the flesh, God has made His own in the Person of Christ Jesus, the Son of Mary. And with His own Body and Life He has sanctified every part of life for you and your neighbors.
Love your neighbor, therefore, not only for Jesus’ sake, but because it is in your neighbor that you love Christ Jesus. Know that your neighbor shares flesh and blood with God the Son — all the more so if he or she is a Christian, a communicant in the Body and Blood of Jesus. And know that your neighbor’s body and life are precious to God, no matter who or what your neighbor may be.
The same is true for you, as well. You also are precious to your God and Father in heaven, and to your dear Savior, Jesus Christ, who has become like you in every way (save only without sin), that you might be like Him and live with Him forever (set free from sin and death). Your body and life are precious to Him, whatever the frailties and weaknesses of your mortal flesh. Whatever trips and falls you have stumbled in your life, God is with you in the Flesh and Blood of Jesus, and you have found favor with God in Him. In that respect, what is true for St. Mary is no less true for you.
God is gracious toward you. His mercy is upon you — not according to your merit, but according to His grace, His Love and His forgiveness, and His desire for your salvation. He comes to you in Love, and He is with you, not as a stranger, but as your Friend, as your Brother, as your Savior and your God. Indeed, He who is the one true King, your Savior and your God, has come to reign over you in Love, to serve you with Himself, and to make of you a free citizen of His Kingdom, which has no end. You live with Him, because He has come to live with you here in Flesh like yours.
How? How can this be? And how is it done and accomplished? It is all by the Word of His Cross.
It is a great irony and a paradox, and yet it is the truth, that the Cross — which is foolishness and a stumbling block to those who are perishing — is the power of the Most High. It is by the Word of the Cross that the Holy Spirit comes upon you and overshadows you — not to destroy you, and not to terrify you, but to save you and give you Life with God in body and soul, now and forever.
It is the Word of the Cross — this Word of death, of blood and hurt and shame — that raises you from death, and gives you Life, and shines the Light of God upon you in the midst of darkness.
It is the Word of the Cross that was also spoken to St. Mary, even in the Annunciation of such good and gracious news as she received on this day. For the Child she conceives takes flesh and blood from her womb in order to sacrifice it upon the Cross. Her Child comes to die. And as she shares His Life, she also bears the Cross, even in His infancy, and then again at the foot of His Cross.
The same is true of every Christian, every daughter or son of God in Christ Jesus, everyone whom He addresses with the Word of the Cross of Christ. There is this burden of life in this world, in which you are mocked and ridiculed or hurt, in which you are maligned and misunderstood, in which you are put to the test and maybe even put to death for the Name of Christ which you bear.
And yet, it is still that Word of the Cross that gives you Life through the forgiveness of your sins.
The Lord your God loves you, and He knows what He is doing. He’s not out to wreck your life or destroy you. Rather, all that He does is for your sake — it is for your benefit — that you may live.
“Do not be afraid.” Those are precious Words which Gabriel announces to St. Mary, and they are echoed throughout the Gospels on the lips of Christ Jesus. Those Words are also spoken to you.
“Do not be afraid.” Do not be afraid to live the life that God the Lord has given you, even though it is a life under the Cross in this world. Do not be afraid to live the life that God gives to you, although it is a life that you live by the way of death with Christ Jesus, beginning already in your Baptism. And day by day, what does your Baptism indicate? That you should die to live with Him.
Do not be afraid of the vocations and stations in life to which your God and Father has called you. Do not suppose that it will be easy; it often won’t. And do not suppose that anyone else will care; for many will not. But do not be afraid to live wherever the Lord your God has placed you.
To be sure, none of you are called to be the Mother of God, as St. Mary was. But your own calling, along with your life and your flesh, is sanctified and redeemed by the Incarnation of Christ Jesus. Whether you are a celibate virgin and serve the church and your neighbor within that vocation; or whether you are a married man or woman, a mother or father; and whether you have any children of your own or not — wherever God has stationed you, do not be afraid to live in that calling, but do so with confidence and courage, and know that it means something, it matters. Your labors in the Lord are not in vain, for He will accomplish His purposes in you to the glory of His Name.
If you are beaten up and hurt, if you are slapped around, if you are spit upon, if you are crowned with thorns, if you are scourged, if you are nailed to a cross — then rejoice that you are counted worthy to share the glory of your God, who has obtained salvation by suffering those very things.
Do not be afraid. Yes, your sins accuse you, the devil assails you, the world attacks you, and death is always stalking you. But do not be afraid. For here stands and echoes the Word of God, which He has spoken to you and concerning you by His Son — yes, even in the Flesh of Jesus Christ, conceived and born of Mary, crucified and risen from the dead, your merciful and great High Priest.
May it be done to you according to His Word.
May you have Life in the midst of death and Light in the midst of deep darkness. For the Word that God speaks to you — the forgiveness of your sins, the promise of salvation, the gracious adoption of sons, the bestowal of His Holy Spirit, the grace and favor of God in Christ Jesus — this Word that He speaks to you is no less amazing or remarkable than the Word that He spoke to St. Mary. It is no less difficult to believe or to bear. But it is no less true for you than it was for her.
Not only that, but the very same Flesh and Blood that were conceived in her womb, and born nine months later from her body, and crucified under Pontius Pilate, and laid to rest by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea — the same Body of that very same Flesh and Blood, just like yours, now also risen from the dead, alive forevermore — God speaks to you and gives to you that very same Body, and He pours out for you that very same Blood of Jesus Christ here within His Church on earth.
This is His Pledge, and this is the Sign He gives to you, as deep as Sheol and as high as Heaven. The Man from Heaven who has come down and gone back to the Father, making a Way for you — He Himself is the Sign that is given to you. And not only a Sign, but the Substance of your Salvation, your Savior in the Flesh. He is given into your body, to be “conceived” and “born” in you today. May it be done to you according to that Word, that you may have Life in Christ forever.
In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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