26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, ‘Greetings, favoured one! The Lord is with you.’ 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. 31And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 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. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.’ 34 Mary said to the angel, ‘How can this be, since I am a virgin?’ 35 The angel said to her, ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.’ 38 Then Mary said, ‘Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.’ Then the angel departed from her. [Luke 1:26-38, NRSV]
The Annunciation (detail), c. 1660, by Bartolomé Esteban Perez Murillo.
There is a world-changing significance in Mary’s Fiat (“Let it be done to me”) at the Annunciation. Yet, it is also commonly neglected, and often unacknowledged. It is the theological significance of the proper exercise of human freedom.
Luke in chapter one of his Gospel stresses the reality that in the Incarnation, God seeks human collaboration. The purpose of the Incarnation is human salvation – to show sinning humanity a better way to live that is close to the heart and vision of God. The seed of salvation is immersed in the Incarnation. In salvation, therefore, God takes the initiative. Sinning humanity cannot save itself. God sees, God has compassion, God helps – that is how, in broad picture, Jesus describes God’s activities in human salvation in the Parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). In love and mercy, and at great sacrifice, God steps in definitively to interrupt the death-bound trajectory of a sinning humanity.
That having been said, while God takes the initiative in both the Incarnation and human salvation, it is not all up to God. God does not do everything. Humanity always has a meaningful role to play in positive response to God’s love and vision for kingdom-living. And so, just as this theological concept is of immeasurable importance for the Incarnation of the Son of God, it is likewise of tremendous significance in the Christian study of soteriology (the theology of salvation effected by Jesus Christ). Any soteriology would be found wanting without a decisive inclusion of the exercise, in true human freedom, by Jesus of Nazareth of his human freewill in perfect and definitive obedience to God’s love and vision for humanity.
This is a matter on which we have written an academic paper published as “From Mountain to Mountain: The Tremendous Significance of Jesus’ True Humanity for Salvation”. Those with access may refer to the huge volume titled Answerable for Our Beliefs: Reflections on Theology and Contemporary Culture, Louvain Theological & Pastoral Monographs 48, eds. Peter De Mey et al., (Leuven: Peeters, Sep 2022), pp.135-153. With a three-year publishers’ prohibition against private publication of individual papers in that volume, we shall have to wait till September 2025 before we can post our article in the “Slightly More Theological” category on this website.
In the present post, what we shall do is to highlight the significance beyond measure of Mary’s exercise of her human freedom to enable the Incarnation of the Son of God to take place. On this very subject, Pope Benedict XVI sees it clearly and expresses it with stunning clarity. He draws from an Advent sermon of St. Bernard of Clairvaux and writes:
- “After the error of our first parents, the whole world was shrouded in darkness, under the dominion of death. Now God seeks to enter the world anew. He knocks at Mary’s door. He needs human freedom. The only way he can redeem man, who was created free, is by means of a free ‘yes’ to his will. In creating freedom, he made himself in a certain sense dependent upon man. His power is tied to the undeniable ‘yes’ of a human being.”
However, the angel’s greeting unsettled Mary. Human puzzle, fear (Pope Benedict argues against the idea that Mary was in ‘fear’), incomprehension and perhaps a mixture of emotions was troubling Mary. She was a simple village girl. Confronting her was nothing short of a head-spinning, colossally “crazy” proposition that she, a virgin and unmarried, would or could bear a child, let alone the Son of God. Her mind simply could not take in and process such big ideas as the Incarnation of the Son of God and all that; it could not compute!
So, naturally, she would hesitate and ask questions. We appreciate realistic paintings portraying her recoiling in fear. (See, for examples, Ecce Ancilla Domini, by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1850; The Annunciation and the Two Saints, by Simone Martini, 1333.) We feel for Mary as Scripture recounts the story with the remark that she “was greatly troubled” (Luke 1:29). Who wouldn’t be?
And so, she hesitates and she asks questions. Citing St Bernard, Pope Benedict underscores that God’s plan of salvation hangs in the balance, while “heaven and earth holds its breath”. In meditation, even St. Bernard became proactive and urged Mary that, just this once, do not be humble but be daring. Give us your “yes”.
- “This is the crucial moment when, from her lips, from her heart, the answer comes: ‘Let it be to me according to your word.’ It is the moment of free, humble yet magnanimous obedience in which the loftiest choice of human freedom is made.” (Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth: The Infancy Narrative, 36.)
Mary’s fiat set in motion the Jesus event in history and the world has never been the same since. Her assent to God’s will represents her unflagging devotion and becomes a model for Christians. Because Jesus Christ is ‘the power of God and the wisdom of God,’ Mary became the Sedes Sapientiae, the seat of wisdom.
Mary, who bore Jesus Christ in her womb, became the Ark of the New Covenant (CCC, 2676). For spirituality and Christian living, we note that Mary could carry Jesus the Word of God in her womb because she first accepted the Word of God in her heart. She was the first Christian and she shows us that to be a Christian means to have Jesus in our heart!
She thus points to a basic truth in Christian living: to give birth to “Christ the Word” in our lives, and to be the heart of God for the world, we need first to accept the Word of God into our heart, just as Mary did.
In this regard, Pope Benedict is comprehensive as a great theologian. In his book cited above, he goes on to demand our attention on the final sentence in Luke’s annunciation narrative: “And the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:38). Real work always awaits humanity after divine revelation. Like Peter, James and John, we would be grossly mistaken if we thought we could just stay forever to enjoy the mountain “high” after the glorious Transfiguration, for Jesus would sooner terminate their dream by leading them down to the foot of the mountain where human miseries await redress in Christian service.
And so, after the departure of the angel, Mary remains alone, her life completely changed, and “the task that truly surpasses all human capacity” awaits her. There are no angels around to help. She has to continue on her own on a path “that leads through many dark moments … right up to the night of the Cross.”
Mary remained faithful throughout her life. It is hugely important, as biblical scholars have noted that, at the foot of the Cross, Mary as a model of perfect faith was given to the beloved disciple who represents all of us – the beloved followers of Christ. On the cross, Jesus inaugurated the new era of the community of believers right at the foot of the cross – where his mother was given to the Church and vice versa (John 19:26-27). Mary thus became Mother par excellence of the Church Jesus left behind for she is the model of belief and discipleship. (See Mary in the New Testament, eds. Raymond E. Brown et al., pp. 288-89.)
A blessed Christmas to you all.
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, December 2023. All rights reserved.
To comment, email jeffangiegoh@gmail.com.