Luke 1:26-29 26Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David, and the virgin’s name was Mary. 28And after coming to her he said, “Greetings, favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29But she was greatly confused at the saying and wondered what sort of greeting this might be.
The story of Mary runs parallel to the story of Zechariah. Luke has arranged these account on purpose to highlight faith or the lack of it. The story of Mary begins with the time reference of the sixth month. The context of verse 36 implies that this would be the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy. The location was the village of Nazareth located a three-day’s walk from the hills of Judea where Elizabeth lived. Compared to Elizabeth, Mary had no shame because she was a pure and undefiled virgin. The word virgin (parthenon) means a young, unmarried girl. The word is used in Isaiah 7:14 in a prophecy of the future Messiah.
Mary was committed to be married to Joseph of the same village. Betrothal was a formal agreement to marry. The bride legally became the groom’s and was called his wife. The actual marriage was about a year later. A woman could be as young as 12, but there is no mention of Mary’s age. She would not have been living with Joseph but only after the formal marriage. The mention of Joseph, who was from the line of David, adds further confirmation that what was about to take place was in fulfillment of messianic prophecies (Matthew 1:16). The early church fathers Justin, Ignatius, and Origen all believed that Mary was also from the line of David.
The appearance of the angel Gabriel was a shock for Mary, as it was for Zechariah. No one can stand in the presence of God without some degree of awe, reverence, or disturbance. The times that Gabriel is mentioned by name in the Bible are somehow related to the good news of the coming of the Messiah. The Greek word angel means someone who brings a message. Every good and pious Jew would realize that the mention of Lord clearly referred to Adoni (“my Lord”), a reverent replacement for God’s sacred name Yahweh. Verses 28 and 30 indicate that God was pleased with Mary. The word favored (in the form of a perfect participle kecharitōmenē) shares the same root as “grace” and has the sense of showing a special grace or gift upon someone. At this point in the story, she was also honored before other people because of her purity. But this honor would soon be reversed with her pregnancy without a husband (verse 31). Mary did not know what to do with this greeting. The word confused (dietarachthē) indicates great perplexity and is related to the word (etarachthē) used for how Zechariah responded in fear in verse 12. They both basically responded in the same way to Gabriel, but the word “fear” is not used here in reference to Mary. Mary was special but human. How would she respond to an announcement from Gabriel? Would she be like Zechariah?
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