NOTES for Luk 1:25-56

As he continues his account, the Evangelist returns again and again to the principal theme of his book: the new and joyful Message proclaimed to all people. After Zechariah, Mary of Nazareth hears this message. On the one hand, She continues the line of biblical righteous people and prophets (compare Her prayer with the song of Hannah, Samuel’s mother, in 1 Samuel 2), recognizing in obedience to God His infinite transcendence and astonishing closeness. On the other hand, She is “blessed among women,” that is, the most blessed, the one who received the fullness of love and was granted the greatest mercy from God. In the Evangelist’s solemn biblical language, the words that occur most often here are “blessing” and “grace,” that is, the good Word and mercy that God gives to humanity. These words probably describe better than any others the Gospel Message first received two thousand years ago by the Mother of the Lord Jesus.