The Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord occurs this week Wednesday, the 25th of March, coming as it almost always does in the midst of Lent. On rare occasions it can fall within the first few days of Easter, but it is normally during Lent and sometimes during Holy Week itself. More than once in my years as a pastor it has occurred on Good Friday, which is especially poignant. There are some indications that the date of the Annunciation was associated with the date of our Lord’s crucifixion, and that together these played a role in determining the date of Christmas nine months later. And to be sure, the Son of God was conceived by the Word and Spirit of God in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in order to sacrifice Himself for our salvation.
Anyway, I’ve long loved the way the Feast of the Annunciation stands out like a light in the darkness in the middle of the Lenten Fast. That really captures the way in which the Incarnation of the Word of God burst into this fallen and perishing world, coming to all of us poor sinners from God, from heaven to earth, in order to make all things new from the inside-out. It is entirely by divine grace that any and all of this is accomplished “for us men and our salvation,” deriving not at all from any merit, work, or worthiness on our part, but miraculously accomplished on our behalf by the Holy Trinity, by the Father’s speaking forth His Son and breathing forth His Spirit.
The Church receives this grace of God and all of the ensuing benefits of the Incarnation, Cross, and Resurrection of the beloved Son, Christ Jesus, in much the same way that St. Mary received the same Son of God and conceived Him in her womb, the divine, eternal Word made flesh of her flesh and blood of her blood. It was by the Word and Spirit of God, by the speaking of the Archangel Gabriel, the messenger of God, and by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the young virgin of Nazareth. Indeed, not only did the Word and Spirit of God accomplish the Incarnation of the Son in the body of the Blessed Virgin, but it was the same Word and Spirit that also worked the faith in her heart and the confession of her lips to welcome and receive Him. Luther regarded her faith and her fiat, “let it be,” as the foremost miracle of the Annunciation.
It is the same for us, as well. The Lord obtains such faith in our hearts and such confession on our lips by the preaching of the Word and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon us through the Gospel, “where and when it pleases Him,” as Article V of the Augsburg Confession expresses it. There is no repentance and faith, no forgiveness, life, and salvation, no Body and Bride of Christ, no Holy Christian Church, and no children of God, except by His Word and Holy Spirit. But all of this comes to us from outside of us, and it meets us in the midst of the deep darkness of death.
This is the pattern of the Lord’s dealings from the beginning of Creation and throughout history. The Father speaks His Word and breathes His Spirit to bring all things into existence ex nihilo, “out of nothing.” He causes the light to shine out of the darkness, and so does He cause the Light of Christ to shine forth in our hearts – by His Word and Holy Spirit. He causes barren Sarah, barren Hannah, and barren Elizabeth to conceive and give birth by His Word and Holy Spirit; and all the more miraculously does He cause the Blessed Virgin to conceive and give birth. So does He raise the dead by the speaking of His Word, as many of us heard in the case of His dear friend Lazarus this past Sunday (St. John 11). And His Voice will likewise call us from out of the dust of the earth into the Resurrection of all flesh at the last day (St. John 5:25-29). Meanwhile, it is already by His Word and Holy Spirit that He calls us to repentance and to faith in His free and full forgiveness of all our sins, not just once upon a time, but day by day throughout this life.
The Feast of the Annunciation of Our Lord is an annual reminder that the Church conceives and gives birth to the children of God by His Word and Holy Spirit – children who are “born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (St. John 1:13). And so are we nurtured and sustained in the true and saving faith, not by our intellect, emotions, or works, but by the Word and Spirit of God through the Ministry of the Gospel of Christ Jesus, our Savior.