Luke 1:38

Luk_1:38

Behold the handmaid of the Lord

Marys quiet acceptance of greatness

Nothing impresses us more than the calmness with which, after the first trouble was past, the virgin received the message of the angel.

She was not dazzled nor excited by her glorious future. She was not touched by any vanity. Behold the handmaid of the Lord. In nothing more than in this is the simple greatness of her character displayed. What was the reason of this? It was that the thought of Gods presence with her destroyed all thought of self. She could not think of her greatness otherwise than as bestowed by God. He that is mighty hath magnified me. She could not feel the flutter of vanity. It died in the thought of the glorious salvation which was coming to her country and the world. She was nothing; God was all. Do you want a cure for that false humility, that mock modesty, which says, I am not worthy, and trumpets its denial till all the world knows that an honour has been offered; which, while it says with the lips, It is too great for me, feels all the time in the heart that self-consciousness of merit which betrays itself in the affected walk and the showy humility? Would you be free from this folly? Learn Marys secret. Feel that God is all; that, whether He makes you great, or leaves you unknown, it is the best for you, because it is His work. Do you want a cure for that unhappy, restless vanity, ever afraid, yet ever seeking to push itself forward; ever shy, yet ever trembling on the verge of impertinence; which shows itself to inferiors in rank in a bustling assumption of superiority which suspects it is not superior, and to superiors in rank by an inquietude, an ignorance of when to speak and when to be silent, sometimes by a fawning submission, sometimes by an intrusive self-assertion? Learn Marys secret. Feel that you are the child of God, not the servant or the master of any man, but the servant of Christ, who was the servant of all. Vain! What have any of us to be vain of? Rank? wealth? beauty? pomp of household? dress? splendour of appearance? A few years, and we are lying in the chill earth of the churchyard; our eye dead to admiration, our ear to praise; and the world--whose smile we forfeited eternal life to court--regrets us for an hour, and then forgets. And that is human life! No; it is the most miserable travesty of it. We stand in the presence of God. What are all the adventitious advantages of rank or wealth to Him, or to us in Him? Only the tarnished spangles, the tinsel crowns, the false diamonds, which are the properties of this petty theatre which we call the world. Once be able to say in your heart, behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me as He will, and vanity and all its foolish fluttering tribe of small victories over others, of pushing meannesses, of restless desires, of little ostentations, will abandon your heart for ever. The true greatness, wealth, nobility, is to be at one in character with the everlasting goodness, truth, and love of God; to be great with the magnanimity of Christ, to be rich in all the eternal virtues, to be noble among the aristocracy of the best men. He who possesses these can never be vain, and the way to possess them is the Virgins way--to be the servant of God, to do His will. (Stopford A. Brooke, M. A.)

Ready acquiescence in Gods will

How fit was her womb to conceive the flesh of the Son of God, by the power of the Spirit of God, whose breast had so soon, by the power of the same Spirit, conceived an assent to the will of God! and now, of a handmaid of God, she is advanced to the mother of God. No sooner hath she said, Be it done, than it is done; the Holy Ghost overshadows her, and forms her Saviour in her own body. (Bishop Hall.)

Marys answer exhibits

1. Genuine humility, with joyful faith.

2. Quiet resignation, with active zeal.

3. Faithful love, with unwavering heroism. (Van Doren.)

Reasons for submission to the will of God

I. THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD. It is that of a Father. Whatever we have, it is Gods more than ours.

II. THE RIGHTEOUSNESS AND JUSTICE OF GOD.

III. THE MERCY AND GOODNESS OF GOD.

IV. THE ALL-SUFFICIENCY OF GOD.

V. THE UNCHANGEABLENESS OF GOD. (D. Beaumont.)

The call of God

It was the answer of profound and humble obedience to the greatest call ever addressed from heaven to a mortal creature. Sudden, undreamt of, overwhelming--interrupting in the most startling manner the daily curse of an obscure human life, breaking in on its privacy, and laying on it the most awful of charges--it was a call to prepare for being the instrument of the final and complete accomplishment of Gods highest words and most amazing work. It was a call to be the last link in a chain which, beginning from God Himself, and composed of that august line of chosen souls who in all ages had carried forward His purpose and His promise, was to end in man brought at last to the utmost and most inexpressible closeness unto God--the human mother of the Eternal Son. It was a call to such a pinnacle of unearthly and unapproachable greatness that the consequences involved in it, and the price which it might exact, must have confounded and baffled all anticipation and forethought. What might have to come before the glory, who could conjecture? What might she not have to be, to endure, to surrender, to look forward to, who in a moment learned, in the depth of her obscurity, that she had been chosen, and was called out of all mankind, to be the mother of the Son of the Highest, the Son of God, the Christ. It is idle, it is profane to attempt to imagine the mind and soul of a human being like ourselves at such a moment. In its sudden translation and lifting up out of all the ordinary conditions of human life, in the tides of honour and rapture, of crushing shame and consciousness of the Divine election, of possible sacrifice and certain triumph, it could be like nothing that man has ever gone through. But whatever passed before the thought of that blessed one while the angels words were setting before her the lot to which she had been appointed, and the place she was to fill in the eternal history, her instant expression of character was that of absolute self-surrender to all that she was called to--of perfect readiness for all that might be required of her. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, &c. (Dean Church.)

When Mary uttered these words of sweet and humble sublimity, she at once received the rankling sword-thrust into her soul, and steeped her soul in a balm that healed, and more than healed all possible sword-thrusts. (Professor Warfield.)

The handmaid of the Lord

I. Let your attention be called to THE GRAND EVENT HERE DESCRIBED AND MADE KNOWN. It is clear that He who was to be a perfect sacrifice must have a purer origin than fallen man; supernatural. The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, &c.

II. MARYS ANSWER TO THIS GRACIOUS COMMUNICATION. Behold the handmaid, &c.

1. That this obedient saint was using the language and expressing the sentiments of Gods people in all ages. The title of Moses was the servant of God (Dan_6:20; Psa_116:16). Ready obedience.

2. We are not less bound to the service of God under the gospel; the titles of servants and handmaids do as much befit us, as they did the people of old. St. Paul and St. James style themselves servants of God.

3. A word to those who can say, Whose I am, and whom I serve. This is your world of trial, and you may expect difficulties to draw you aside. The Masters rule is best found in His word, Be it unto me according to Thy word. Let us receive with humility and gratitude the entire Word of God. With what delight must the angel have received Marys pious answer to his communication: and when he returned and told it in the court of heaven, there would be joy in the presence of the rest of the angels of God: so when your hearts respond to the messengers of grace. (J. Slade, M. A.)

Blessedness of resignation

I have at times caught a glimpse of the comfort which it yields to the spirit when I merge my will into Gods will, when I resolve to have no will of my own separate from God. I feel quite assured that this renunciation of self and entire devotion to Gods service would give a simplicity and grandeur to my existence; would throw an unclouded sunshine over all my ways; would raise me above the cares and provocations of this life; would enhance even my sensible gratifications, and superadd those gratifications of a higher order, which constitute the main and essential blessedness of heaven. O, my God, may it be thus with me! (Dr. Chalmers.)

The life of consecration

As Mary uttered this word, she laid herself upon Gods altar in absolute abandonment to Gods will, that He might do in her, and through her, whatever pleased Him.

I. If we consider the CIRCUMSTANCES THAT PRECEDED AND LED UP TO THIS GREAT UTTERANCE, we shall see, in Gabriels conversation with her, three arresting things.

1. Gabriel made clear to her what her vocation was. This is the first condition of a rightly lived life--it must be lived in obedience to the recognition of the vocation of God. Each of us has been created for a definite end, and to fill a special sphere in life.

2. Gabriels converse with Mary revealed also the power in which that vocation was to be realized. She must abandon herself to the power of the Holy Ghost.

3. Gabriel indicated also the condition under which alone the Divine vocation could be realized, and that was by the consent of her own will. God could not take possession of Mary without her free response to His call.

II. THE LIFE OF REGENERATION IS OF NECESSITY NOT SIMPLY A LIFE OF NEGATIVE SEPARATION FROM THE WORLD, BUT A LIFE OF POSITIVE CONSECRATION TO GOD.

1. If consecration to God is the condition of a rightly-lived life, since it is an action, it is an action which must take place at some time in our lives. It must be definitely entered into.

2. If this life of consecration is one which we definitely enter into, it must be continuously persevered in. You cannot consecrate yourself in a moment, so as to secure perseverance in a consecrated life. We can only live the consecrated life when, having entered into it by an act of self-surrender, we live in obedience to consecrating grace.

3. The life of consecration must be lived in a God-assigned sphere. If Mary had turned aside from the vocation of God, and with all possible zeal had sought to serve Him elsewhere, and in other spheres than He had appointed, her life would have been a life, not of consecration to God, but one of self-pleasing. For you must remember this, that it is quite possible for a religious life to be a self-pleasing life. We may be apparently leading the most heroic lives of self-sacrifice, and, after all, our lives may be lives of self-pleasing all the time, for they are lived in a self-chosen sphere; and the question which every one who seeks to be consecrated to God must ask himself is this--Lord, where wouldest Thou have me to be? And then--Lord, what wouldest Thou have me to do? And then--Lord, what wouldest Thou have me suffer? We must be where God would have us be, we must do what God would have us do, we must suffer what God would have us suffer, if our life is to be consecrated to God, and not dedicated to self. It is so important that we should remember that all right spheres in life are God-assigned. God calls one man to the priesthood, another to serve Him in lay life; God calls one to religion, another to secular life; God calls one to serve Him in married life, and another to serve Him in single life; God calls one to serve Him in wealth, and another in poverty; but the essential law of living a life of consecration to God is a hearty, generous embrace of the God-assigned sphere of life. Hearty, generous embrace--no mere resignation. What have we Christian people to do with resignation? We have to rise to something much higher than resignation; we have to leap forward in response to Divine vocation, because it is the vocation of God.

III. THE CONDITION OF RESPONDING TO THE DIVINE VOCATION IS ABANDONMENT TO THE HOLY GHOST. What is Gods great purpose in putting us in the sphere of life in which we are? I do not answer this question with dogmatic confidence, but my belief is that the primary purpose of Gods dealing with His people is--formation of character; that we are placed in our spheres of work, wherever they may be, rather for what God means to do in us than what God means to do by us. I know quite well that wherever God places us He means to do a work by us; but--I repeat it--I believe that Gods primary purposes of His dealings withus is not the work He does by us, but the work He wills to do in us.

IV. CONSECRATION IMPLIES PAINFUL SACRIFICE. Mary would naturally shrink back from response to this vocation for two reasons.

1. The call might seem too high for her. How many there are who shrink back from living generous, Christian lives in the world because they think that, if they are really to make up their minds to live lives consecrated to Christ and of loyalty to God in among the haunts of men, they will be taking up a position which is too hard and difficult for them to maintain. What underlies many a poor, miserable, dwarfed Christian life is this cowardice which is so common among us. It is undeniably the fact that whole surrender to God does of necessity involve painful consequences; for they who thus give themselves up to God are called to know the fellowship of Christs suffering. It is quite true that consecration to God is going to Calvary. Unless we are prepared to know the fellowship of Christs sufferings, we cannot really and truly say this second word of Marys.

2. But there is another thing that would have made her shrink back from her vocation, and that was the suspicion and calumny that would follow upon her consecration. Ere long men were pointing at her with the finger of scorn, and even Joseph was thinking of putting her away. And one thing is certain--is it not?--that men who go out into the world to try to lead a godly life often find themselves exposed to its calumny. Its hatred of goodness will make it only too ready to believe any scandalous story that is spread abroad about any one who lives for God. It is a fear of the condemnation of the world which holds so many back from God. Yet Mary faced it all; though her response meant such awful nearness to God, though it involved such great sacrifice as to bring upon her intense shame, boldly she said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word.

IN CONCLUSION, let me point out how that this life of consecration is the fruit of love. It is love that consecrates. Love is based on gratitude, and Mary recognized the-fact gratefully that God had the right to claim her to use as He willed. Behold the handmaid,--the slave of the Lord--be it unto me according to Thy word. O God, I am Thine handmaid, Thy slave; Thy right over me is absolute; I cannot for a moment refuse to obey Thy voice. And so it is. God has upon us a threefold claim, each springing from an act of love.

1. The first is the claim of creation. Here we are in Gods world not of our own will, but of His will.

2. But God has a second claim upon us, and that is the claim of redemption. The eternal Christ, the Son of God, came into the world, became the Child of Mary, and passed to the cross. He gave Himself--every portion of Himself--upon the tree for us--His mind, His heart, His will, each member of His sacred body. Behold it quivering upon the cross! Why? That He might buy us for His own.

3. But there is one other reason, and that is gratitude for regeneration. O mystery of mysteries! To think that you and I, sin-stricken as we are, should not only have been redeemed, but that we should have been married to the Lord! To think that He who in His humanity is the fairest of Gods creation, should have stooped from the height of His Fathers throne to the deep depths of our fallen state, and not simply have brought us forgiveness, but that He should have embraced us in His arms, and brought us to His sacred heart, and made us with Him one--bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh! To think of this, and all this as within the bounds of truth! Grasp the mystery of regeneration, and what follows? Consecration to God, abandonment to Christ. As the wife consecrates herself to her husband, so the regenerate to the great Bridegroom of the Church. Whole surrender is my duty; whatever He asks, that I yield. Creation, redemption, regeneration--revelation after revelation of Gods love, kindle in my heart gratitude, and then lead me to take myself wholly up to Gods altar and lay myself down there a living sacrifice at Gods feet, as I cry, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to Thy word. (Canon Body.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk 1:38. Γένοιτό μοι, be it done unto me) Compare the assent which David expresses to God’s covenant promise, 2Sa 7:25 [The word that Thou hast spoken—establish it for ever, and do as Thou hast said], 28.—ἀπῆλθεν, departed) even as he previously came in, Luk 1:28.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Luk_1:38. Behold the handmaid of the Lord! without a verb. Comp. Luk_1:36; Luk_5:12; Luk_5:18.

γένοιτο] λοιπὸν οὐ μόνον ἐπίστευσεν, ἀλλὰ ηὔξατο γενέσθαι αὐτῇ, καθὼς ὁ ἄγγελος εἵρηκε, Euthymius Zigabenus; eximio fiduciae exemplo, Grotius.

REMARK.

The natural explanation of the annunciation to Mary (Paulus) is at variance with the evangelic account; and as the latter unfolds simply, clearly, and delicately an external procedure, the objective is not to be rendered subjective and transferred, as a reciprocal operation of the theocratic Spirit of God and the emotional feeling of the Virgin, by means of poetic colouring to the soul of the latter (Lange, L. J. II. 1, p. 67). As history, believed even as it is related, the narrative arose, and that too independently of the preliminary history of Matthew, and even incompatibly with it,[26]in consequence of the circumstance that the divine sonship of Jesus was extended to His bodily origination (see on Mat_1:18), an idea, which gave shape to legends dissimilar in character and gaining currency in different circles. Thus, e.g., it is clear that the history, adopted at Mat_1:19 ff., of Josephs perplexity and of the angelic message which came to him does not presuppose, but excludes the annunciation to Mary; for that Mary after such a revelation should have made no communication to Joseph, would have been not less psychologically unnatural, than it would have been a violation of the bridal relation and, indeed, of the bridal duty;[27] and to reckon on a special revelation, which without her aid would make the disclosure to her betrothed, she must have been expressly directed by the angelic announcement made to her, in order to be justified in deferring the communication of her pregnancy to her betrothed. We make this remark in opposition to the arbitrary presuppositions and shifts of Hug (Gutacht. I. p. 81 ff.), Krabbe, Ebrard, and others. According to the view invented by the last-named, it is assumed that Joseph had learned Marys pregnancy, immediately after the appearance of its earliest signs, from the pronubae (suspicious women); that immediately there ensued the appearance of the angel to him, and forthwith he took her home; and that for all this a period of at most fourteen days sufficed. Mark and John have rightly excluded these miracles of the preliminary history from the cycle of the evangelical narrative, which only began with the appearance of the Baptist (Mar_1:1); as, indeed, Jesus Himself never, even in His confidential circle, refers to them, and the unbelief of His own brothers, Joh_7:5, and in fact even the demeanour of Mary, Mar_3:21 ff., is irreconcilable with them.[28]

The angelic announcement made to Zacharias, which likewise withdraws itself from any attempt at natural explanation (Paulus, Ammon), appears as a parallel to the annunciation to Mary, having originated and been elaborated in consequence of the latter as a link in the chain of the same cycle of legends after the analogy of Old Testament models, especially that of Abraham and his wife. As in the case of the annunciation to Mary the metaphysical divine Sonship of Jesus, so in the announcement to Zacharias the extraordinary divine destination and mission of John (Joh_1:6) is the real element on which the formation of legend became engrafted; but to derive the latter merely from the self-consciousness of the church (Bruno Bauer), and consequently to take away the objective foundation of the history, is at variance with the entire N. T. and with the history of the church. For the formation of the legend, moreover, the historical circumstances, that John was the son of the priest Zacharias and Elizabeth, and a son born late in life, are to be held fast as premisses actually given by history (in opposition to Strauss, I. p. 135), all the more that for these simple historical data their general notoriety could not but bear witness. This also in opposition to Weisse and B. Bauer, who derive these traditions from the laboratory of religious contemplation. Further, as to what specially concerns the late birth of John, it has its historical precedents in the history of Isaac, of Samson, and of Samuel; but the general principle deduced from such cases, Cum alicujus uterum claudit, ad hoc facit, ut mirabilius denuo aperiat, et non libidinis esse quod nascitur, sed divini muneris cognoscatur (Evang. de Nativ. Mark 3), became the source of unhistorical inventions in the apocryphal Gospels,[29] as, in particular, the apocryphal account of the birth of Mary herself is an imitation of the history of Johns birth.

[26] Comp. Schleiermacher, L. J. p. 59 ff.

[27] Lange, L. J. II. p. 83 f., rightly acknowledges this, but, following older writers, thinks that Mary made the communication to Joseph before her journey to Elizabeth, but that he nevertheless (the first Ebionite) refused to believe her. This is not compatible with Matthews narrative, especially Luk_1:18. And what Lange further (p. 89) adds, that during Marys absence a severe struggle arose in his soul, and this state of feeling became the medium of the revelation made to him, is simply added.

[28] Schleiermacher is right in saying, L. J. p. 71: These occurrences have been entirely without effect as regards the coming forward of Christ or the origination of faith in Him.

[29] See, in general, R. Hofmann, das Leben Jesu nach d. Apokr. 1851; also Gelpke, Jugendgesch. des Herrn, 1842 (who, moreover, gives the Jewish legends).

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Marvellous faith in such circumstances!

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 38. Behold the handmaid of the Lord] I fully credit what thou sayest, and am perfectly ready to obey thy commands, and to accomplish all the purposes of thy grace concerning me. It appears that at the instant of this act of faith, and purposed obedience, the conception of the immaculate humanity of Jesus took place; and it was DONE unto her according to his word. See Lu 1:35.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(38) Behold the handmaid of the Lord . . .—The words seem to show a kind of half-consciousness that the lot which she thus accepts might bring with it unknown sufferings, as well as untold blessedness. She shrinks, as it were, from the awfulness of the position thus assigned to her, but she can say, as her Son said afterwards, when His time of agony was come, “Not my will, but Thine be done.” It may be that the more immediate peril of which St. Matthew speaks (1:19). flashed even then upon her soul as one that could not be escaped. (Comp. Luk_2:35.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

38. be it unto me according to thy word] The thoughts of the Virgin Mary seem to have found their most natural utterance in the phrases of Scripture. 1Sa_3:18, “If it be the Lord let Him do what seemeth Him good.” For Mary too was aware that her high destiny must be mingled with anguish.

And the angel departed from her] We can best appreciate the noble simplicity of truthfulness by comparing this narrative of the Annunciation with the diffuse inflation of the Apocryphal Gospels. Take for instance such passages as these from one of the least extravagant of them, ‘The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary.’ “The Angel Gabriel was sent to her … to explain to her the method or order of the Conception. At length having entered unto her, he filled the chamber where she abode with an immense light, and saluting her most courteously said, ‘Hail Mary! most acceptable Virgin of the Lord! Virgin full of grace … blessed art thou before all women; blessed art thou before all men hitherto born.’ But the Virgin who already knew the countenance of angels, and was not unused to heavenly light, was neither terrified by the angelic vision nor stupefied by the greatness of the light, but was troubled at his word alone; and began to think what that salutation so unwonted could be, or what it portended, or what end it could have. But the Angel, divinely inspired and counteracting this thought, said, Fear not, Mary, as though I meant something contrary to thy chastity by this salutation; for &c., &c.” The reader will observe at once the artificiality, the tasteless amplifications, the want of reticence;—all the marks which separate truthful narrative from elaborate fiction. (See B. H. Cowper, The Apocryphal Gospels, p. 93.)

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

38 And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Ver. 38. Behold the handmaid of the Lord] Not Mall God’s maid, as a black mouthed Blatero hath blasphemed in print, that the Puritans rudely called her. (Stafford’s Female Glory.)

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Mary said, Behold the handmaid ... - This was an expression of resignation to the will of God, and of faith in the promise. To be the “handmaid of the Lord” is to be submissive and obedient, and is the same as saying, “I fully credit all that is said, and am perfectly ready to obey all the commands of the Lord.”

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Behold the handmaid. With all modesty and humility of heart and mind, the blessed Virgin consented to the divine will: and from that moment in her was conceived the Saviour and Redeemer of the world. (Witham) --- Thus ought the virgin, who brought forth meekness and humility itself, to shew forth an example of the most profound humility. (St. Ambrose)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Once have I spoken, (saith Job, Job 40:5) but I will not answer. In like manner the virgin speaketh: I will dispute no more; I am the Lord’s servant, let him do with me whatsoever he pleaseth. This phrase,

Behold the handmaid of the Lord, doth not speak her the lady and queen of heaven, (as the papists style her), but it speaketh her humility and readiness to give up herself to the Lord’s pleasure, her assent and consent unto God. She addeth a prayer, that God would do according to what the angel had said unto her. The angel, having despatched his errand, and obtained what he came for, ascendeth into heaven.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. "God"s message," writes Godet, "by the mouth of the angel was not a command. The part Mary had to fulfill made no demands on her. It only remained, therefore, for Mary to consent to the consequences of the Divine offer. She gives this consent in a word at once simple and sublime, which involved the most extraordinary act of faith that a woman ever consented to accomplish. Mary accepts the sacrifice of that which is dearer to a young maiden than her very life, and thereby becomes pre-eminently the heroine of Israel, the ideal daughter of Zion." Nor was the immediate trouble and sorrow which she foresaw would soon compass her round by any means the whole burden which submission to the angel"s message would bring upon the shrinking Nazareth maiden. The lot proposed to her would bring probably in its wake unknown sufferings as well as untold blessedness. We may with all reverence think Mary already feeling the first piercings in her heart of that sharp sword which was one day to wound so deeply the mother of sorrows; yet in spite of all this, in full view of the present woe, which submission to the Divine will would forthwith bring upon her, with an unknown future of sorrow in the background, Mary submitted herself of her own free will to what she felt was the will and wish of her God.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord - It is not improbable, that this time of the virgin's humble faith, consent, and expectation, might be the very time of her conceiving.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

38. δούλη. ‘Female slave,’ stronger than handmaid.

γένοιτό μοι κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμά σου. The use of the aorist optative delicately implies that the time of the fulfilment is left in God’s hands. The thoughts of the Virgin Mary seem to have found their most natural utterance in the phrases of Scripture. 1Sa 3:18, “If it be the Lord, let Him do what seemeth Him good.” For Mary too was aware that her high destiny must be mingled with anguish. She repeats the word ῥῆμα which the angel has just used.

καὶ ἀπῆλθεν ἀπ’ αὐτῆς ὁ ἄγγελος. We can best appreciate the noble simplicity of truthfulness by comparing this narrative of the Annunciation with the diffuse inflation of the Apocryphal Gospels. Take for instance such passages as these from one of the least extravagant of them, ‘The Gospel of the Nativity of Mary.’ “The Angel Gabriel was sent to her … to explain to her the method or order of the Conception. At length having entered unto her, he filled the chamber where she abode with an immense light, and saluting her most courteously said, ‘Hail Mary! most acceptable Virgin of the Lord! Virgin full of grace … blessed art thou before all women; blessed art thou before all men hitherto born.’ But the Virgin, who already knew the countenance of angels and was not unused to heavenly light, was neither terrified by the angelic vision nor stupefied by the greatness of the light, but was troubled at his word alone; and began to think what that salutation so unwonted could be, or what it portended, or what end it could have. But the angel, divinely inspired and counteracting this thought, said, ‘Fear not, Mary, as though I meant something contrary to thy chastity by this salutation; for’ &c., &c.” The reader will observe at once the artificiality, the tasteless amplifications, the want of reticence,—all the marks which separate truthful narrative from elaborate fiction. (See B. H. Cowper, The Apocryphal Gospels, p. 93.)

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

38.] Her own faithful and humble assent is here given to the divine announcement which had been made to her. I believe that her conception of the Lord is to be dated from the utterance of these words. So Euthym.: ἀπʼ αὐτῆς—ἤδη συλλαβούσης ἅμα τῷ λόγῳ αὐτοῦ. Similarly , , , Maldonat., Grot. Lightfoot, holding a different opinion, says, Agnosco quidem, communiter obtinuisse, quod Virgo in urbe Nazareta conceperit, idque eodem instante quo Angelus eam alloquebatur. She was no unconscious vessel of the divine will, but (see ver. 45) in humility and faith, a fellow-worker with the purpose of the Father; and therefore her own unity with that purpose was required, and is here recorded.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

38. Ἰδού ἡ δούλη κυρίου. That ἰδού is not a verb, but an exclamation, is manifest from the verbless nominative which follows it. Comp. 5:12, 18. “Handmaid” or “servant” is hardly adequate to δούλη. It is rather “bondmaid” or “slave.” In an age in which almost all servants were slaves, the idea which is represented by our word “servant” could scarcely arise. In N.T. the fem. δούλη occurs only here, ver. 48, and Act 2:18, the last being a quotation.

γένοιτό μοι κατὰ τὸ ῥῆμά σου. This is neither a prayer that what has been foretold may take place, nor an expression of joy at the prospect. Rather it is an expression of submission, —“God’s will be done”: πίναξ εἰμι γράφομενος. ὄ βούλεται ὁ γραφεύς, γραφέτω (Eus.). Mary must have known how her social position and her relations with Joseph would be affected by her being with child before her marriage. There are some who maintain that the revelation made to Joseph (Mat 1:18-23) is inconsistent with what Lk. records here; for would not Mary have told him of the angelic message? We may reasonably answer that she would not do so. Her own inclination would be towards reserve (2:51); and what likelihood was there that he would believe so amazing a story? She would prefer to leave the issue with regard to Joseph in God’s hands. Hastings, D.C.G. art. “Annunciation.”

ἀπῆλθεν ἀπʼ αὐτῆς ὁ ἄγγελος. Ut peracta legatione. Comp. Act 12:10; Jdg 6:21.

On the whole of this exquisite narrative Godet justly remarks: “Quells dignité, quelle pureil, quelle simplicité, quelle déliatesse dans tout ce dialogue ! Pas un mot de trop, pas un de trop peu. Une telle narration n’a pu émaner que de la sphère sainte dans laquelle le fait lui-même avait eu lieu” (1. p. 128, 3éme ed. 1888). Contrast the attempts in the apocryphal gospels, the writers of which had our Gospels to imitate, and yet committed such gross offences against taste, decency, and even morality. What would their inventions have been if they had had no historical Gospels to guide them?

Dr. Swete has shown that the doctrine of the Miraculous Conception was from the earliest times part of the Creed. Beginning with Justin Martyr (Apol. 1:21, 31, 32, 33, 63; Try. 23, 48, 100), he traces back through Aristides (J. R. Harris, p. 24; Hennecke, p. 9 ; Barnes, Canon. and Uncanon. Gospp. p. 13), Ignatius (Eph. 19; Trall. 9. ; Smyr. 1.), the Valentinians, and Basilides, to S. Luke, to whom these Gnostics appealed. The silence of S. Mark is of no weight; his record does not profess to go farther back than the ministry of the Baptist. In the Third Gospel we reach not merely the date of the Gospel (a.d. 75-80), but the date of the early traditions incorporated in these first chapters, traditions preserved (possibly in writing) at Jerusalem, and derived from Mary herself.

The testimony of the First Gospel is perhaps even earlier in origin, and is certainly independent. It probably originated with Joseph, as the other with Mary (Gore, Bampton Lectures, p. 78; Dissertations on Subjects connected with the Incarnation, pp. 12-40). Greatly as the two narratives differ, both bear witness to the virgin birth (Swete, The Apostles’ Creed, ch. 4.).

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.