, by
El Greco (completed 1575) Luke then tells the story of Gabriel's visit to Mary, informing her that she will soon have a virgin conception by God. The account is recorded differently in
Matthew 1:20, where an unnamed angel appears to
Joseph after he has discovered that Mary is
pregnant. Gabriel goes to
Nazareth and visits Mary, who Luke tells us is a virgin engaged or betrothed to Joseph. The name Mary means "excellence", while Joseph means "May
Yahweh add".
Verse 28 :And the angel being come in, said unto her: Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. Gabriel greets her with the word κεχαριτωμενη,
kecharitōmenē, meaning favored or graced, presumably by God. The
Textus Receptus and some ancient manuscripts have here, "Blessed are you among women", which is omitted in
NU. Mary does not seem to understand why she is favored, but Gabriel then tells her: :
Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end. This announcement seems to follow the same pattern as the announcement of John's birth and is also about fulfillment of God's promises. Theologian Eric Franklin notes that there are parallels in the two accounts, but suggests that the narrative of the annunciation to Mary is the "climax" to which the annunciation to Zechariah only acts as a "prelude". means "God Saves". Irish Archbishop
John McEvilly notes that Mary was to name him, rather than Joseph (cf.
Luke 2:21 in some translations,
they gave him the name Jesus, and
Matthew 1:25, where Joseph gives the child his name).
Verses 34–38 Mary asks Gabriel how this can be, since she is a virgin, but Gabriel says God will give her the child, and thus he will be the Son of God. He then points out how her relative Elizabeth, though old, is now carrying a child, and how "nothing is impossible with God" (). He then leaves her (verse 38). Luke states that Mary is a virgin, and that she is somehow descended from Aaron (since she is a cousin with Elizabeth, descendant of Aaron), but here says Jesus will inherit his "father"'s throne, or David's. According to Luke's genealogy, Jesus' descent from David comes via Joseph. Since David is not of Aaron's line, this may indicate that Mary's mother was a descendant of Aaron and her father a descendant of David. In Gabriel gives a
prophecy about seventy weeks and the "
Anointed One". If one adds the 180 days that Elizabeth was pregnant before Mary's conception plus the 270 days of Mary's pregnancy plus the forty days of "purification" in
Luke 2:22, one gets 490 days, or seventy weeks. Many Christians have seen this as a fulfillment of prophecy, but skeptics tend to counter that Luke could be constructing his story to fit what he sees as fulfillments of prophecy, whether real or not. God's promise of a
messiah from the house of David is foretold in
2 Samuel 7. It is significant that Luke states that Mary lives in Nazareth, considered a small backwater town. He thus has God's grace bestowed on a young, unmarried woman living in an insignificant town. Luke frequently has favor shown on women, sinners, and various "unimportant" people.
Paul the Apostle never explicitly mentions a virgin birth for Jesus, but in
Galatians 4:4 he states that "God sent forth His Son, born of a woman", which according to
Cornelius a Lapide "denotes conception without a male". ==Mary and Elizabeth (1:39–56)==