ACC ~ Luke 1 v8 - 17
GABRIEL ANNOUNCES THE MYSTERY OF CHRIST’S COMING
PSEUDO-DIONYSIUS: I note that the mystery of Jesus’ love for humanity was first revealed to the angels and that the angels granted the gift of this knowledge to us. It was the most divine Gabriel who guided Zechariah, the chief priest, into the mystery that, contrary to all hope and by God’s favor, he would have a son. His son would be a prophet of the divine and human work of Jesus, who was beneficently about to appear for the salvation of the world. Gabriel revealed to Mary how in her would be born the divine mystery of the ineffable form of God. CELESTIAL HIERARCHY 4.4. [1]
[1] PDCW 158*.
GABRIEL DISPELS FEAR
ATHANASIUS: Whenever the soul continues to be fearful, it is the enemy who is present. The evil spirits do not dispel the fear of their presence, as the great archangel Gabriel did for Mary and Zechariah. LIFE OF ST. ANTHONY 37. [1]
[1] FC 15:169*; CWS 59.
THE ANGEL COMES TO ZECHARIAH
AUGUSTINE: The angel Gabriel came to Zechariah, not to Elizabeth. Why? Because it was through Zechariah that John was going to be in Elizabeth. The angel, in announcing that John was going to come by being born, went not to the receptacle of the womb but to the source of the seed. He announced they would both have a son, but he made the announcement to the father. John, after all, was going to come from the marriage of male and female. And once more the same Gabriel came to Mary—not to Joseph. The angel came to the one from whom that flesh was to begin, from whom it was to take its starting point. SERMON 291.3. [1]
[1] WSA 3 8:132-33*.
ZECHARIAH PRAYS FOR A MESSIAH
AUGUSTINE: The priest was offering sacrifice on behalf of the people. The people were expecting the Christ. John was the one who would announce the Christ. SERMON 291.3. [1]
[1] WSA 3 8:133*.
ZECHARIAH’S PRIESTLY PRAYER
CHRYSOSTOM: This man Zechariah came into the Holy of Holies, to the innermost sanctuary, upon which he alone of all men had the right to look. Consider how he was equal in importance to all the people. When he offered prayers for the whole people, when he was making the Master propitious to his servants, he was serving as a mediator between God and men. ON THE INCOMPREHENSIBLE NATURE OF GOD 2.9-10. [1]
[1] FC 72:74*.
AND YOU SHALL CALL HIM JOHN
BEDE: Whenever in the Scriptures a name is imposed or changed … by God, it is indicative of great praise and virtue. It was good that our Redeemer’s precursor was ordered to be called John. The name John means “the grace of the Lord” or “in whom there is grace.” He received a special grace beyond other saints, that of being Christ’s precursor. He came to proclaim a previously unheard of grace to the world, that of entry into heaven. Therefore he who was full of grace himself and who brought the good news of God’s grace to the rest of humankind expressed even by his name a proclamation of grace. It was rightly foretold that there was to be cause for exultation for many persons at his birth, since it was through him that the Author of their regeneration was manifested to the world. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.19. [1]
[1] CS 111:197*.
JOHN’S GREATNESS IS IN SPIRIT
AMBROSE: He here announced greatness, not of body but of soul. Greatness of soul before the Lord is greatness of virtue, and smallness of soul is childhood of virtue. … Thus John would be great—not through bodily virtue but through magnanimity. [1] He did not enlarge the boundaries of an empire. He did not prefer triumphs of military contest to honors. Rather, what is more, he disparaged human pleasures and lewdness of body, preaching in the desert with great virtue of spirit. He was a child in worldliness, but great in spirit. He was not captivated by the allurements of life, nor did he change his steadfastness of purpose through a desire to live. …
There is no doubt that this promise of the angel came true. Before he was born—still in his mother’s womb—St. John depicted the grace of the receipt of the Spirit. Although neither his father nor his mother had performed any miracles previously, he, leaping in his mother’s womb, proclaimed the coming of the Lord. When the mother of the Lord came to Elizabeth, the latter said, “For behold, when the voice of your greeting came to my ears, the babe in my womb leaped for joy.” [2] She did not yet have the spirit of life, [3] but the Spirit of grace. We find in another place that the grace of sanctification precedes that of the substance of living, where the Lord says, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you. I appointed you a prophet to the nations.” [4] For the spirit of this life is one, and the Spirit of grace is another. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 1.31-33. [5]
[1] Lk 7:28.
[2] Lk 1:44.
[3] See Rom 8:2; Rev 2:11.
[4] Jer 1:5.
[5] EHG 23-24;** CSEL 32 4:29-32.
THOSE BAPTIZED BY JOHN
CYPRIAN: John did not merely announce the Lord in words before his coming but pointed him out for people to see. John baptized the Christ himself through whom all others are baptized. THE BAPTISMAL CONTROVERSY 73.25. [1]
[1] LCC 5:171*.
HOW JOHN IS LIKE ELIJAH
BEDE: Both Elijah and John were celibate. Both wore rough dress. Both spent their lives in the wilderness. Both were heralds of the truth. Both underwent persecution for justice’s sake at the hands of a king and queen—the former at the hands of Ahab and Jezebel, [1] the latter at the hands of Herod and Herodias. [2] The former, lest he be killed by the wicked, was carried up to heaven in a fiery chariot. [3] The latter, lest he be overcome by the wicked, sought the heavenly kingdom by his martyrdom, which was accomplished in spiritual combat. HOMILIES ON THE GOSPELS 2.23. [4]
[1] 1 Kings 19:1-3.
[2] Mt 14:3.
[3] :1–24:53 PRELIMINARY REMARKS | ON THE GOSPEL
[4] CS 111:230*.
IN THE SPIRIT AND POWER OF ELIJAH
AMBROSE: These words are well added because the spirit is never without power, nor power without the spirit. “In the spirit and power of Elijah,” it says, perhaps because holy Elijah had great power and grace. Power so that he turned the spirits of the people back from unbelief to faith, the power of abstinence and patience, and the Spirit of prophecy. … Elijah divided the Jordan, [1] John made it the font of salvation. John walks with the Lord on earth, Elijah appears with the Lord in glory. [2] Elijah is a herald of the first coming of the Lord, and John of the second. Elijah after three years watered the earth with rain, [3] John after three years sprinkled the arid soil of our body with the stream of faith. EXPOSITION OF THE GOSPEL OF LUKE 1.36. [4]
[1] 2 Kings 2:8.
[2] Mt 17:3.
[3] 1 Kings 18:1, 45.
[4] EHG 25*; CSEL 32 4:32-33.
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