Salvation is the purpose of the Annunciation of Divine Incarnation. The fruit of Annunciation was defined by the author of today’s epistle saying that “Both the one who makes people holy (Christ) and those who are made holy (The faithful) are of the same family, i.e. of the Father, and this establishes the existing brotherhood between us and the Savior. Our brotherhood to the Lord appears through praising him in Church and through Jesus’ declaration (from the epistle): “Here am I and the children God has given me”.
We also have a main common factor with Christ and it is the fact that we carry, with him, the flesh and blood that he shared with us through His incarnation from Mary in order to abolish, through His death, the devil and his effectiveness and to liberate us from slavery that we were in because of the fear of death.
We commit sin because we fear death as we think that sin revives and resuscitates us. However, as soon as we feel that we will die through it, it gives us the feeling of “nothingness” because this is what sin is about as it carries no power for life.
After that, the author says that God has taken Abraham’s offspring. “For this reason he had to be made like his brothers”. And the most important resemblance for us is that He died, for death is the most important thing in our life and the most eloquent expression of Jesus’ love for us. The author’s most eloquent expression of Christ’s death was the he called Him a “High Priest” and He is the only one that was sacrificed for God His Father. He, willingly, offered this sacrifice in order to “make atonement for the sins of the people”.
Then, the author clarifies that Lord Jesus suffered while being tempted, and this temptation was harsh through hitting, mockery, the crown of thorns, and through being nailed on the Cross and stabbed with a spear. And because He tasted temptation, He became “able to help those who are being tempted” i.e. us, who believe in him.
The road started with the Annunciation, and since He started preaching Himself, the Jews became His enemies and wanted to make Him silent and suppressed. However, He was crowned through His triumph over death. Therefore, if we held the memory of the Annunciation today, we should be aware that we are getting ready to continue in His path on earth, until its end, through the crucifixion and Resurrection. We should taste our march with Him because there are no other ways than Him.
Today is a day of joy because it reveals to us God’s nearness to man, not only as He used to say through the prophets, but through the fact that He descended and “set up His tent in our own neighborhood” and lived with us in all the phases of our lives. The final expression of this is that He died with us, and our death became a way to be dwelling with him. Our death became a way to be closer to Him after being a “wage for sin” and a curse.
All of this is a Paschal anticipation. Pascha is the only anticipation and our acceptance of God’s power. After being separated from Him, He tells us that Mary’s acceptance for the incarnation has made us sons of God after being the sons of rage.
Also, for the fact that the Annunciation is always celebrated during the Lent, we understood that austerity, asceticism and repentance are all necessary to understand the Lord’s brotherhood and leadership for us towards salvation through Crucifixion and Resurrection.
We pass through the feast of Annunciation in order to take a turn towards the Holy Week in which we feel joy and get ready for Christ’s triumph in Pascha.
Translated by Mark Najjar
Original Text: “البشارة بالخلاص” –Raiati 13- 25.03.2012
