DID MARY MEET AN ANGEL?

                                                    The Annunciation, Lorenzo di Credi

"Now in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And having come in, the angel said to her, 'Rejoice, highly favored one, the Lord is with you; blessed are you among women!'" (Luke 1:26-28; NKJV).
    One of our readers and frequent commentators, Cedric Katesby, wants to know why we would believe "some guy, writing 2.000 years ago about how he met an angel," if we would not believe Mr. Katesby if he were to say that he had met an angel. The question is a fair one to ask, and deserves a serious answer.
    The Christmas season having set upon us, it is worth noting that in the first two chapters of the Gospel According to Luke there are no less than three different accounts of angels appearing to various people. In the fist of these (Lu. 1:13-20) the angel Gabriel appears to Zacharias, who would become the father of John the Baptist. In the second incident (1:26-38), the same angel appears to Mary, and begins by telling her the words quoted in the heading of this blogpost. In the third incident (2:8-14), a whole choir of angels appears to the shepherds to announce the birth of the Savior. So the question is, was Luke relating historical facts which cannot be ignored, or are these mere myths and legends which can be easily dismissed?
    Mr. Katesby's question does, in fact, strike right at the very heart of the crisis of Western Civilization. At no other time of the year is the influence of Christianity on Western culture more keenly felt than at Christmas. And yet the holiday revolves around a narrative which many educated Westerners no longer believe. In the end it all comes back to the historical reliability of the four gospels.
    Luke himself certainly believed that he has relating historical fact. In his prologue he tells us that he "followed all things closely for some time past," and that his aim was so that his readers might "have certainty concerning the things you have been taught" (Lu. 1:3,4; ESV). Moreover, he tells us that he had access to "those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and minister of the word," meaning, no doubt, the apostles, those who had lived and worked with Jesus and had been sent by Him to proclaim the message of the gospel (v. 2).
    So then, why believe Luke and not Mr. Katesby? What Mr. Katesby undoubtedly wants us to say is that we would believe neither. His grounds for saying this are that the claim of an alleged witness about a supernatural event has to be gauged against what we already know about reality, and there are no verifiable instances in our modern experience of angels appearing to people. The rational inference, then, is that such appearances do not happen, and any claims to the contrary should be viewed with suspicion.
    How much weight one attaches to this argument will depend partially on one's worldview. If one is a naturalistic materialist, the argument is practically conclusive. Not only is it highly unlikely that such incidents have occurred in the past, but if there actually was such a phenomenon a natural explanation must be sought. The subject in question might have met a mysterious looking person, or he may simply have been hallucinating. (Now that recreational pot is legal in Washington state and Colorado, who knows what sort of apparitions might appear in the days to come!) In this case almost no amount of evidence will be sufficient to convince the determined skeptic.
    But if one is a Christian theist there is no inherent impossibility in an angel appearing to human beings. It is quite conceivable that they exist and have appeared to people in the past. So why not today? Might not Mr. Katesby expect a friendly knock on his door someday?
    A Christian understanding of such things must be based on Scripture – the written instructions that God has given us to guide us through life. While God is theoretically capable of doing anything He wants anywhere and at anytime He wants, He ordinarily works according to a certain pattern. Miracles are generally restricted to certain periods in history. They are meant to function as "signs" to validate the ministry of a prophet or apostle. They usually occur at the decisive turning points of redemptive history. The first of these was in the time of Moses during the exodus of Israel from Egypt. The second was during the ministries of Elijah and Elisha, when the nation of Israel was sunk in a state of degradation and apostasy. The final time was the climactic moment in history when the Savior was born into the world. Obviously some means had to be employed to explain to Mary the unique role that she was to play in the drama, and hence the mission of Gabriel. It was an extraordinary event under an extraordinary circumstance.
    Since the close of the apostolic age the Christian ministry has largely proceeded by ordinary means. The Holy Spirit teaches and leads through the illumination of Scripture. And while Mr. Katesby certainly has his rightful place in the cosmic scheme of things, it is unlikely that God is going to send an angel knocking on his door. (It is probably the RCMP at the door!)
    But to return to Luke for a moment, how do we know that he is telling the truth about Mary's experience? In all likelihood his source of information was Mary herself. He generally tells the story from her perspective, and in two places he makes the intriguing comment "But Mary kept all these things and pondered them in her heart" (Lu. 2:19,51; NKJV). Significantly, in this section of the narrative Luke shifts to a style of Greek that has a highly Semitic coloring, suggested an underlying Hebrew source, either in the form of oral testimony or a written document. And from what we know of Luke's use of Mark, Luke is very careful in his use of sources. All of which points back to Mary herself. The story is an extraordinary one. How could she ever forget?
    And what did the angel tell her? That she would conceive by the Holy Spirit and give birth to Jesus, that her child would be the Son of God and would reign on the throne of David forever.
    As the angels later told the shepherds: "Glory to God in the highest, / And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!" (Lu. 2:14). Have a happy holiday!

Related blogposts you might find interesting:
Are the Gospels Historically Reliable? 
Who Wrote the Gospels? 
How Do We Know that Jesus Rose from the Dead? 
Doubting Thomas