Juraj Feník - Róbert Lapko, «Annunciations to Mary in Luke 1–2», Vol. 96 (2015) 498-524
In addition to the scene conventionally known as "the Annunciation" (Luke 1,26-38), three other texts in the infancy narrative qualify to be classed as such. This article proposes an understanding of 2,8-20; 2,22- 35; 2,41-52 as annunciation pericopes by highlighting the fact that other characters, namely, the shepherds, Simeon, and Jesus function as messengers communicating to Mary further information about her son. It identifies the messenger, the act of speaking, the message, and the reference to Jesus' mother in each of the four scenes. Luke's infancy narrative, so the argument runs, contains four annunciation scenes in which a progressive revelation about Jesus addressed to his mother takes place.
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town of Bethlehem of a savior who is Christ the Lord. It may come
as a surprise that the angel in his pronouncement does not move
beyond the bare essentials — the shepherds learn that the child born
is swth,r, the title defined through a parenthetical relative clause
(o[j evstin) as cristo.j ku,rioj 12. The evangelist’s conscious pro-
cedure of highlighting the terminology of salvation while leaving
out additional details about the role the child is to play is well per-
ceived by Radl: “Dabei konzentrieren sie sich [the angel and the
angelic host] auf den Retter als solchen, ohne weitere Angaben zur
Person zu machen. Sie nennen weder seinen Namen noch den sei-
ner Eltern noch den seiner Heimatstadt. Es geht ausschliesslich um
das Heil für Gottes Volk [...]” 13.
The simultaneous intervention of the angelic host and its praise
in 2,13-14 cannot be relegated to the margins in this discussion.
Appearing suddenly alongside the angel, the angelic host adds its
voice (lego,ntwn) to the angel’s announcement 14, with the result
that the messages of the angel in 2,10-12 and the choir in 2,14 “are
seen to be continuous and complementary visions accorded the
shepherds” 15. What emerges from a deliberate yoking of two
proclamations is a combined angelic discourse. The single angel’s
glad tidings of the birth of swth,r precedes the chant of the heav-
12
The string of titles swth,r, cristo,j, ku,rioj leads S. SCHREIBER, Weih-
nachtspolitik. Lukas 1–2 und das Goldene Zeitalter (NTOA 82; Göttingen
2009) 176, to summarize its import: “In den Versen 10-11 finden die Leserin-
nen und Leser der Erzählung erneut in massiver Konzentration das Vokabular
aus den Gedankenkreisen der jüdischen Gesalbtenerwartung und der helleni-
stischen Herrscherverehrung vor”. The noun ku,rioj adjoining cristo,j in the
double title cristo.j ku,rioj, as STRAUSS, The Davidic Messiah in Luke-Acts,
116, has it, “refers to messianic lordship — the authority and dominion which
the Christ deserves and possesses”. C.K. ROWE, “Luke‒Acts and the Imperial
Cult: A Way Through the Conundrum?”, JSNT 27 (2005) 279-300, here 296,
also notices the unification of the two titles: “The Messiah is the Lord, and
thus is Jesus’ messianic status inextricably bound with his identity as ku,rioj”.
13
W. RADL, Der Ursprung Jesu. Traditionsgeschichtliche Untersuchungen
zu Lukas 1‒2 (HBS 7; Freiburg 1996) 151-152.
14
Correctly, B. OLSSON, “The Canticle of the Heavenly Host (Luke 2.14)
in History and Culture”, NTS 50 (2004) 147-166, here 157, identifies the nar-
rative function of 2,13-14 to be “an amplification of the revelation to the
shepherds”.
15
R.J. DILLON, The Hymns of Saint Luke. Lyricism and Narrative Strategy
in Luke 1‒2 (CBQMS 50; Washington, DC 2013) 98.
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