The Angel Gabriel...

[damont]

...who appeared in today's Gospel reading (for Episcopalians anyway), is one busy dude in the 15 or so months leading up to the birth of Jesus. First he is sent to tell Zechariah, the old priest, that he and his wife Elizabeth (also old) are finally going to have their first child. Zach doesn't believe Gabe, who then takes out the Divine Clue-By-Four and thwacks the priest with it, rendering him unable to speak until his kid (to be known as John the Baptist) is born. (Luke 1:5-25)

Then, six months later, he is sent to tell Elizabeth's young couisin Mary that *she* has been picked to bear a child too. Mary is a bit troubles and confused, because she is a virgin: only betrothed, not married, and unlike some other betrothed couples she might know, she and her fiancé haven't had sex. Well, Mary is very young and doesn't really have cause to know better (unlike Zechariah who's a *rabbi* and therefore *should* have known better). So Gabe gently lays the Clue-By-Four on the top of her head and carefully explains it all to her, and she accepts the burden. (Luke 1:26-38, today's reading)

Joseph, Mary's betrothed, is worried when he discovers Mary is expecting. Now, given what I learned about the betrothal customs of the day, it seems to me that if the bride-to-be turned up pregnant, it was simply assumed that the engaged couple had jumped the gun a bit -- along, perhaps, with some ribald humor aimed in the groom-to-be's direction. Yes, there's a bit of notoriety attached to the woman involved, but as long as they still get married, it'll blow over. So I think Joseph overreacts a bit; just because *he* knows he and Mary weren't getting it on doesn't mean *all* that much in the long run... as long as he still marries her! But he wigs out and is going to divorce her (you needed a divorce to break a *betrothal* under Jewish law of the time!), which (when the baby is born) will splatter the fragments of Mary's reputation all over the place. So Gabriel gets sent out to Joseph, to administer the Clue-By-Four to *him*. Why Joseph, evidently an older man and supposedly knowledgeable in local customs, didn't get a dose of STFU like Zechariah did, seems a bit unfair, but Joseph *did* accept the administered clue. (Matthew 1:18-25; Matthew doesn't name the angel but the parallel to the aforementioned passages in Luke is striking.)

Finally, when Jesus is born, an angel appears to the shepherds. Luke doesn't name this angel, but as Gabriel has been ferrying messages in the previous chapter, it's not unreasonable to assume that he gets this job too. Of course, this time he gets a backup band to help out. (With full orchestration and five-part harmony?) (Luke 2:8-14)

We sang William Byrd's O Magnum Mysterium this morning in church. It went well with only a few minor wobbles, though Hedy did play the "rehearsal-only" accompaniment to help us along as this past Thursday's choir practice had been cancelled. And now it's time to get ready for Saturday night: Christmas Eve is probably the most music-ful service of the entire year.

Comments

[dr-zrfq.livejournal.com]

Oh, they keep composing more... in fact, we're doing a relatively contemporary piece as one of the multiple anthems Saturday night. Pretty, but challenging.