We saw depictions of the annunciation, along with the Madonna and child everywhere in Nazareth.
And why not?
Hail, Mary! Full of grace.
Nazareth, and perhaps the Church of the Annunciation, is where the angel appeared to the young Mary to tell her the Messiah was coming.
And she would be his mother.
Shouldn’t the annunciation be an angel and Mary?
Well, yes, though Jesus was there, too.
Curiously, though, an angel appeared with Mary in only several places at the Nazareth church/basilica.
Can you name the man wearing white with a red stole in the painting on the right?
Bonus points if you guess what nation provided this depiction of the annunciation. (Answers below).
The front of the church provides a carving:
The painting below isn’t in Nazareth, but in Florence’s Uffizi Museum, but it’s the best example of the genre.
Bonus point: Who painted it? (It’s believed to be his first painting).
But in Nazareth, other than the first two depictions, I only saw Mary and Jesus.
The Annunciation is about announcing someone
Of course, Mary and her acceptance of the angel’s announcement is important.
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”
But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
The angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God.
“And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.”
And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.”
And the angel departed from her.
Luke 1: 26-38 ESV
Classical art tends to depict her with her baby.
But Jesus really was the point.
International art work donated to the Church of the Annunciation
What I loved about visiting the Church of the Annunciation in busy Nazareth, were the depictions we saw of the Madonna and Jesus from all over the globe.
All of them centered on Mary and her baby in one form or another.
Can you guess which languages/nations presented these mosaics?
Notice how Mary wears a crown in most of them–appearing as a queen.
Here are six more:
A universal Jesus and His mother
What I love is the universality of Jesus and Mary.
Each nation provided their image of what their Savior looked like.
Which is exactly what God intended.
And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
Matthew 28:18-20 ESV
What about Joseph?
Remember him?
Angels appeared to Joseph, too, though in Joseph’s case, the annunciation came in dreams.
A church next to the Church of the Annunciation, fittingly, the Church of St. Joseph, is built over what is believed to be the site of Joseph’s carpenter’s shop/home.
Tradition believes it to be where the little family settled when the returned from Egypt.
Was it?
The current church was built in 1914 over a site identified with the “Holy Family” as early as 600 AD.
I liked Joseph’s statue outside with his knees rubbed clear to the bronze from visiting pilgrims.
(It might be worth noting some scholars believe the word used for “carpenter” might better be translated as “mason.” Given the relatively few trees in the area, stone mason seems a more likely occupation for the man who raised Jesus.
(And, thus, Jesus himself.)
Jesus, of course, is the point of the entire Church of the Annunciation complex.
Tweetables
Nazareth’s wonderful depictions of the Madonna and her child. Click to Tweet
Church of the Annunciation: It’s about Jesus (and Mary). Click to Tweet
Answers: 1. Vatican; 2. Leonardo da Vinci; 3. Poland; 4. China; 5. Wales; 6. Dominican Republic; 7. China (again); 8. Slovenia; 9. Ethiopia; 10. Thailand; 11. Bulgaria; 12. Korea; 13. India; 14. Esparanto
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