Immaculate Conception (December 8, 2017)
Gospel (Luk 1:26-38)
The Birth of Jesus Foretold
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth,
27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the descendants of David. The virgin’s name was Mary.
28 And the angel came in to her, and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you: blessed are you among women.”
29 But when she saw him, she was troubled at this statement, and wondered what kind of greeting this might be.
30 The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God.
31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call him Jesus.
32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David,
33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; and his kingdom will have no end.”
34 Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.
36 And behold, even your relative Elizabeth has also conceived a son in her old age, and she who was called barren is now in her sixth month.
37 For nothing will be impossible with God.”
Gen 18:14
Is anything hidden from the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you, at this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.
Rashi’s Commentary
Is . . . hidden—As the Targum takes it: is anything hidden—far distant and apart (הֲיִפָּלֵא) from me that I cannot do as I would wish?
At the appointed time—At the special time that I fixed for you yesterday (i.e. on a previous occasion) when I said, (17:21) “at this time next year.”
Num 11:23
The Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm shortened? [i.e., If I do not give it, they will call my omnipotence
into question. At this, Moses said: Let me go and attempt to appease them—whereupon the Lord said:] Now you will see whether my word [that they will not heed you] will come true for you or not.”
Rashi’s Commentary
Now you will see whether my word will come true for you or not—Rabban Gamliel, the son of R. Judah the prince, says: Moses said, It is impossible to settle their argument. Since they seek only a pretext, you cannot satisfy them, and in the end, they will find fault with you. If you give them beef they will say, “We asked for mutton.” And if you give them mutton, they will say, “We asked for beef,” or, It is impossible to settle their argument. Since they seek only a pretext, you cannot satisfy them, and in the end, they will find fault with you. If you give them beef they will say, “We asked for mutton.” And if you give them mutton, they will say, “We asked for beef,” or, “We asked for fish and locusts.” He God replied to him, “If so, they will claim that my power is limited.” He Moses said to him, “I will go and appease them.” He said to him, “Now you will see whether my word will come true for you”—that they will not listen to you. Moses went to appease them. He said to them, “Is there a limit to God’s power? Behold, he struck the rock, so that water gushed out; surely, he can provide bread!” (Psa 78:20) They said, This is an attempt at compromise—he has no power to fulfill our wishes. This is the meaning of, “Moses went out and told the people.” Since they did not listen to him, “he assembled seventy men . . .” (Sifrei Beha’alothecha 1:42:21 and Tosefta Sotah 6:4).
38 And Mary answered, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; may it be fulfilled to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
Reading 1 (Gen 3:14-15)
14 The Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this,
“Cursed are you more than all the cattle
and more than all the beasts of the field!
On your belly you will crawl,
and dust you will eat
all the days of your life.
Rashi’s Commentary
Because you have done this—From here we infer that we should not occupy ourselves with what may be in favour of one who seduces people to idolatry, for had he asked it, “Why did you do this?” it could have answered him, “When the words of the teacher and those of the pupil are contradictory, whose orders should be obeyed?” i. e. If you told them one thing and I another, should they not have obeyed you? (Sanhedrin 29a).
More than all the cattle and more than all the beasts of the field—If it was cursed more than the
cattle whose period of gestation is longer than that of beasts does it not necessarily follow that it was cursed more than the beasts? Our Rabbis have definitely established the correctness of the following deduction in treatise Bekhorot 8a, that it (viz., the use of these apparently superfluous words “and more than all the beasts of the field”) teaches that the period of gestation of the serpent is seven years.
15 And I will put enmity
between you and the woman [whom you seduced with your wiles],
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel [to bite him].”
Gen 17:21
But my covenant I will establish with Isaac [Isaac was “holy,” i.e., circumcised, from birth], whom Sarah will bear to you at this time next year.
Psa 78:20
Behold, he struck the rock,
so that water gushed out,
and streams flowed.
Can he also give bread?
Can he supply meat for his people?
This work, "Immaculate Conception," is a derivative of "The Rashi Chumash" and "The Rashi Ketuvim" by Rabbi Shraga Silverstein used under CC BY 3.0
Abraham Sarah by Free Bible Images is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0
Mary Angel by the LumoProject
Adam Eve Fall by Free Bible Images is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0