“Today all creation greatly rejoices, for the Archangel says unto thee, ‘Hail! Blessed art thou, O Pure and Holy, Undefiled and Spotless.’ Today the proud insolence of the serpent is brought low, for the fetters of the curse laid on our forefathers are loosened. Therefore with all the world we cry aloud to thee: Hail, thou who art full of grace.” ~ Sessional Hymn from Orthros

In this Great Feast of the Annunciation, we celebrate freedom from bondage.

St. Paul says in the Epistle to the Hebrews that we were all our lifetime “subject to bondage” through “fear of death;” we were in bondage to the one “who had the power of death, that is, the devil.” We begin our life in the world, in fact, as slaves, like the children born into bondage in Egypt. But we don’t have to remain in bondage, because the great Abolitionist, the great eradicator of spiritual slavery, the new Moses, Christ our God, has come. This feast announces His coming and the promise of our freedom.

One of the hymns from the Orthros of this feast says “Today the proud insolence of the serpent is brought low, for the fetters of the curse laid on our forefathers are loosened.” The Lord comes into the world to loosen our fetters, to set us free. However, there is something that must take place before the Lord can come. There is a word that must be said by someone on our behalf. That word comes from Mary, the young, humble girl through whom the promise of our freedom came.

The Archangel appears to her: she who all her life was humbly, quietly dedicated to God. She never sought any fame or glory. She never even imagined such a thing for herself. She wanted only to do the Lord’s will. And, seeing her readiness to accept His will and her total lack of self-centeredness or any tendency to seek glory and honor for herself, the Lord chose precisely her to be His honored vessel of grace. It couldn’t have been a proud, belligerent or insolent person through whom the freedom would come.

It couldn’t have been someone whose character and disposition reflected the enemy’s. It had to be someone meek and guileless, and, above all, ready to say “yes” to God. And that one was Mary, the Theotokos, she who through her “yes” to God become more honorable than the Cherubim and more glorious than the Seraphim.

When the Archangel tells her of God’s will for her, she is confused because of her total lack of expectation of anything great and glorious. She sees herself as being in a “lowly state.” And, in her innocence and guilelessness, she confesses that she can’t comprehend how she could bear a child, much less the Messiah, the Christ. But she’s also quick to accept the only explanation that the Archangel offers, which shows her faith and trust in God’s providence. He says, simply, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” Then, mentioning that the barren, elderly Elizabeth will also conceive, he adds one further word of instruction and encouragement, saying, “For with God nothing will be impossible.”

Clearly, she believes in God with all her heart, and so her spirit immediately responds to the word of promise, and without needing to understand everything, she has faith that what has been spoken will come to pass. And she expresses, on behalf of the whole human race, that complete faith and confidence in God, combined with humble acceptance of His will, with those striking words: “Behold the maidservant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word!”

Those words began the spiritual equivalent of a nuclear reaction. They were the mustard seed of faith, the tiny drop of cooperation with God’s will that was necessary to set in motion all that would lead to our ultimate deliverance from bondage. Through her “yes” to God, and by His overshadowing divine power, she conceived Christ, our deliverer, within her womb. And nothing could stop the process after that; not all the efforts of the devil, or the malice of the unbelievers, and not even death itself could stop Christ from winning the victory.

And He, the Victorious One, who came into the world in response to that “yes,” calls us to say “yes” to Him also. According to Hebrews, Christ considers us brethren - adelphoi; He calls us His brothers and sisters. Not only does He grant us freedom from the enemy so that we might go and live on our own - but so much more incredible - He comes and finds slaves, sets them free, and adopts them as His siblings. But only if we are willing.

For this to be our story, we have to imitate the Mother of God and say “yes” to Him. We may be tempted, when we hear Him calling us to great heights, to question whether such a thing is possible for us who are used to crawling on the ground and living sinfully. We may be tempted to wonder, “How can this be?” Our questioning, unlike Mary’s, may be lacking in faith, wracked by doubt, fainthearted. We may have lived so long in slavery to our passions, that we doubt the possibility of living apart from their tyranny.

But, brothers and sisters, who are the brothers and sisters of Christ Himself, it is not a weak leader who has come to lead you to the promised land. It is the power of the Most High which overshadows us, and the Holy Spirit Who is present to transform us, and the eternal Word of God Who has come into the world to set us free. We do not have to understand exactly how Christ will set us free from sin; we only have to have faith that He can, the desire that He would do precisely that, and the willingness to cooperate with the process. So, let us stir up our faith, pray fervently for God to strengthen it, and then cry out to Him, “Set us free! Thou hast called us to follow Thee into freedom! Behold the servants of the Lord! Let it be to us according to Thy word!” Amen.