I too joined in love and rejoiced with the heavenly assembly sent to give praise, at the glorious season appointed for salvation and on the blessed day reserved for joy. With humble melodies I will praise Him; with the cry of “Holy” I will sing to Him; I will glorify the Child who saved us.
Refrain: Make me worthy also, that with Your lyre I may raise glory to You on the day of Your birth.
The lyre of the prophets who proclaimed Him sang before Him. The vestment of the priests who loved Him longed for His face, together with the crown of the kings whose line He entered. He is the Lord of virgins, and His mother too is a virgin. Because He is King, He gives a kingdom to all; because He is Priest, He gives atonement to all; because He is Lamb, He sets out food for all.
All the cities of a king are accustomed to offer golden crowns in their hands. But the cities of Judah, my Lord, are speaking crowns: with their mouths they offer their crowns to You, Jesus—little Bethlehem and Nazareth, Bethany, Shechem, and Samaria, together with the towns that were found worthy and crowned You.
Your city offers You the first crown: two crowns together, Mary and Ephrathah. Then, rank by rank, all the cities together offer You their crowns from what is already Yours. What king, my Lord, takes without giving? Your cities weave together Your victories and offer a crown to Your glory.
His mother bows before Him and offers Him a crown. Solomon’s mother made him king and crowned him, but he turned aside and lost his crown in the contest. See, the Son of David has triumphed for the house of David and crowned it: He greatly magnified its throne, greatly exalted its lineage, and stretched its lyre to every place.
The mother who bore Him is worthy of remembrance; the womb that carried Him is worthy of blessings. Joseph too, who by grace was called father to the Son of Truth, whose true Father is glorious, is worthy of honor. He is the Shepherd of every creature, sent after the sheep that was lost and had gone astray; with rejoicing He brought it back into His fold.
Of all who have been healed, rejoice with me, for I conceived Him. Of all who have been made great through Him, magnify me, for I bore Him. I am destined to enter His living Paradise, and in the place where Eve fell I will praise Him. From all the women He created, He chose me to be His mother, as He desired; and He became my Child, as it pleased Him.
Bethlehem will thank You because it was found worthy of Your birth. It will weave Micah’s saying into Your crown. Prophecy became a garden of blossoms; let it call the prophets and kings to help with its crown: Moses carrying types for Him, Isaiah carrying mysteries that blossom, and lilies of wonders throughout every book.
With the mouth of my glorious ones I confess that I received Him—the little Child, Son of the Hidden One—when He came forth into manifestation. He lifted me to the great height among the holy ones, and in the heavens, stretched wide and spacious, I will praise Him. They are full of His glory, yet they cannot contain His greatness within them: He who bent down and became small in a manger.
Heavenly voices announced You to those below, and the ears of those above fell silent at the good news. The heavenly ones opened a new fountain for earthborn people who thirsted for life but had not tasted it. O spring that Adam never tasted! He opened twelve speaking fountains and through them filled the world with life.
Joseph bows before You and offers You a crown—the afflicted righteous man whom the angel set at rest. To increase his reward, You took refuge within his embrace. Joseph’s righteousness testified how pure You are: who could have persuaded a righteous man to bear the disgrace of adultery and be driven from place to place?
You, my Lord, teach me how and why it pleased You to shine upon us from a virgin womb. Was it because of the type of pure Adam, who was formed from virgin earth before it had yet been tilled? Was this why the daughter of David had to be betrothed to Joseph, so that afterward Your birth from her could be without a man?
The royal genealogy was written by the names of men rather than women. Joseph, son of David, betrothed the daughter of David for the Son of David, because a child was not registered by his mother’s name. Thus the Child belonged to Joseph without seed, and to His mother without a man; through both of them He joined Himself to their lineage, so that among the kings He was recorded as Son of David.
It was not fitting that He be born from Joseph’s seed, nor that He be conceived from Mary without Joseph. Mary, who bore Him, was not the name under which He was registered; and Joseph, whose name was written, did not give the seed by which He was conceived. Joseph’s body did not accompany Him—only his name. Without Mary’s betrothed, her Son shone forth. He was David’s Lord, and even his Father.
Moses called the betrothed woman “a man’s wife,” and he also called her betrothed “husband,” though he had not taken her. In this way they would not sever the lineage of the Son of David. For without a man, how could He be reckoned Son of David? Her betrothed was therefore reckoned as her husband. Our Lord Himself acknowledged their lineage: they called Him Son of David, and He did not deny it.
If a highborn man calls someone his son even though that person is found to be foreign to his stock and race, and because he chooses him makes him an heir by his will, who can dispute the bodily birth of our Savior? He was conceived from that daughter of David, embraced in the bosom of a son of David, and worshiped in the city of David.
What, then, was the chaste woman doing at the moment when Gabriel was sent to her, flew down, and descended? Perhaps she saw him while she was at prayer, just as Daniel also saw Gabriel while he was praying. Prayer and good news are sisters; it is fitting that each should gladden the other, as Mary gladdened Elizabeth her kinswoman.
The dove carried good news to prayer. In Abram’s prayer the good tidings waited; Hezekiah’s prayer hastened his good tidings; the centurion’s good tidings brought joy to his prayer. Simeon rejoiced in his reward, and Zechariah received the reward of his incense: upon his incense the good news came.
All our hopes make for the harbor of petition. The Good News of good news, the cause of every joy, found Mary at prayer and delighted in her. Gabriel, composed like a dignified elder, entered and greeted her so that she would not be startled—so that the modest young woman would not see the face of a young man and be troubled.
To two chaste elders and to the young Virgin, Gabriel alone was sent with good tidings. They were alike in disposition though their conditions differed: the Virgin, the barren woman, and faithful Daniel. To one he announced a birth, to another he revealed a word, to another a voice for the wilderness, and in the Virgin the Word of the Most High.
So that the abundance of His visions would not overwhelm them, He chose one place from all: the land of the Hebrews; from all of it, Judah; and from Judah, Bethlehem—until a tiny womb was filled. Like a seed in our garden and a little ray at our doorway, He shone out, spread abroad, and filled the world.
So that it might be clearly explained whose Son He is, Luke and Matthew both traced His genealogy. They reckoned Him the Son of Abraham, of David, and also of Joseph, as the clear testimony of the two books declares. The blind man too called Him Son of David. Let confusion increase for His enemies, and the crown grow greater for those who love Him.
The lineage of Judah had never ceased, and the sign proceeding from it had never been cut off. From our Lord onward it was shown to have reached its end. Even the long interval bears witness, for it has confused the reckoning of the tribes and it is no more. The genealogy reached You and stopped, for You are the Son of David, and there is no other after You.