Today we in the Orthodox Church celebrate the Great Feast of the Nativity of the Theotokos. The Gospel Reading for this day is a composite Gospel from Luke 10:38-42, 11:27-28.
This Feast is the first at the beginning of the new Liturgical Year for which six Biblical Lessons are specifically designated in her honor. In many of the hymns which honor the Theotokos, she is referred to as, “a stairway reaching from earth to heaven”, in another as, “the house of God”, and “the gate that opens into heaven”.
In Genesis 28:10-17, we hear about Jacob’s dream at Bethel and what God promised him He would do through Jacob and his descendants. The Holy Fathers interpreted the various passages from this Feastday as preparing the mystery of salvation in Christ. Jacob is a symbol of Christ in whom God truly blessed the nations of the world. The Ladder which we hear about bridging heaven and earth is the Virgin Mary, the dwelling place of the incarnate Christ who is the Wisdom of God.
The Theotokos, which literally means the Birthgiver of God, reminds us that the Virgin Mary truly gave birth to the eternal and pre-existent Christ in His humanity. Mary personally in body and spirit served the plan of God in Christ; thus her own birth according to God’s plan is a preparatory sign of the good news of Christ, a sign of God preparing for us the wedding feast in His Kingdom rich in grace, love, truth, wisdom and countless blessings.
Therefore, let us proclaim that Mary’s obedience opened for us the banquet hall and her own birth marked the turning point in the history of human salvation!
