Double Entendre

Double entendre are words and phrases with double meanings. A billboard near our house for an air-conditioning company has a picture of a beautiful woman with the words, “Your wife is hot!” Sexy or sweating! A poorly worded news title in a church magazine says, “Children make nutritious snacks.” People make double entendre purposefully or accidentally.

I don’t know if Gabriel made his double entendre purposefully or accidentally. Luke writes,

“In the sixth month, the angel Gabriel was sent by the Lord into a town of Galilee named Nazareth to a virgin who was betrothed to a man named Joseph from the house of David (and the virgin’s name was Mariam.) And coming to her, he said, “Hello, the one who received grace. The Lord is with you.” (Luke 1:27–28)

After Elizabeth became pregnant, she hid for five months. We don’t know why – perhaps because her husband, Zechariah, couldn’t rejoice because of being made speechless by his lack of faith. But God wasn’t silent or quiet. He sent his angel Gabriel a second time. This time it was to an unmarried but betrothed virgin, Mariam. She wasn’t in the temple, offering incense at the altar, as was Zechariah. She was alone somewhere no one could see, and Gabriel visited her.

(Both the Hebrew ‘alma and the Greek parthenos can mean someone who had never had sex or an unmarried person who was betrothed to be married, e.g., 1 Cor 7:25–31. With Mariam [in Hebrew and Greek] or Mary [in English], she had never been with a man.)

Mariam was betrothed to Joseph from the house of David, a royalty. But the royalty had been removed from David’s house and given to Herod, an Idumean (Gentile), and Joseph was a “throne maker” (a carpenter) than a “throne sitter” (a king) – a quote from my teacher.

Gabriel had two Greetings and one declaration. The first was a casual greeting that the Greeks still use today: chaire, “hello” (sounds like Key-ray). Its base is charis “grace.” His second greeting was ke-chari-tomeni, “the one who received grace.” Again, the base is charis “grace.” Zechariah received the greeting: “Do not fear, Zechariah, because your prayer has been answered” (1:13) – an answer to a prayer he was praying and hoping for. Mariam didn’t have a request or anticipation, but she received a greeting that was overflown with God’s grace.

Then, the double entendre: “The Lord is with you.” Mariam would have understood “the Lord” (o kurios) to be YHWH God and thought YHWH God was with her. Soon, however, she would find “the Lord” (o kurios), Jesus, within her, in her womb. So, when Gabriel said, “The Lord with you,” intentionally or unintentionally, he made a double entendre: “YHWH is with you” and “Lord Jesus is within you.” This was the proof of the greeting: “Hello, the one who received grace.” Mariam/Mary received grace as evidenced by the Lord’s presence with her.

“She was troubled at his word [singular] and dialogued within herself, ‘What is this greeting?’” (Luke 1:29)

Mariam/Mary was the first theologian who wanted to know the meaning of a single word. That word would have been charis (“grace”), the root of “Hello” and “the one who received grace” and the cause of the Lord’s presence with her.

Mariam/Mary epitomizes grace and biblical theology. The Lord God reaches out to people of all social classes and statuses with his grace – whether a priest or an ordinary girl. The same is true of you and me, simple and ordinary people God reaches out to with grace.