Mary Hears the "Good News"
It is a common observation in the Old Testament that God normally calls individuals at their work. This panel shows the young woman in the final stages of making bread - a daily necessity of life - the fire already prepared to receive the loaves. The coloured shawl declares her unmarried status.
Gabriel, the messenger sent by God, announces to Mary that she is about to conceive, and tells her that she is to name her child ‘Jesus’.
What Gabriel says about this child is taken almost completely from the message that the prophet Nathan was sent to deliver to David [2 Samuel 7:8-16] regarding his son Solomon, but Luke has applied it to his more distant heir, Jesus of Nazareth.
The question of the virgin birth is a difficult one. Science cannot account for it. It is well known by Hebrew scholars that Isaiah, in announcing the birth of a son to Hezekiah [Isaiah 7:14] was referring to a young married woman, which unfortunately was translated by the Greek word for "virgin". Within Judaism, nothing was made of this, but first generation Christians took this rendering seriously -- and applied it as a prophecy to Jesus. It was subsequently adopted as orthodox belief.