Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary...

Luke 1:26-38
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, 27 to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, "Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you." 29 But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. 30 The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31 And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. 32 He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. 33 He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." 34 Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" 35 The angel said to her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. 36 And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God." 38 Then Mary said, "Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." Then the angel departed from her.

Once upon a time, there was a professor of religion at Samford University who had a less than savory reputation. You see, there was a rumor that once, in his Biblical Perspectives class (a class every student at Samford must take), he had removed a student’s Bible from his desk, thrown it into a trash can, and even went so far as to strike a match and light it on fire! Now, depending on who you hear the story from, he may or may not have danced around the flaming trash can like a savage in the celebration of a successful hunt. I happened to have had this professor for a class at Samford; his name is Paul Holloway, and no, he didn’t throw a student’s Bible in the trash and set it on fire—he simply told the student if he was going to bring The Living Bible (a paraphrase, and not a real translation) to class, he might as well throw it in the trash and get a “real” Bible. Dr. Holloway now teaches at the School of Theology at Sewanee, The University of the South and is in fact one of the more Christ-like people I have had the pleasure to meet.
I recall one particular day in his class on Jesus and the gospels. We had been discussing a particular chapter from one of our texts, when it came time for class to be over we all started shuffling our books and putting them away in our bags or tucking them under our arms. I remember pushing my chair away from the table and rising out of my seat when Dr. Holloway said, “For next time I want you all to think about this: what if Mary wasn’t a virgin? What if we had unquestionable, DNA evidence that Joseph or some Roman soldier was in fact the earthly father of Jesus? Could he still be the Jesus we worship as the Son of God? Could everything else we believe about Jesus still be true? Have a nice day!” With that, Dr. Holloway casually walked out of the room, taking all the breathable air with him! We fell back in our seats and just stared at one another. (For the record, Dr. Holloway’s question was intended simply to provoke discussion, but you can see why he would have had such a reputation at Samford.)
Why is the virgin birth of Jesus important? Why have Christians for centuries recited a creed with the line “we believe… [in Jesus Christ] who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary”? What implications can such a doctrine really have on our daily lives? Does it matter at all, or is it simply the ancient residue of a heroic archetype? Perhaps it is best to begin by asking why we affirm such a doctrine in the first place.
I was driving through town one day, and I came to a red light and stopped behind one of “those” cars. You know the kind of car I’m talking about—one that looks like the back fenders are actually taped on with bumpers stickers. There were stickers expressing the driver’s pride in his or her honor student, stickers promoting a politician who hasn’t ran for office since the 1990s, even some that were faded, unrecognizable, colorless blotches, but the one that caught my attention most was a simple white sticker with a straight-to-the-point message written in maroon letters: “The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.” It was neither the first nor the last time I have read or heard that exact sentiment. Of course, I trust you see the flaw in such logic: many eyes read the Bible, and many minds read those same words differently. So while many people may say “Amen!” to just such a slogan, many of them will disagree as to what exactly the “Bible says.”
However, for many believers, it is simply enough to say that we believe in the virgin birth of Jesus because the Bible says that Mary was indeed a virgin when Jesus was conceived. We’re reminded of this at least once a year around December as the nativity stories of Luke and Matthew are read and recited in all manner of ways, from television specials to Christmas Eve sermons. It is of some importance, however, to point out that only Matthew and Luke seem to find the virgin birth of Jesus necessary to include in their telling of the good news, and both tell it in slightly different ways. But in the end, “the Bible says it,” so we cannot ignore the importance of the miraculous nature of Jesus’ conception and birth. But is it just enough to say we believe it because the Bible says it? After all, the Bible says we shouldn’t eat pork or catfish, and we should treat even the foreigner as we would like to be treated, but not all believers rush to shout “The Bible says it. I believe it. That settles it.” when it comes to those particular points. So there must be a deeper, perhaps more traditional or theological reason why we uphold this particular point of Christian orthodoxy.
The traditions and teachings of the Church throughout history have gone a long way in shaping the confessions and beliefs of the contemporary church. However, there have been times in the history of the Church when great men and women have challenged such traditions, calling us to reexamine why we believe what we say we believe in the first place. No one serves as a clearer example of such questioning than Martin Luther. Luther challenged many of the traditions of the Roman Catholic Church in the sixteenth century, especially in light of his understanding of Scripture. However, when it came to one particular doctrine, infant baptism, Luther believed it was a doctrine worth preserving, despite his confession that there was a lack of biblical evidence for such a practice. In his Large Catechism Luther wrote, “But if God did not accept the baptism of infants, He would not give the Holy Ghost nor any of His gifts to any of them; in short, during this long time unto this day no man upon earth could have been a Christian.” In other words, surely God would not have allowed the practice of infant baptism to continue for centuries as a practice and tradition of the Church if it was not right. Clearly, tradition can go a long way in shaping what we believe.
While we do not cling to the traditions surrounding Mary and her perpetual virginity or special relationship to Christ, the traditions of the Church have gone a long way in shaping what we believe about the importance of the virgin conception and birth of Jesus. The most direct example involves the belief that comes from two of the Fathers of the Western Church, Augustine and Ambrose. They were integral in the development of the doctrine of original sin and therefore saw the virgin birth of Jesus as necessary to his living a sinless life. For centuries, theologians in the Church have contended that this is why we must believe that Jesus was born of a virgin—so that he may truly be sinless. However, in recent years Augustine’s understanding of original sin has come under some scrutiny from all manner of theologians.
If the reasons we typically believe in the virgin birth of Jesus (the Bible says it, tradition backs it, etc.) seem to strain under the weight of contemporary reason and skepticism, then why should we hold such a doctrine? And if we should find that such a belief is worth holding, what real implications can it possibly have on our lives today? Before we get ready to burn those we label as heretics for questioning our long-held beliefs, or before we decide to lay aside faith entirely, let us take a look at the text we have read this morning from Luke’s gospel. Perhaps if we try to understand what the Bible is actually saying here, we will find the true reason as to why we confess our belief in the virgin birth of Jesus.
Luke tells us that the messenger of God, Gabriel, comes to a virgin named Mary in the backwater town of Nazareth in Galilee. He calls her favored one and proceeds to tell her in verses 30-33: “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end." It is in these particular words from Gabriel that one ought to find the purpose of the entire story of Jesus’ birth: Mary will carry the one who will be called the Son of the Most High, a title that overflows with allusions to the messiah. Furthermore, this child that will be conceived in Mary will have an endless kingdom. This is no ordinary child; in fact, this is no ordinary, extraordinary child!
You see, all throughout Scripture, extraordinary children are born in extraordinary ways: Isaac was born to Abraham and Sarah when Sarah was in her nineties; Rebekah was barren for twenty years before God “opened her womb” and she gave birth to Esau and Jacob; Samson’s mother was barren before an angel appeared to her and said she would bear a son; and prior to our Scripture this morning, Luke tells us of Elizabeth, Mary’s cousin, who was barren and getting on in years. Elizabeth and her husband Zechariah become the proud, aged parents of John (the Baptist). So, all throughout the witness of Scripture great heroes and extraordinary people are born in miraculous and extraordinary ways, but when it comes to the Son of the Most High extraordinary wasn’t enough.
In verse 34 we hear Mary’s response to Gabriel’s proclamation: "How can this be, since I am a virgin?" Sure, Elizabeth was old, but there’s always the biological possibility that her pregnancy was completely natural, but Mary…well Mary hadn’t even been with a man (not to mention that she was likely a teenager when she heard the news of a coming child!). How could she, of all people, possibly have a child? That’s when the angel lays it all out for Mary—and for us—in verse 35: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God.” After mentioning the pregnancy of Elizabeth, the angel says in verse 37 words that ought to ring in our ears whenever we have doubt about the omnipotence of God: “For nothing will be impossible with God.”
In this exchange between Mary and Gabriel, we don’t simply read an instance where “The Bible says it.” We see why we truly ought to believe in the beyond-extraordinary way in which the Lord was conceived. From the very beginning, Christ cannot be confused as a powerful prophet; he cannot be dismissed simply as an extraordinary king, born of extraordinary circumstances. No, from the very beginning he is the Son of God! Being conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary is a unique and sure sign that this child is something beyond the kings and prophets of the past. From the very first moments of the Incarnation, the eternal Son of God is recognized as much more than all that was great before him. In that truth we find the reason for upholding the virgin birth. In that truth, the truth that Jesus is different from all that we could possibly hope for or expect, we find reason to confess with the universal Church, “We believe…[in Jesus Christ] who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.” Are you able to confess that today?
Let us pray…