“And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”
Luke 1:30-31 (RSV)
A lifetime isn’t long enough to fully meditate on one of the most profound mysteries of the Christian faith, the incarnation of Jesus.
Every Christian denomination believes in the incarnation, yet it’s probably the most overlooked and least thought about, of all the miraculous events in the gospel. Once a year we are reminded of it at Christmas time, but then we quickly move on to the next part of the story.
God is all powerful and could have brought us a Savior in several different ways. He could have made Jesus appear like a super hero, out of the sky in adult form, without parents, having no conception, infancy or childhood stages of His life. Or He could have brought a Savior to the world through the natural reproductive process which He ordained between a man and a woman, but He didn’t.
God brought us the most remarkable Savior, and He chose to do it in the most remarkable way.
The exalted and most high, infinite and eternal God chose to send His Son into this world, through a humble, Jewish virgin girl named Mary. She was created for that mission, though she didn’t know it, until the day when the angel Gabriel visited her. He told her that she was filled with the grace to become the mother of the Savior of the world. She had no idea what that fully entailed, but she accepted the most extraordinary mission of all time.
Isaiah prophesied centuries earlier, that a virgin would conceive and bear a son, who is Immanuel, meaning “God with us.” (Isaiah 7:14)
No one understood the magnitude of those prophetic words; “God with us” and a “virgin will bear a son”.
Isaiah’s words were overlooked then, just as the entire mystery of the incarnation is often overlooked today. It’s such an incomprehensible and unheard of concept, that we tend to move on past it. A virgin conception was totally unheard of throughout Hebrew biblical history.
God selected a very particular virgin womb to carry His Son. Mary was made for her mission, anointed to be His mother. The ovum in her womb was fertilized by the Holy Spirit, becoming an embryo, both human and divine, which developed into a fetus, and the baby boy she finally delivered at the appointed time. He was named Jesus, just as Gabriel told her to do.
Throughout the Bible, God helped certain women to miraculously become pregnant, after years of being barren, like Sarah, Hannah, Elizabeth and Samson’s mother, but none of them were virgins. The virgin conception is unprecedented in all of scripture as well as in the Jewish faith.
Like the Ark of the Covenant, in the Old Testament, Mary’s womb became a holy container carrying something sacred and untouchable by human hands. She gave birth to a son, who was both human and divine. God gave Mary the qualities needed to nurture His son and it was the highest of honors.
Jesus began His earthly life as a helpless baby, dependent on the care of His two loving parents. Joseph was born for the purpose of fathering Jesus and protecting them both. It’s an overwhelming task, but he had all the right qualities to lovingly care for his family.
Jesus grew to adulthood knowing all aspects of being fully human, while being fully divine. He knew the ups and downs of human life, loving and being loved, enjoying friendships, eating, drinking, working and playing. He also knew rejection, sorrow, fear, anxiety, and He can still empathize with us in everything we go through. (Hebrews 4:15)
When God demonstrated His plan to save mankind, the very first step was to become present in Mary’s womb. The same Holy Spirit now dwells in us. The incarnation will always be a reminder that the invisible and almighty God is present in our ordinary lives each and every day.
“God with us” is the greatest and most extraordinary miracle of our faith, and it all started with the incarnation of Jesus.
Lord, thank you for your awesome plan of the incarnation, which fills our hearts with the peace of your presence. May we never overlook this most profound truth. Amen
