Do you ever feel like, as a Christian, there are a lot of things you HAVE to believe? Just little things that you are supposed to agree with, like it or not? And it’s not that you don’t necessarily believe them, but they seem inconsequential or silly—you don’t understand them. And we figure that it really doesn’t matter if we believe everything. I mean, we are saved by faith in Jesus Christ, right? Not how pure our doctrine is or how much we agree with the church party line.
The doctrine or belief in the virgin Mary fits in this category for many Christians. It’s written in the Bible, we confess it in the Apostle’s Creed, but it certainly doesn’t seem like a very important thing to believe. I mean, it’s her own business whether she was a virgin or not when she had Jesus, right? Who cares! Jesus was born, the Savior of the world! That’s what matters. We could care less about Mary and her past activities.
There are a lot of people who question whether Mary was actually a virgin or not. Did you know that? And in the face of so many questions, it’s easy to say, “Who cares! It doesn’t really matter! Believe whatever you want to believe. It doesn’t affect much.” But, you know what? That is a trap. By the end of my message today, I hope that you see that it actually does matter. What you believe about this matters a lot. And why is that? Because like many doctrines of the church that we don’t think are very important, what you believe affects your faith in Jesus. It’s part of the foundation. Sometimes, we don’t realize how central some peculiar doctrine is to our faith until everything begins to crumble around us and we can’t figure out why. The doctrine of the virgin Mary is one of them so we’d better talk about it.
First, you need to know some of arguments AGAINST the doctrine of the virgin Mary. I want you to understand the issues involved. There are three categories: scientific, historical and grammatical. You can probably guess the scientific problem with a virgin birth: Babies do not just show up out of nowhere. Scientists know how a baby is conceived and, if you don’t know, you might need to ask. To put it simply. In order for a baby to be created, you need something from a mommy and something from a daddy. Two human beings make a human baby. It’s very simple science.
Knowing this fact (that all human babies need something from a mommy and something from a daddy) some scientists argue that Mary might have THOUGHT she was a virgin, but maybe she just hadn’t had “the talk” yet about the birds and the bees. They didn’t have to take health class back then, so, perhaps, she was just ignorant. Of course, other people don’t give her the benefit of the doubt and just argue that she must have simply been lying. She isn’t the first young woman, they might point out, to maintain her purity in the face of obvious proof to the opposite just to not get in trouble with her parents or, in this case, her fiancée.
Then there is the historical argument. In the book “Christology” by Hans Swartz, he writes that throughout history, “many important figures were allegedly born of a virgin even if their parents were well known.” For example, Ra, the Egyptian Sun-god was supposed to be a virgin birth, so were all the heroes in the Greek and Roman pantheons such as Perseus. Other important historical figures were said to be virgin births such as Genghis Khan and Alexander the Great. Had you ever heard about these so-called virgin births before? And what do with do with information? Were the Christians just copying the idea from their neighbors?
Swartz points out a problem with comparing these different examples, “In the Near Eastern and Hellenistic context there is always a sexual element present, a divine marriage, for instance, in which a divine male in human or other form impregnates a woman.” For example, the Greek god Zeus was said to take the form of a swan and has a romantic encounter with a lady named Lena. As the story goes, they create the beautiful Helen of Troy—the face that launched a thousand ships. But Swartz points out, “There is no clear example of virginal conception in world or pagan religions that plausibly could have given first-century Jewish Christians the idea of the virginal conception of Jesus.”
What does all that mean? It means that Jesus’ conception, the concept of a virgin Mary, is unlike any other historical examples. So, either the biblical writers were really bad at copying from other stories or else they weren’t copying anything at all.
Finally, there is the grammatical argument. There are some who have argued that the word translated “virgin” from today’s Isaiah text is actually better translated “young woman” or “maiden” . Therefore, these scholars would argue, it is not necessary to believe that Mary had to be a virgin in order to fulfill this prophecy, she just had to be a young woman, which she was. Some argue that the only reason the earliest Christians thoughts she was a virgin was because they were mistranslating what Isaiah really wrote. However, I am always skeptical of these translation arguments. I mean, if it “could” be translated “young woman” it also “could” still be translated “virgin”. Since people 2000 years ago were probably better at both their Hebrew and Greek than I am, I tend to think that since the church has believed she was a virgin for two centuries, that’s probably still the truth today.
Well, those are the main arguments AGAINST a virgin birth. Some of them may be more convincing to you than others. The fact of the matter is that the virgin birth has always been a problem for good reason—it was a miracle! I mean, that’s kinda the point isn’t it? God appears to have wanted it to be difficult for us to fathom since he never did it before or has done it since. All we have got is the biblical evidence. S what do you believe and why does it matter?
Just to make it clear, the virgin birth is not about Mary’s purity; it’s about Jesus’ divinity. Jesus’ divinity is at stake here, not Mary’s reputation. Why do I bring this up? Because I think even people in the church have gotten this confused. Sometimes I think that it sounds like the fact that Mary was a virgin made her more “holy” than other women. But that’s not the point. A married woman is just as “holy” and beloved in God’s sight as Mary. This isn’t really about Mary at all! It’s all about Jesus.
In order for Jesus to be truly God and truly a human being, Mary must have become pregnant through the power of God, through the Holy Spirit. She would have had to be a virgin or else Jesus isn’t God—pure and simple. And is Jesus isn’t God, then he’s just another guy who died in history. If God himself was not born in the flesh, then God could not have died in the flesh or been raised from the dead and that means our faith is just in some popular guy in the first century. Jesus’ death means nothing if he is only human. Jesus death means something only when he is the
innocent, sinless, spotless, lamb of God sacrificed for your sins.
In the Old Testament, in order to be assured of the forgiveness of your sins, you had to sacrifice a lamb without blemish to God. When the laws of God were broken, blood had to be spilt and the lamb would take the place of you. Instead of you dying for your sins, a lamb would be sacrificed on your behalf. But you had to do this over and over and over again in the old sacrificial system. Lots of dead lambs in exchange for a forgiven you. This was a shadow of things to come.
But when Jesus died, God did something new. According to the book of Hebrews, Jesus was the spotless lamb of God and “He sacrificed himself for our sins once for all, when he offered himself.” No more dead lambs! Jesus Christ, the only human being who did not deserve to die because he had no sin, had to die in order for us to see the truth of our sin and the possibility of our salvation. God had to sacrifice himself, in the form of his only Son Jesus, in order to make us holy and acceptable in his sight. The book of Romans says, “Just as the result of one trespass was condemnation for all men, so also the result of one act of righteousness was justification that brings life for all men.
Jesus had to be more than just a human being, but also truly God. And in order to be truly God, his mother had to be a virgin—there is no other way around it. So why does the virgin birth of Jesus matter? Because if Mary wasn’t a virgin, then Jesus isn’t God and that means you will die and that’s the end. But I have good news for you: “God so loved the world that he gave his only Son so that all who believe in him may not perish but will have eternal life.” When Jesus was born, God was born. He was called Emmanuel-God with us! God was born and died for you, so that you might live in heaven forever. Is it hard to believe? Yes. Unfathomable, unlikely, impossible. Of course! It takes faith in God’s Word against the scientific, historical and grammatical arguments that may be going through your head. But does it matter? Yes, it does. Especially for you. A virgin Mary is the difference between your death and your eternal life. That’s something worth believing in. Amen.
Showing posts with label Virgin Mary. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Virgin Mary. Show all posts
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Sermon for December 21st
Last week we talked about how important it was to realize that Jesus’ virgin birth has a lot to do with Jesus being truly divine. While the “virgin birth” has often been criticized for being just a silly doctrine or outdated, it is, in fact, extremely important to understanding who Jesus was and is for you. As I said though, many people do not like the idea that Mary was truly a virgin and so they figure that they can just not believe it while still believing in some kind of social revolutionary Jesus.
But while some people want to criticize Mary’s virgin status at the conception of Jesus, there are also others that place Mary on a high, high pedestal in the church and the reasons and the consequences for this are just as bad. The reason for their devotion to Mary is, in fact, found in this same text that we studied last week, but you’d almost miss it if you weren’t paying enough attention. Remember the story, the angel Gabriel had come to Mary and told her that she would become pregnant with a child by the Holy Spirit and that she was to name him Jesus. Then, at the end of all the explanations, at the end of all the amazing and miraculous prophesying about Jesus, Mary says this, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.” And THAT, my friends, is what all the fuss is about.
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.” There are many who see this statement of Mary’s to be a crucial aspect in the birth of Jesus Christ. They argue that Mary was a very special person to allow such a thing as the virgin birth to occur. She was going to become pregnant before marriage for goodness sake! She was going to be dealing with a lot of stigma and suffering on account of this peculiar situation and yet, instead of arguing with Gabriel, instead of asking a bunch of questions, she says, “ok. Sounds good to me.” This response, on Mary’s part, is one of the biggest reasons for how much respect and devotion she gets.
Now, believe me, I think Mary was probably a wonderful woman, but I have a couple of questions to ask before I spend too much time in awe of her statement. My first question is this: what other choices did she really have? I mean, God had sent an angel to tell her she was going to be pregnant. If she had said she didn’t want to be pregnant, do you think that would have made much of a difference? Remember Moses? Moses made up several excuses when God called him into ministry and yet he ended up becoming the most celebrated leader of the Israelites. Moses didn’t want to lead, he said he couldn’t speak, he said he wasn’t the right one for the job, but God had other plans.
Do you remember Jonah? God called on him to preach about repentance to the Ninevites, but Jonah didn’t agree. Jonah bolted. God had to send a whale to spit him back on shore in order to get this guy to say even a little peep. Jonah didn’t want to do what God said, but God found a way to convince him. Then there is the famous Saul, who was persecuting and killing Christians before God knocked him off his horse and caused him to go blind briefly in order to change his life and make him one of the most celebrated apostles in the history of the church. Saul became the apostle Paul even though he, if you’d of asked him at the time, probably wasn’t too thrilled with the possibility.
So, back to Mary, should we really give HER all the credit when it comes to being the mother of Jesus? Was it because she was so humble and obedient to God’s will that she became Jesus’ mother? No. I’m happy that God blessed her with a strong faith willing to endure the hardship of a surprise pregnancy and then of motherhood, but whether she “willingly accepted” at the time, or argued till she was blue in the face, I don’t believe it would have made any difference at all. What was the angel supposed to say? Oh, you don’t want this to happen. Ok, I’ll tell God to pick someone else. No. God was the one in charge. He had the plan to carry out. Gabriel told Mary she was blessed, and so she was, but we don’t need to make Mary out to be any more amazing than any person when they are blessed by God. When God chooses you, you are chosen—like it or not.
This is important for you and I to remember at Christmas time. This time of the year is really a special time in the world where the sacred becomes intensely intertwined with the secular all over the place. It might be easy to feel a little bit of pride, or feel a little arrogant when we see thousands of people lining up in WalMart and Target to get presents when “they don’t even seem to understand what Christmas is about!” Christmas is about Christ, right! Christmas is about baby Jesus being born. Not about presents! Not about overeating! Those are great and fun to do, but it’s sometimes so easy to feel like Christians are so special because we believe when, really, Christians are special because they have been blessed, given an amazing gift, and that is it.
The celebration of Jesus’ birth on Christmas morning is truly amazing. The fact that you believe in his name, if you do, is also truly amazing, but it doesn’t say that much for you does it . . though it does say a lot about God. In John’s gospel, Jesus puts it quite bluntly, “You did not choose me. I chose you.” In other words, as Jesus puts it later, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and no one will snatch them out of my hands.” God, that is Jesus himself, is the actor and subject of all of those verbs. You are his object. That’s definitely something to celebrate, but it’s not something to be arrogant about. We are celebrating what God has done and not what we have done.
As you have the opportunity to share with others this Christmas season, keep this in mind. Christmas is about God giving himself to people who don’t deserve him. We are simply receiving his gifts. So, when it comes to telling others the story of Jesus Christ just give it to them. Don’t expect a pious response. Don’t expect a faith upbuilding conversation. You can’t expect everyone to come to church even if you nicely invite them. But even if they refuse, argue about it or reject God’s call on their life over and over again it isn’t something God hasn’t dealt with before. He is used to his sheep getting lost. He is used to his people disobeying. He is used to his prophets complaining.
This is also important when you stop thinking about others and realize that you are not much different. I bet if you asked Mary, she wouldn’t think much of what she said; I mean, what else could she do? I may have told you all this before, but I’m going to tell it to you again, a little conversation I had once will a wonderful woman named Edna. She was taking care of her husband who was dying of cancer and I asked her once how she dealt with a life full of the responsibilities of caretaking. She said, “I love him. What else can I do?” You see, she did have a choice, didn’t she. Just like Mary, I guess, she had a choice. She could have said no. She could have divorced her husband when he became such a pain to have around. But when it comes to love, you don’t really have a choice, do you.
When Gabriel told Mary that God had blessed her with the Messiah, Mary was given something that is very much like falling in love. She was given faith; faith that God had indeed kept his promise to send a Savior for his people. And so, she didn’t really have a choice, did she? She was given faith She gave her Amen to God’s word.
That’s why, as I was preparing this sermon, I realized that what I am doing up here is NOT trying to motivate you to be like Mary. To be a humble and obedient servant. I’m not trying to convince you to be devoted to God and willing to sacrifice and suffer for your faith. Why not? Because God doesn’t show up without giving you his gifts. He doesn’t expect you to make the first move, he does it for you. He sends you a preacher to tell you his promises, “jesus Christ was born and died to forgive your sins once and for all.” He tells you the story and gives you faith that, indeed, on Christmas day, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, your Savior, was born. And not just born to a mother and father, but born to a world, to a nation and, to you, though you didn’t deserve him. It is my job as your pastor to give you Jesus Christ, the promise of his life, death and resurrection, so that the Holy Spirit can create faith. Some people call faith a choice, but how can you really call falling in love a choice at all? For know this, God says to you, “I love you forever and ever.” And my prayer this Advent season is that, within your heart, just as in Mary’s womb, faith is born from God above. Faith in Jesus Christ. Whether you wanted him or not, he’s yours. Amen.
But while some people want to criticize Mary’s virgin status at the conception of Jesus, there are also others that place Mary on a high, high pedestal in the church and the reasons and the consequences for this are just as bad. The reason for their devotion to Mary is, in fact, found in this same text that we studied last week, but you’d almost miss it if you weren’t paying enough attention. Remember the story, the angel Gabriel had come to Mary and told her that she would become pregnant with a child by the Holy Spirit and that she was to name him Jesus. Then, at the end of all the explanations, at the end of all the amazing and miraculous prophesying about Jesus, Mary says this, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.” And THAT, my friends, is what all the fuss is about.
“Here am I, the servant of the Lord. Let it be with me according to your word.” There are many who see this statement of Mary’s to be a crucial aspect in the birth of Jesus Christ. They argue that Mary was a very special person to allow such a thing as the virgin birth to occur. She was going to become pregnant before marriage for goodness sake! She was going to be dealing with a lot of stigma and suffering on account of this peculiar situation and yet, instead of arguing with Gabriel, instead of asking a bunch of questions, she says, “ok. Sounds good to me.” This response, on Mary’s part, is one of the biggest reasons for how much respect and devotion she gets.
Now, believe me, I think Mary was probably a wonderful woman, but I have a couple of questions to ask before I spend too much time in awe of her statement. My first question is this: what other choices did she really have? I mean, God had sent an angel to tell her she was going to be pregnant. If she had said she didn’t want to be pregnant, do you think that would have made much of a difference? Remember Moses? Moses made up several excuses when God called him into ministry and yet he ended up becoming the most celebrated leader of the Israelites. Moses didn’t want to lead, he said he couldn’t speak, he said he wasn’t the right one for the job, but God had other plans.
Do you remember Jonah? God called on him to preach about repentance to the Ninevites, but Jonah didn’t agree. Jonah bolted. God had to send a whale to spit him back on shore in order to get this guy to say even a little peep. Jonah didn’t want to do what God said, but God found a way to convince him. Then there is the famous Saul, who was persecuting and killing Christians before God knocked him off his horse and caused him to go blind briefly in order to change his life and make him one of the most celebrated apostles in the history of the church. Saul became the apostle Paul even though he, if you’d of asked him at the time, probably wasn’t too thrilled with the possibility.
So, back to Mary, should we really give HER all the credit when it comes to being the mother of Jesus? Was it because she was so humble and obedient to God’s will that she became Jesus’ mother? No. I’m happy that God blessed her with a strong faith willing to endure the hardship of a surprise pregnancy and then of motherhood, but whether she “willingly accepted” at the time, or argued till she was blue in the face, I don’t believe it would have made any difference at all. What was the angel supposed to say? Oh, you don’t want this to happen. Ok, I’ll tell God to pick someone else. No. God was the one in charge. He had the plan to carry out. Gabriel told Mary she was blessed, and so she was, but we don’t need to make Mary out to be any more amazing than any person when they are blessed by God. When God chooses you, you are chosen—like it or not.
This is important for you and I to remember at Christmas time. This time of the year is really a special time in the world where the sacred becomes intensely intertwined with the secular all over the place. It might be easy to feel a little bit of pride, or feel a little arrogant when we see thousands of people lining up in WalMart and Target to get presents when “they don’t even seem to understand what Christmas is about!” Christmas is about Christ, right! Christmas is about baby Jesus being born. Not about presents! Not about overeating! Those are great and fun to do, but it’s sometimes so easy to feel like Christians are so special because we believe when, really, Christians are special because they have been blessed, given an amazing gift, and that is it.
The celebration of Jesus’ birth on Christmas morning is truly amazing. The fact that you believe in his name, if you do, is also truly amazing, but it doesn’t say that much for you does it . . though it does say a lot about God. In John’s gospel, Jesus puts it quite bluntly, “You did not choose me. I chose you.” In other words, as Jesus puts it later, “My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life and no one will snatch them out of my hands.” God, that is Jesus himself, is the actor and subject of all of those verbs. You are his object. That’s definitely something to celebrate, but it’s not something to be arrogant about. We are celebrating what God has done and not what we have done.
As you have the opportunity to share with others this Christmas season, keep this in mind. Christmas is about God giving himself to people who don’t deserve him. We are simply receiving his gifts. So, when it comes to telling others the story of Jesus Christ just give it to them. Don’t expect a pious response. Don’t expect a faith upbuilding conversation. You can’t expect everyone to come to church even if you nicely invite them. But even if they refuse, argue about it or reject God’s call on their life over and over again it isn’t something God hasn’t dealt with before. He is used to his sheep getting lost. He is used to his people disobeying. He is used to his prophets complaining.
This is also important when you stop thinking about others and realize that you are not much different. I bet if you asked Mary, she wouldn’t think much of what she said; I mean, what else could she do? I may have told you all this before, but I’m going to tell it to you again, a little conversation I had once will a wonderful woman named Edna. She was taking care of her husband who was dying of cancer and I asked her once how she dealt with a life full of the responsibilities of caretaking. She said, “I love him. What else can I do?” You see, she did have a choice, didn’t she. Just like Mary, I guess, she had a choice. She could have said no. She could have divorced her husband when he became such a pain to have around. But when it comes to love, you don’t really have a choice, do you.
When Gabriel told Mary that God had blessed her with the Messiah, Mary was given something that is very much like falling in love. She was given faith; faith that God had indeed kept his promise to send a Savior for his people. And so, she didn’t really have a choice, did she? She was given faith She gave her Amen to God’s word.
That’s why, as I was preparing this sermon, I realized that what I am doing up here is NOT trying to motivate you to be like Mary. To be a humble and obedient servant. I’m not trying to convince you to be devoted to God and willing to sacrifice and suffer for your faith. Why not? Because God doesn’t show up without giving you his gifts. He doesn’t expect you to make the first move, he does it for you. He sends you a preacher to tell you his promises, “jesus Christ was born and died to forgive your sins once and for all.” He tells you the story and gives you faith that, indeed, on Christmas day, the Messiah, the Savior of the world, your Savior, was born. And not just born to a mother and father, but born to a world, to a nation and, to you, though you didn’t deserve him. It is my job as your pastor to give you Jesus Christ, the promise of his life, death and resurrection, so that the Holy Spirit can create faith. Some people call faith a choice, but how can you really call falling in love a choice at all? For know this, God says to you, “I love you forever and ever.” And my prayer this Advent season is that, within your heart, just as in Mary’s womb, faith is born from God above. Faith in Jesus Christ. Whether you wanted him or not, he’s yours. Amen.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Sermon for December 14th
If you haven’t noticed, I have printed out next week’s gospel lesson and placed it in your bulletin this week. Next week is our Christmas Pageant and, so, I won’t be giving a sermon. But, next week’s reading is a very important one as we get ready for Christmas day and I wanted a chance to reflect on it with you. So, turn to your insert and read along with me, from the Gospel of Luke the first chapter (Read Luke 1:26-38)
Most of us have heard this passage once or twice before, but I wonder if we realize how radical it really is. I mean, at Easter time, the drama is pretty obvious isn’t it? Jesus is dead and then, after three days, his is alive again! Raised from the dead! An amazing miracle that really gets people talking! In comparison to Easter day, this Advent text seems boring and quaint. But, in fact, this text is just as full of miracles as the text for Easter day.
The angel Gabriel says to Mary, “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.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” That’s right! Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, was a virgin mother. How can that be? How is that possible? Well, as the angel later says, “Nothing will be impossible with God.”
Unfortunately, many people have a problem with believing that Mary was a virgin mother. They say that it’s not that important to believe; as long as you believe Jesus was born and died and was resurrected, you’ve got the gospel.” They say, “There ain’t no way you can have a baby and still be a virgin.” In fact, if you’d read much ancient history, you might notice that a lot of important and famous people were SAID to have mothers who were virgins. Egyptian Pharaohs, Roman emperors and even Alexander the Great were said to be “virgin births” to make them seem semi-divine in nature. Some would argue that that’s probably what happened in the story of Jesus’ birth as well.
Do you believe in the virgin birth of Jesus? And if not, why not? You’ve heard that Jesus walked on water, healed lepers and was raised from the dead? Why is the virgin birth such a pickle to believe?
We argue that Mary couldn’t have been a virgin. It’s impossible! We know how babies start out and that’s not how. But our real problem isn’t with Mary, it’s with Jesus. We have trouble believing that Jesus is truly God. You see, if Mary isn’t truly a virgin, then how can you believe that Jesus is truly God? If Mary is anything but a virgin when Jesus born, you just can’t be sure who his father is, can you? And if Jesus isn’t truly God, then Christmas isn’t much of a holiday at all for you and me.
Mary is an easy scapegoat for our doubts. It’s a lot easier to try and figure out how the story might be wrong about Mary than to have to believe that the story is correct. We imagine that maybe Mary was just embarrassed by a little mistake that was made with another man while she was engaged to Joseph and made up this whole angel story. Or worse, maybe she was raped, as some people have speculated, but couldn’t bring herself to tell anyone! It’s been argued over and over that believing in the virgin birth of Jesus isn’t necessary to believe in Jesus, but I would like to know what Jesus you are referring to.
There are many people and, perhaps, many of you, who think a lot of Jesus, what he stood for and what he did, and would like to emulate him as a person. Jesus is a wonderful, powerful example of what one person can do to change the world. But, a radical social revolutionary Jesus doesn’t need to be God, does he? A Jesus who stands up to the religious and political leaders of his time and gets killed for it doesn’t need to have a mother who gave birth to him as a virgin, right? All those miracles of his are interesting stories but, when push comes to shove, you wouldn’t have to believe any of them as long as Jesus is a good example to follow in your life. You wouldn’t need a virgin birth to worship a Jesus like that.
But while Jesus was very radical and political and revolutionary in his time, and in our time, the Bible argues that he was even more than that. The Bible says that he was, in fact, God. Or, as the Lutheran Reformers put it, “Apart from this man, Jesus Christ, there is no God.” And if you miss that little detail, you’ve missed the most radical, the most political and the most revolutionary detail of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. God, the creator of your universe, became a human being and all that comes with it—even to the point that Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, was cursed on the cross and became sin itself. So that you might trust that God, the creator of your universe, isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and has the power and the love to stick with you from your conception, to your birth, throughout your life and even in your death. God was born, died and was raised from the dead not so that you could follow him by example but so that you might worship him as your God alone.
But there is also another problem we often have with this story about Mary being the virgin mother of Jesus. This problem isn’t so much scientific or physical but theological. Even if we can accept that God can supernaturally impregnate a human being somehow, someway, isn’t it kinda disgusting and degrading for your God, the creator of the Universe, to float around in a uterus for ten months, even if it is Mary, who we assume was a nice upstanding lady. Even the best theologians throughout history have had a hard time with that one. One famous church leader named, Nestorious, even argued that while you could say that Mary was the mother of Jesus, you shouldn’t say she was the mother of God—no birth canal for my Lord, no sirreee! That would be too gross, too dirty and, to be more precise, too close for God to get to a sinner.
But God got so close to you that he experienced amniotic fluid, hiccups and active labor. God didn’t choose to create himself out of nothing as a newborn baby or even as a thirty-one year old man. He became an zygote, then an embryo and then a fetus and waited ten months to be born and breathe fresh air. How? I haven’t a clue. But, as the angel Gabriel says, with God anything is possible.
You see, Christmas day is a wonderful day full of joy and happiness, but the real miracle isn’t Jesus’ birth. It is a wonderful event, just as every birth is, but the fact that Jesus was born, after ten months gestation, isn’t the most amazing thing of all. The most amazing thing is that God chose to have the chance to be born after waiting and growing for months just like all the rest of us. In Phillipians, we hear one of the oldest Christian hymns talk about this wonderful miracle, “though Jesus was in the form of God,” the book of Phillipians says, “He did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.”
If God DIDN’T intend on becoming a human being, then the virgin birth would not have had to truly have happened. If God WASN’T willing to suffer life as a human being, then the virgin birth wouldn’t have had to be true. But if Mary was NOT the virgin mother of Jesus Christ, then not only do we have a problem with the words of Scripture, but we have a problem with God himself. For if God himself was not in Mary’s womb, then God himself was not truly born. And if God himself was not truly born, then God himself did not truly die. And if God himself did not truly die, then we should have all slept in this morning and enjoyed some more pillow time. For if God DID NOT truly die for your in the form of Jesus Christ, then you have no hope for eternal life.
Despite the craziness and unlikeliness of it all, I encourage you to hold onto God’s Word with joy, awe and wonder—even when you hear that Jesus was born to a virgin. Remember that Jesus was not born to the virgin Mary to make the story harder for you to believe, but so that you might more easily believe—so that you might be given faith that Jesus was born both truly human and truly God. So that you might have faith that he has truly saved you from your sins. But, in fact, the most remarkable thing is not that Jesus was born to a virgin, or that he healed thousands, or that he died, or that he was raised from the dead. The most amazing and wonderful thing of all is that he did all of this for you. For only now that you have heard that God truly became a human being to a virgin mother, can you wait expectantly not just for the story of little baby Jesus, but to hear the story that God himself was born on Christmas day. And that is worth waiting for. Amen.
Most of us have heard this passage once or twice before, but I wonder if we realize how radical it really is. I mean, at Easter time, the drama is pretty obvious isn’t it? Jesus is dead and then, after three days, his is alive again! Raised from the dead! An amazing miracle that really gets people talking! In comparison to Easter day, this Advent text seems boring and quaint. But, in fact, this text is just as full of miracles as the text for Easter day.
The angel Gabriel says to Mary, “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.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” That’s right! Mary, the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ, was a virgin mother. How can that be? How is that possible? Well, as the angel later says, “Nothing will be impossible with God.”
Unfortunately, many people have a problem with believing that Mary was a virgin mother. They say that it’s not that important to believe; as long as you believe Jesus was born and died and was resurrected, you’ve got the gospel.” They say, “There ain’t no way you can have a baby and still be a virgin.” In fact, if you’d read much ancient history, you might notice that a lot of important and famous people were SAID to have mothers who were virgins. Egyptian Pharaohs, Roman emperors and even Alexander the Great were said to be “virgin births” to make them seem semi-divine in nature. Some would argue that that’s probably what happened in the story of Jesus’ birth as well.
Do you believe in the virgin birth of Jesus? And if not, why not? You’ve heard that Jesus walked on water, healed lepers and was raised from the dead? Why is the virgin birth such a pickle to believe?
We argue that Mary couldn’t have been a virgin. It’s impossible! We know how babies start out and that’s not how. But our real problem isn’t with Mary, it’s with Jesus. We have trouble believing that Jesus is truly God. You see, if Mary isn’t truly a virgin, then how can you believe that Jesus is truly God? If Mary is anything but a virgin when Jesus born, you just can’t be sure who his father is, can you? And if Jesus isn’t truly God, then Christmas isn’t much of a holiday at all for you and me.
Mary is an easy scapegoat for our doubts. It’s a lot easier to try and figure out how the story might be wrong about Mary than to have to believe that the story is correct. We imagine that maybe Mary was just embarrassed by a little mistake that was made with another man while she was engaged to Joseph and made up this whole angel story. Or worse, maybe she was raped, as some people have speculated, but couldn’t bring herself to tell anyone! It’s been argued over and over that believing in the virgin birth of Jesus isn’t necessary to believe in Jesus, but I would like to know what Jesus you are referring to.
There are many people and, perhaps, many of you, who think a lot of Jesus, what he stood for and what he did, and would like to emulate him as a person. Jesus is a wonderful, powerful example of what one person can do to change the world. But, a radical social revolutionary Jesus doesn’t need to be God, does he? A Jesus who stands up to the religious and political leaders of his time and gets killed for it doesn’t need to have a mother who gave birth to him as a virgin, right? All those miracles of his are interesting stories but, when push comes to shove, you wouldn’t have to believe any of them as long as Jesus is a good example to follow in your life. You wouldn’t need a virgin birth to worship a Jesus like that.
But while Jesus was very radical and political and revolutionary in his time, and in our time, the Bible argues that he was even more than that. The Bible says that he was, in fact, God. Or, as the Lutheran Reformers put it, “Apart from this man, Jesus Christ, there is no God.” And if you miss that little detail, you’ve missed the most radical, the most political and the most revolutionary detail of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. God, the creator of your universe, became a human being and all that comes with it—even to the point that Jesus Christ, who knew no sin, was cursed on the cross and became sin itself. So that you might trust that God, the creator of your universe, isn’t afraid to get his hands dirty and has the power and the love to stick with you from your conception, to your birth, throughout your life and even in your death. God was born, died and was raised from the dead not so that you could follow him by example but so that you might worship him as your God alone.
But there is also another problem we often have with this story about Mary being the virgin mother of Jesus. This problem isn’t so much scientific or physical but theological. Even if we can accept that God can supernaturally impregnate a human being somehow, someway, isn’t it kinda disgusting and degrading for your God, the creator of the Universe, to float around in a uterus for ten months, even if it is Mary, who we assume was a nice upstanding lady. Even the best theologians throughout history have had a hard time with that one. One famous church leader named, Nestorious, even argued that while you could say that Mary was the mother of Jesus, you shouldn’t say she was the mother of God—no birth canal for my Lord, no sirreee! That would be too gross, too dirty and, to be more precise, too close for God to get to a sinner.
But God got so close to you that he experienced amniotic fluid, hiccups and active labor. God didn’t choose to create himself out of nothing as a newborn baby or even as a thirty-one year old man. He became an zygote, then an embryo and then a fetus and waited ten months to be born and breathe fresh air. How? I haven’t a clue. But, as the angel Gabriel says, with God anything is possible.
You see, Christmas day is a wonderful day full of joy and happiness, but the real miracle isn’t Jesus’ birth. It is a wonderful event, just as every birth is, but the fact that Jesus was born, after ten months gestation, isn’t the most amazing thing of all. The most amazing thing is that God chose to have the chance to be born after waiting and growing for months just like all the rest of us. In Phillipians, we hear one of the oldest Christian hymns talk about this wonderful miracle, “though Jesus was in the form of God,” the book of Phillipians says, “He did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross.”
If God DIDN’T intend on becoming a human being, then the virgin birth would not have had to truly have happened. If God WASN’T willing to suffer life as a human being, then the virgin birth wouldn’t have had to be true. But if Mary was NOT the virgin mother of Jesus Christ, then not only do we have a problem with the words of Scripture, but we have a problem with God himself. For if God himself was not in Mary’s womb, then God himself was not truly born. And if God himself was not truly born, then God himself did not truly die. And if God himself did not truly die, then we should have all slept in this morning and enjoyed some more pillow time. For if God DID NOT truly die for your in the form of Jesus Christ, then you have no hope for eternal life.
Despite the craziness and unlikeliness of it all, I encourage you to hold onto God’s Word with joy, awe and wonder—even when you hear that Jesus was born to a virgin. Remember that Jesus was not born to the virgin Mary to make the story harder for you to believe, but so that you might more easily believe—so that you might be given faith that Jesus was born both truly human and truly God. So that you might have faith that he has truly saved you from your sins. But, in fact, the most remarkable thing is not that Jesus was born to a virgin, or that he healed thousands, or that he died, or that he was raised from the dead. The most amazing and wonderful thing of all is that he did all of this for you. For only now that you have heard that God truly became a human being to a virgin mother, can you wait expectantly not just for the story of little baby Jesus, but to hear the story that God himself was born on Christmas day. And that is worth waiting for. Amen.
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