Conceivable? 1 Samuel 1:1-2, 10-18; Luke 1:26-38 We all know about it don t we. There is an old song about it with the lyrics going like this, Birds do it, bees do it, flowers and the trees do it, that s the story of, that s the glory of love. Most people when they see the words from the creed, Who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary, see them through the lens of modern biology. In school we had some sort of course that explained how it all happened. Two cells, one from a male and one from a female united and in the union genes from both donors form the appearance and personality traits of the offspring. The facts of biology are pretty much indisputable; it requires two to tango, as the expression goes. The modern understanding is a very different than in the time of Jesus birth. The ancients thought in agricultural terms much like a seed planted in the ground would produce like plants, so it was with men and women. The biology of ancient Palestine would explain that the mother nurtured the seed and the offspring would spring out bearing traits and similarities because of the soil in which the seed had been planted. Yet the purpose of the phrase in the creed is not to explain Jesus biological origin; it is to make two affirmations, central to his being: his birth was special and it was real. When Reformed Christians look at events, or in this case one of the central events in all of history, we look through different lens. We look, as John Calvin said, at the world through the spectacles of the Scriptures. 1 In the Old Testament there is a common thread that runs through the text that will help us to understand the meaning of what the creed says about Jesus birth. It is the theme of barren women. This was a common theme in early Christian interpretation of the Hebrew Scriptures. We read repeatedly that when a child was needed to continue the line of the patriarch, or to perform a special task, that the child was the result of God s action; its mother was a barren woman who conceived by divine intervention. The most known of these stories is the story of Abraham and Sarah and the birth of their son Isaac. We tend to focus on Abraham in the 1 Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.6.1 This sermon is written for the ear & thus may have grammatical inconsistencies 1
story and fail to see that God chose Sarah along with Abraham. This is not so strange since the Old Testament is so often understood through patriarchal lens. When Sarah could not conceive, they decided that for the promise made to Abraham, he would be the father of a great nation, that they had to take action so Sarah suggested to Abraham that he take her servant, Hagar. Perhaps the offspring of the union between Abraham and Hagar would be the bearer of the promise. Hagar was young, olive skinned with long silky hair and large dark black eyes; Abraham was about 75 and looked every bit of it. But, Abraham was a great man of prayer. So he said to Sarah, I will need to pray about this. He bowed his head and in less than a second his prayer was answered! OK! he said. We ll that s not actually in the text but is my version. This story is similar to the story of Isaac and Rebekah. Rebekah too was barren. So Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife, because she was barren and the Lord granted his prayer (Genesis 25:21). Then there is the story of Jacob, the son of Isaac and Rebekah. Jacob married Leah and Rachel. Rachel is the wife of his heart but she too is barren and conceived only when God remembered Rachel, and God heeded her and opened her womb (Gen. 30:22). To Isaac and Rachel, Joseph was born; who would save his family from the famine and find himself in Pharaoh s place. There is a familiar pattern emerging in the text. Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph are not the only children of previously barren women. The thread weaves its way though the Scripture and Israel s history Samson, Samuel, and John the Baptist all born to women who were barren until God intervened. In an agrarian culture like ancient Palestine the fertility of land, flocks, and people were of primary importance. If he harvest failed or the flock did not reproduce, famine followed. If a family did not have sons to take care of them in old age when they could no longer work the result was poverty even starvation. A barren woman was believed to be cursed by God because fertility was a divine gift. They were ridiculed by society. Most of the people in ancient Palestine held the view of fertility as a divine gift. It is God who keeps nature on its course. Remember back to our series from James, Baal and Ashtoreth were competing gods This sermon is written for the ear & thus may have grammatical inconsistencies 2
with the God of Israel and each had a unique role fertility and nurture. These were very religious people and gods had a defining role in every aspect of the natural order. Yet, Israel s faith believed that God was more than simply a God of the natural order, but was also the Lord of history. God intervenes in the cycles of nature in order to carry forth that purpose. The theme of barren women who conceive moves beyond the cycles of nature and takes on theological significance. Barren women s pregnancies are not merely the result of natural forces but are the specific acts of God to accomplish his purposes. This theme did not stop with the Old Testament; it is part of the narrative of the New with the story of Elizabeth and Zechariah; a saintly couple, a barren woman and a priest. While serving at the sanctuary, Zechariah has a vision that Elizabeth will bear a son who is to be named John. He is also told that his son will have a special place in God s plans for he will be great in the eyes of the Lord (Luke 1:15). John the Baptist is the child of that vision. Late in her pregnancy Elizabeth is visited by her cousin Mary who had had a visit from an angel who told that she too would conceive and that her son would be special: 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 (Luke 1:32-33). For Luke, the lens are spot free and through them it is clear that Jesus is the culmination of the hope of Israel and Mary is the culmination of the theme of barren women who conceive by divine intervention. The song she signs is patterned after the song that Hannah sang when she learned that Samuel would be born another child born to a barren woman, a child with a specific purpose in God s plan. For the early Christian, it was not about biology the virgin birth was the ultimate culmination of the ancient theme of barren women who conceive according to God s plan and purpose. It is plain that just as in times past God raised leaders for Israel out of barren women who conceive by divine intervention, now a barren woman par excellence a virgin conceives by divine intervention. The child she bears is not just exceptional but unequalled the Son of the Most High, whose kingdom will have no end. This sermon is written for the ear & thus may have grammatical inconsistencies 3
We say these words, Born unto the Virgin Mary, conceived by the Holy Ghost and we think biology. The argument in the early church was not about biology but about the person of Jesus the real birth. The argument in the ancient church was over whether or not Jesus was in fact human, incarnate in the flesh; or a spiritual being. One bishop, Marcion, denied that Jesus was born. Conversely, Tertullian, an early church theologian, argued that to deny Jesus real birth was to deny his divinity. The notion that God would not intervene was unimaginable to the early church. The phrase virgin birth was not meant to prove not Jesus divinity, but his humanity he came in the flesh. The creed might be better worded to read, born of Mary a virgin for it points to the fact that Jesus was born to a particular woman. This phrase emphasizes the uniqueness and the reality of the birth of Jesus unique because he is the Lord of all, real because he is like one of us. As time went by and we came to accept the uniqueness and the reality of Jesus birth, the argument shifted to the word virgin how could it be? However, in shifting the argument takes our eyes off of the purpose of Jesus: grace from God, the atonement for our sin. Ironically, we argue yet again, like in the creation argument, over the wrong point. Our desire to get God in the box, to make everything explainable, moves us dangerously close to violating the first commandment, to have no other Gods before the Lord. Our god tends to be that we have to be right and everything must be explainable. We have to know it all. As for me I would rather wonder at the magnificently unexplainable God who stooped down into history and chose to be born and live as one of us, so that all may live. One day we will see clearly hear the words of the Apostle Paul, Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known (1 Corinthians 13:12). I think the phrase that we will hear most often in heaven is, Oh that s why! That is when the magnificent plan for the universe will be seen clearly. For today, with Paul, we see but a poor reflection. Let me leave you with a poem, You Are There By Erica Jong This sermon is written for the ear & thus may have grammatical inconsistencies 4
You are there. You have always been there. Even when you thought you were climbing you had already arrived. Even when you were breathing hard, you were at rest. Even then it was clear you were there. Not in our nature to know what is journey and what arrival. Even if we knew we would not admit. Even if we lived we would think we were just germinating. To live is to be uncertain. Certainty comes at the end. Amen. This sermon is written for the ear & thus may have grammatical inconsistencies 5