The Virgin Birth and Other Incredible Things to Believe

Luke 1:26-56

 

A colleague tells the story of the distressed young man who came to see him because he was "losing his faith." When the pastor inquired what the faith was that the young man was losing, he replied, "I have problems with the virgin birth of Jesus." Surely the young man echoes the belief (and doubts) of many in our world today. The pastor suggested to the young man that he stick with Mark's gospel because in Mark there is no talk one way or another of Jesus' birth. But the young man persisted, "Don't I have to believe in the miraculous birth of Jesus in order to believe in Jesus?" "Well, sure," the pastor finally admitted, "we ask you to believe in the virginal conception of Jesus and, if we can get you to swallow that without choking, then there's no telling what else we can get you to believe. Come back next week and we'll try to convince you that human power is illusory and wealth more illusory still, that God, not nations, rules the world, and that the greatest thing you can do with your life is empty yourself and die. You see, we like to start you out with something fairly small, like the virgin birth, then work you up to even more outrageous claims."(1) As the theologian Karl Barth said, "The [virgin birth] is inconceivable but it is not absurd."

 

I think I know what this pastor was doing in his conversation with the young man. I may be wrong about this, but I think what the pastor wanted to challenge in the young man is the notion that many folks bring to the Christmas story. It is the notion that says the only true, honest, and above all Christian way to look at Christmas is to say: "Wow! Look what God has the power to do! Isn't God great? Look what God can do!"

 

In this notion, Christmas is the story of how God is so great, God is so powerful, God is so over-the-top-my-god-can-beat-up-your-god. And the virgin birth is proof that God is so: "Look at what God can do!" All this may be true, of course, and, actually, I believe it is, but still something in me doesn't sit right with this notion of the meaning of the Christmas story. It's kind of like we're looking at Tiger Woods hit a golf ball saying, "Wow, he sure can hit that thing far." Only, instead we're looking at God saying. "Wow, he sure can do some pretty amazing stuff." No wonder some folks have doubts.

 

In contrast to this "Look at what God did!" notion of Christmas, it seems the pastor is seeking to help the young man understand the Christmas story from a more biblical perspective, to understand what the Gospel of Luke is trying to say. Luke highlights how the birth of Christ is different from other births. The angels' song, sung in similar form to the way the Romans announced a birth of Caesar, is sung not to the great men of the earth but to lowly shepherds. Jesus is born to Mary, a poor, common woman with no legal right to bear witness in that society. Yet God chose Mary to be his primary witness. What Luke would have us wonder is "Wow! Look at how God is turning the world upside down! Are not God's ways mysterious? Look at what God is doing!"

 

*****

 

What is God doing? In the Christmas story God becomes human in Jesus. God came to us as Jesus. Human flesh. Body and blood. This is the deep mystery which we seek to apprehend by faith. In Jesus, God is so identifying with us, so being with us, that God even takes on human flesh. No, that's not it at all, not precisely. God does not "take on" human flesh, because if God did that, presumably he could "take it off" too. No, our humanity is not something God wears like a coat; rather God becomes human flesh. God becoming human is not only something "God did" but something God is doing and will continue to do throughout all eternity. Such is the mystery before us; so deep is God's identification with us.

 

This mystery is one we can never fully fathom but only approach by poor analogy from our own experience. My friend tries to illustrate this notion of God's identifying with us by telling the story of when she was a teenager going through her "distant thing" with her mom. She wasn't a bad kid; she just didn't want to have anything to do with her mom, so she kept her mom at arm's length. One day her mom did something for her and as she walked through the kitchen and back to her bedroom she said in kind of a glib, mildly surprised, off-hand sort of way, "Gee, Mom, that was a nice thing for you to do." Her mom stewed for a moment before saying, "Cynthia L. Rigby you get back here right now!" Cynthia returned to the kitchen with a sort of "what do you want now" expression on her face. Her mom ignored it, "Don't you ever say to me that something I did for you was nice. Don't you know that you're a part of me?"(2)

 

Don't you know that you're a part of me? In reflecting upon this experience, Cynthia says this was the first time she began to understand that parents weren't just people who did things to take care of you, but that there was a deep, abiding kinship that can never be taken away. This, my friends, is what the Christmas story is all about: God comes to us, God becomes of us, to help us understand that he is more than someone who takes care of us, but that there is a deep, abiding kinship that can never be taken away.

 

What is God doing? God is turning himself upside down. If God becoming human isn't turning himself upside down, then I don't know what is. The glory of God is now found in the humility of Jesus. The power of God is now found in the love of Jesus. The wrath of God is now found in the cross of Jesus. The victory of God is now found in the willingness of our human hearts to be like Mary and allow God to be born into the world through us.

 

What is God doing? God does not stop with just turning himself upside down. God also is turning the world upside down. Along with God, all things, all creation, begins to turn as well. We, even we who are in this sanctuary, begin to discover that because of Jesus nothing is the same. God is not "out there" somewhere beyond us but "in here" within us. We relate to God not out of fear but in love. We love God not for our own benefit but for others' blessing. Because God is turning the world upside down, beginning with himself, we somehow discover that Jesus was born to us so that we can be born to God.

*****

 

"Don't I have to believe in the miraculous birth of Jesus in order to believe in Jesus," we ask? Well, sure, but if that is all that we do we are missing the most important part of the Christmas story. If all the virgin birth is for us is a litmus test for our faith, a mark in the "right" box to prove our orthodoxy, then our faith is static and we're missing the deeper truth of what God is doing in the world.

 

But if we are able to see the virgin birth as the beginning of God's turning the world upside down, then we are invited into a living faith. If the virgin birth is about more than just what God did then, but also about what God is doing now, then we are hearing the call of God inviting us into a dynamic relationship with him, a full and faithful participation in the work that he continues to do in the world. If we can believe that in the Christmas story God declares his great exclamation: "Don't you know that you're a part of me!," then perhaps we can begin not only to believe but to participate in the truly amazing part of what God is doing in the world: he is inviting us to join him in healing the broken and feeding the hungry, in finding the lost and redeeming the sinner, in bringing peace among enemies and justice to the poor, in making music in the hearts of those who are without song.

 

As the pastor said, "we ask you to believe in the virginal conception of Jesus and, if we can get you to swallow that without choking, then there's no telling what else we can get you to believe. Come back next week and we'll try to convince you that human power is illusory and wealth more illusory still, that God, not nations, rules the world, and that the greatest thing you can do with your life is empty yourself and die. You see, we like to start you out with something fairly small, like the virgin birth, then work you up to even more outrageous claims."

 

_____

 

1 William Willimon, "The Challenge of Preaching Incarnation," Journal of Preachers. XXII/1, Advent, 1999, p.9.

2 Cynthia L. Rigby, "Advent Workshop," Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary, October 21, 1999. My appreciation is expressed to Dr. Rigby for challenging us to reflect deeply on the truth of the Incarnation. I hope my efforts have been worthy of her insightful guidance.

 

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