Flowers Fade Friday: The Virgin

Since the month of December began, I’ve been reading about the incarnation of Christ – his deity and his humanity wrapped up in the tiny body of a babe. Of course, this studying  has lead me to read about Mary and her calling to be the mother of the God Most High.

Let’s be honest. It’s strange, right? She is a virgin, then an angel visits her and says she will bear a child.

Huh?

Even Mary was thinking the same thing. Mary accepted the news of this unexpected pregnancy with grace and honor. Her obedience was pretty amazing.

But even she was wondering how this whole conception thing was going to “work.” She humbly asks Gabriel in Luke 1:34: “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”

Yes, how will this be? How did God plant the seed in her that would cause her to bear this holy Son? Do you think she felt it? When did it happen? Right after this angelic greeting or a few days or weeks later? Did she have morning sickness? Did she go to Elizabeth’s house after the first morning spent by the toilet {or whatever they used in those days} or did she make her travel plans right after Gabriel left?

The Bible doesn’t answer these questions specifically. All we know is what the angel told Mary: “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 called holy–the Son of God” {Luke 1:35}.

And Mary’s response… “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” {Luke 1:38}.

We don’t know all the details. We only know that Lord in his perfect plan and mighty power caused a young teenage virgin girl to bear a Son that would save the world. We know that she took on this great responsibility with humility and gladness.

But this mysterious virgin birth is meant to symbolize something else… the mystery of our salvation. The mystery of the transformation that happens to those who are in Christ.

Just like Mary, we can’t “do” anything to earn God’s salvation or to make his transforming grace come about in our lives. We are virgins in the sense that we are helpless and if Christ is to be in us, God’s Spirit must make it happen.

God’s grace in the lives of believers is like the baby Jesus miraculously implanted in Mary’s womb. God decides the time. God saves us by His own power. Like Mary, we are God servants touched by the mystery and majesty of His grace. We are saved by the supernatural work of God and not by our own toiling and striving.

While I praise God for the miraculous conception and birth of his Son this Christmas season, I praise him also for the conception of a new life in me through this same Son, my savior Jesus Christ.