Holy Children

Text: “34 And Mary said to the angel, 'How will this be, since I am a virgin?’ 35 And the angel answered her, '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.’ …38 And Mary said, 'Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.' And the angel departed from her.” (Luke 1:34-35, 38)

Mary is certainly an important person at this time of year. She is one of the few human beings that have had hymns written about them: “Gentle Mary Laid Her Child,” for example, or more recent songs like “Breath of Heaven” and “Mary Did You Know?” (By the way, we discover in today’s gospel reading that the answer to that question is ‘Yes’, she knew.)

Today, let’s remind ourselves of how important, how significant, Mary is. Jesus’ coming, His birth into this world, was the beginning of the central event of all of human history and she was the one through whom that child came into the world. That, alone, would make her important.

More than that, though, she is rightly called “the Mother of God.” Jesus didn’t just “put on” flesh and blood when He was born like you or I might put on a costume. He was conceived by the Holy Spirit within Mary’s womb, He became fully human while, at the same time, also being fully God. Mary is truly His mother. So she is rightly called “the Mother of God.” She is second only to Adam and Eve in terms of her significance for the human race— in fact, you could argue that she’s even ahead of them.

Mary points to the full marvel and wonder of exactly what happened on that first Christmas. And there’s more that we can say about her—and it’s worth saying because it all points back to Jesus Christ.

Let's just focus on this visit from the angel, for example. There is certainly a lot more to be said based on this moment, alone. “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” she asked. The angel’s message seemed impossible. A new child requires the participation of both a man and a woman. Humanly speaking, a new life was impossible.

Her question was an understatement, wasn’t it? It’s certainly understandable that that is the part she would focus on first. But that was only the tip of the iceberg, so to speak, regarding all there was in the angel’s message that was impossible.

There was much more to what the angel told her, beyond the fact that she would have a child. “31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 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 father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” We can certainly understand Mary focusing on the first part— that she, a virgin, was going to have a child— but consider the rest of the promise.

This will be a very special child. This is “the Son of David.” Ever since Nathan gave David that remarkable promise in our Old Testament Reading, “…Your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16), that phrase, ‘the Son of David’ had a meaning as serious and monumental as any title in mankind’s history. It would be hard to overstate the full weight that those four words carried.

And the impossibility doesn’t end there. “…He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” No royal line so far has ruled forever, let alone one particular king. Every royal line has ended, either by dying out or by losing power. Every other child from every other womb of every other woman in the history of mankind was born dying— rich or poor, royalty or commoner, all of their lives were destined to end somehow from the moment they were born.

The angel’s message about the child that Mary would bring into the world— what God would accomplish through her— becomes more and more astounding the closer you look. The full significance of this new life that was about to be formed within her grows greater and greater.

Now, why is this important? Why does it matter what we believe about Mary? Is it just a matter of getting the fine points of doctrine right?

It matters because Mary is a picture of the Church. God shaped the way He brought His Son into the world in such a way that it points ahead to the Church. We look at Mary and we also see a picture of what goes on here among us day after day, week after week. We look at Mary and we also see a picture of what God has done for you in Jesus Christ.

We may not often stop to recognize it, but what goes on in the Church is just as impossible as what happened to Mary. As a friend of mine put it just the other day: “A lot of people seem to think that the goal of Christianity is something boring and bland like making people nice, instead of something bombastically radical like raising the dead and restoring the universe to its erstwhile glorious perfection.”[1]

We aren’t sent into a world that needs to be cleaned up a bit. We’re sent into a world that is dead. We’re sent to people that are dying. And that is how each one of us comes to God— we are, by nature, spiritually dead. We know very well what is good and right. Most of the time, we even agree that it is what should happen. We have to admit that it is how things should be. But making it happen is impossible— either in the world around us or in ourselves.

“[You] were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air…” (Ephesians 2:1-2b). That is our natural state. Sin is not something outside of us that we can avoid if we try hard enough. It is within us. “[Desire] when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:15). Sin is a symptom of the fact that we are born spiritually dead.

And it's also our natural inclination. “…[Those] who [are] self-indulgent [are] dead even while [they live]” (1 Timothy 5:6). “For while we were living in the flesh, our sinful passions, aroused by the law, were at work in our members to bear fruit for death” (Romans 7:5). As if it weren't enough that we were born spiritually dead, we constantly battle the desire to choose death.

Even within the church, death attacks us constantly. “Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Romans 6:16). Or, as it says in 1 John, "8 Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil. 9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother" (1 John 3:8-10, ESV). If we make a practice of sinning, if we treat sin as if it were harmless, then you allow your faith to die. You reject the gift of life you've been given and your faith is dead.

That is what the church is dealing with: life and death. She has been sent out to bring life where there was no hope for life. And Mary is a picture of that.

The Church is described as “the bride of Christ.” Yet she and her groom are only engaged. The wedding has not yet taken place. That joyous day is coming, but it is not here yet. This is why one of the pictures our Lord uses to describe our waiting is the image of bridesmaids waiting for the arrival of the groom (and, as you recall, the wise ones brought sufficient oil to last, even though the groom took longer than they expected, but the foolish ones didn’t). The Church is at exactly the same stage that Mary was at when Gabriel appeared to her: betrothed but not yet married.

And, like Mary, Christ’s bride is found to be with child. Except there is no scandal this time. Her groom isn’t debating whether to quietly break off the engagement. He knows precisely from where these children have come— indeed, it is not just one child, but many children that His bride has given birth to and continues to bear— and, in fact He, Himself, has commanded them to be conceived and born.

And they are conceived in the same way that He was: The Holy Spirit has come upon His bride, the power of the most High has overshadowed her. In fact He, Himself, has sent the Holy Spirit for precisely that purpose: to bring forth life where life was not yet possible. It began at Pentecost when He did exactly what He had promised and sent His Holy Spirit, who descended upon His church, bringing forth thousands of children— thousands of new believers— that day alone, and who has not stopped since, nor will He stop until the day that the Bridegroom arrives.

“[The] power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God,” the angel said. And the Holy Spirit continues to come upon the church, the power of the Most High overshadowing her, therefore every child born to her is called holy— a son or daughter of God.

“12 To all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:12-13). Just like Mary’s pregnancy, the conception of each of these children was not a result of any human decision or an act of human will, each one was born of God— born of the waters of baptism. Therefore they are called holy— they are sons and daughters of God.

Every child that has come from the womb of a daughter of Eve is born dying. But the children of Church, the daughter of Mary, come forth from her womb born into life everlasting.

You get the picture. You look at Mary and you see the Church. You see your own spiritual mother who has given birth to you in the waters of baptism, brought you forth to eternal life. Mary’s child is only the firstborn from the dead (Colossians 1:18). He has “cleansed [you] by the washing of water with the word, 27 so that he might present [you] to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that [you] might be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27). The Holy Spirit has descended upon your spiritual mother and you have been called holy— a child of God.

And your spiritual mother does not just give you new birth into eternal life and forget you. Ever since you came forth from the womb of the baptismal font, she has continued to care for you. From infancy onward, you have been nursed with the pure spiritual milk of the scriptures and, although you are never weaned off of that pure food, in time you are also given bread from heaven to eat in order to sustain you. You have been nursed with the pure food of God’s Word and your mother, the church, continues to feed you. And this is no ordinary food that your mother sets before you. She feeds you the fruit of the tree of life: the cross.

The best part is that it's not just a symbol. Mary doesn't point to something that might be. She is where it all flows from: the child of Mary taking on flesh and blood so that He could take your sins and mine into His body and be nailed to the cross to die the death that you and I deserved so that you will live forever.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, do not keep on sinning. "9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God" (1 John 3:9, ESV). You have been born of God. Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive in Jesus Christ. Continue to allow your spiritual mother to nourished and sustained you through the pure food of God's word and "22 ...be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. (James 1:22, ESV)

“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.” That was the angel’s promise to Mary. Through Mary’s child, it is also a promise to you.

May it be to each one of us as He has said.

[1] Beane, Larry. Facebook post from 12/18/2017, 4:57 p.m.