15 AND…PREGNANT
Isaiah 7:10-17; Luke 1:26-34
A sermon preached at First Presbyterian Church by Carter Lester on
November 30, 2014, Advent I
Introduction: This Advent, we will be looking at Jesus’ birth through a unique lens: his
mother, Mary. One thing to consider about Mary, one that is not often captured by the
various artists who have painted Mary, is how young she probably was when she bore
Jesus. Based on what we know about the culture of Jesus’ day, Mary was perhaps as
young as 13, certainly no older than 16 or 17, when the angel Gabriel visited her. The
average lifespan in that day was a little over 40 years. Consider then that Mary may
have been about 15 as we read Luke 1.
Read Luke 1:26-34 and dramatic monologue of prophet and Mary
Mary is 15 and…pregnant. I remember as a young boy when I used the “p” word
around my grandmother to describe a neighbor. With a strong shake of her head and a
piercing look from her eyes, my mother silently, but very effectively as only a mother
can, let me know that in no certain terms should I ever use the word, “pregnant” around
my grandmother. As she soon explained to me, in polite company in a small southern
town at that time one was required to use a more euphemistic phrase, such as “in the
family way.”
I can only hope that my grandmother is not rolling in her grave as I use the “p”
word in church now. But I cannot think of a better word to use than “pregnant” to
describe Mary and Luke 1 here because not only is Mary pregnant here. This passage
in Luke is also pregnant here – pregnant with meaning, especially against the backdrop
of Isaiah 7.
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Let us begin with this observation: what makes Mary’s pregnancy shocking for
modern readers has less to do with the fact of her pregnancy and more to do with what
the angel says here about how she will get pregnant: “The Holy Spirit will come upon
you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you…” What does Luke mean in
these verses when it comes to describing Jesus’ conception? What do we mean when
we recite together the Apostles’ Creed and say together about Jesus that he was
“conceived by the Holy Ghost” or “Spirit” and that he was “born of the virgin Mary?” “15
and pregnant” – can we modern Christians really believe that Mary was a virgin?
When it comes to the virgin birth, it is important to consider this issue in its proper
context. On the one hand, both Luke and Matthew, drawing from independent sources,
report that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit, that Jesus was not the simple
product of a natural union between Mary and a man. Both gospels indicate that Jesus’
conception, but not his birth, is unique.
Indeed, the claims that Luke and Matthew make about Jesus’ conception are not
just unique for Judaism; they are unique for any religion. To be sure in the Greek and
Roman mythologies of Jesus’ day, there were accounts of gods uniting with humans,
but the children of those unions were always described as being “half god and half
human,” much like we might describe the children of an Irish father and Italian mother
as being half-Irish and half-Italian. Since the beginning, however, Christians have
claimed something very different about Jesus: that he is both fully human and fully
divine. Jesus’ unique conception reflects Jesus’ unique being as both fully God and
fully human. The idea of a virgin birth is therefore important for understanding who
Jesus is and who he is not.
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But the idea of a virgin birth is not essential for understanding Jesus, as judged
by the rest of the New Testament. Neither John nor Mark describe the circumstances of
of Jesus’ conception and birth, and Paul is equally silent. For the majority of the New
Testament, far more important than Jesus’ birth is his life – what he did and said – and
his death and resurrection
Indeed, for people living in the days of Jesus and the early church, the word that
was more controversial in the Apostles’ Creed was not “virgin” but “born.” As Al Winn
explains, “the great issue at that time was whether the Son of God could really be
involved in genuine, earthy, flesh-and-blood existence. There were many who said
no…Jesus wasn’t involved in the painful, messy process of human birth.” God would
not do that! They said instead that God would come to earth “like a ray of sunlight.
[Jesus] only seemed to have a body. He only seemed to suffer. He only seemed to
die.”1
In contrast, what Christians claim, then and now, is that Jesus Christ was really
born of a woman, he really did suffer, he really did die, and he really was raised from
the dead. What we Christians see in Jesus Christ is that God does not remain aloof in
the heavens or hover just a little above human existence. No, the God we worship is a
God who humbles himself to come to us as a helpless baby, born of a human mother
and utterly dependent upon human parents. Jesus is “the Word become flesh” and
Jesus’ divinity is established from the very beginning, even before he was born.
At its essence, the idea or concept of a virgin birth is a mystery, just as Jesus’
resurrection is a mystery. In neither case do we have a videotape version that could
enable us to say with precision what exactly happened. All we can say is that it did
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happen. That is why I have always appreciated what the Declaration of Faith says
about Jesus’ birth: “We affirm that Jesus was born of woman as is every child,
yet born of God's power as was no other child.”
“15 and pregnant.” Consider now the second use of the word, “pregnancy:” not
only is Mary full with child, but also this birth is full with meaning. Mary’s pregnancy is
not just a sign that God can do extraordinary things. Mary’s pregnancy is also a sign
that we can trust God to keep God’s promises.
In the other passage we heard today, Isaiah 7, we have a very specific word from
the Lord to a very specific situation. Biblical scholars can even date this passage fairly
specifically: about 735 to 733 B.C. The situation here is this: King Ahaz, the ruler of
Judah, is worried. He has two enemies perched on his border, and he is afraid that they
will soon invade Judah, topple him from the throne, and subject his people to
oppression.
The prophet’s word from the Lord to his King is also quite specific: “Do not
worry,” he, in effect, tells Ahaz. “Instead, trust in God.” And then Isaiah gives Ahaz a
specific time frame: a young woman is pregnant with child. Before that child “knows
how to refuse the evil and choose the good” – in other words, before that child turns 3 or
4 years in age, those two kings you are so worried about will be toppled from their
thrones. Isaiah offers good news for his time.
He also offers even better news for our time. Isaiah 7, as with many other Old
Testament passages, points not only to the times when it was first spoken; it also points
beyond those immediate circumstances to the coming of the Messiah. Isaiah’s words
here in Isaiah 7 in effect widen outwards: first the young woman bearing a child is a
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symbol to Ahaz of God’s deliverance of Ahaz and his people in 733 B.C. Later, a young
woman bearing a child will be a symbol of God’s deliverance of all God’s people for all
time. In other words, what Luke 1 tells us against the backdrop of Isaiah 7 is that God
keeps God’s promises. When Mary delivers this child, she will be delivering our Savior,
the One who was sent to deliver us all from sin and death.
Just as Isaiah once said to Ahaz, the angel now says to Mary: “this is what
Almighty God is going to do.” And like a young, pregnant Mary, we might well ask,
“How can this be?” “What in the world is God doing?”
“What in the world is God doing?” Isn’t that a question that all of us ask at one
time or another? We look at the headlines and see too many acts of violence, too many
acts of injustice, too many times when the wicked seem to prosper and the good people
seem to struggle and we wonder, “Why?” And we ask, “Where is God?” and “What in
the world is God doing?”
Or perhaps, we ask the question in response to events in our own lives. We long
for a job or an improved work situation. We long for romance or reliable friends. We
long for a child to find themselves or a parent to not suffer so much. We wonder,
“Why?” And we ask, “Where is God?” And, “What in the world is God doing?”
To which Isaiah says to Ahaz, “Don’t worry. Trust in God. A young woman is
with child, and his name shall be “Immanuel,” which means, “God is with us.”
To which the angel says to Mary and to us. “Don’t worry. Trust in God.” A
young woman is pregnant with child, and his name shall be called “Jesus,” which means
“God saves us.”
God is with us. God saves us. God promises. God keeps those promises.
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But waiting on God to keep God’s promises can be hard. Especially when the
waiting seems to go on and on and when it is not obvious what God is up to, or that God
is up to anything
Mary’s pregnancy declares that when it comes to God’s promises, God delivers.
The answer to our questions about “What in the world God is doing?” Is simply
“Something.” Therefore we can wait…
We can wait with a confident patience. Just as a baby carried in pregnancy will
soon be born into life and reality, in the same way, God’s power and presence, though
perhaps hidden now, will eventually come out into the open. Although we may not see
what God is up to, we can be confident that God is up to something and that God will
come through.
But we also wait with patience that is open ended. As Henri Nouwen points out,
we often wait with very specific understandings of how that waiting should end: this is
what I want, God; this is what I am expecting you to do. Our waiting then become “a
way of controlling the future. We want the future to go in a very specific direction, and if
this does not happen we are disappointed and can slip into despair.”2
Does that ring true for you? I know it does for me. It is hard to wait patiently with
confidence sometimes. And it can be even harder to wait with an openness to how God
keeps God’s promises. What Isaiah 7 and Luke 1 remind us, however, is that God’s
method and timing may often surprise us. God delivers, just not always in keeping with
our preconceived notions or our preconceived schedules. But God delivers.
A man was once asked in a Sunday School class, “why did he come to church?”
This is how he answered, “I’ll tell you what keeps me coming to this church.” As he said
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it, every head in the class turned in his direction. The sudden rush of interest made him
hesitate, but then he pushed on: “It’s strange, I know, but I get the feeling here, like
nowhere else, that something is about to happen.”3
This is why we come here, especially in Advent, because we get the feeling here,
like nowhere else…
…that something is about to happen.
Come Lord Jesus. Surprise us again.
1
Albert Curry Winn, A Christian Primer: The Prayer, The Creed, The Commandments (Louisville: Westminster John
Knox Press, 1990), 113-14).
2
Henri Nouwen, “Waiting For God,” in Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas (Farmington, PA:
Plough Publishing House, 2001), 33.
3
Thomas G. Long, Something is About to Happen (Lima, Ohio: CSS Publishing, 1987), 9.