“The God-Bearer”
Text: Luke 1:26-38
12-5-2021
In the name of Him who bestows His gracious favor upon us, dear friends in Christ. Years ago, we used to have a copy of the “Jane Fonda Workout” video. Regardless of what you may think about her politics, this was a tough exercise regimen. At the very beginning she’d ask, “Are you ready for the workout?” And you were supposed to join everybody in the studio as they jumped up and down and said “Yes!” Well, I’d like to ask if you’re ready for OUR workout this morning? Have no fear, you don’t have to jump up and down in the pew or wear the silly leotards and legwarmers. But I am going to ask you to do some mental and spiritual aerobics. We’re going to exercise the sanctified Christian logic that God has given to us believers. I’ll warn you, though; it’s not going to be as easy as you think. In fact, a fellow Pastor told me once that he’d never attempt to address our topic for today because he thought his congregation could never grasp it. Well, I think you’re smarter than that and I’m confident you’ll get the spiritual benefit of this exercise.
For our warm-up, let’s first review what the Gospel lesson tells us. Verse 26 starts off with, “In the sixth month...” The sixth month of what? The sixth month of the year? No. St. Luke is referring to the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist. As we heard last week, the first 25 verses of this chapter deal with that. So, in the sixth month of Elizabeth’s pregnancy, the angel Gabriel visited Mary. He told her that she was going to have a baby and the child would be the Son of God. Mary was betrothed, that is engaged, to be married to Joseph. But she had never had sexual relations with Joseph, or any other man for that matter. No wonder that Mary asked Gabriel the very logical question, “How will this be, since I’m a virgin?”
Now folks, Mary was no dummy. She knew the basics of Biology 101. It takes a man and a woman in order to conceive a baby. And Mary was only half the equation. Where would the other half come from? Gabriel answered this by saying, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” In other words, there wouldn’t be an earthly father involved in the conception of this child. The Holy Spirit would cause this pregnancy to happen in a supernatural way without a sexual act. That’s what we just confessed in the words of the Creed when we said, “And in Jesus Christ, His Only Son our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary...” Gabriel assured Mary of this miracle by saying, “Nothing will be impossible with God.” And she accepted this explanation without any added details. She fully submitted herself to God’s Will.
Okay, the warm-up is over. Now comes the tougher parts. Mary was told that she would bear the Son of God. In the ancient Church there was a term used to describe Mary. She was called the “Theotokos.” That sounds like a fancy, $20 theological word, but it’s from the Greek and it simply means “God-bearer.” That’s what Mary was: a “Theotokos”... a God-bearer because she was carrying the Son of God in her womb. Which leads to a difficult question to ponder: “How did the Holy Spirit accomplish that?” There are only 2 possible answers. Either the Holy Spirit created a fertilized egg and planted it in Mary’s womb, OR the Holy Spirit fertilized one of Mary’s eggs in her womb. Some of you may be thinking, “Who cares Pastor? Either way it was a miracle. So why even bother discussing it?” Trust me, this is important to our faith, and you’ll see why as we look more closely at these 2 options.
That first option just won’t work. If the Holy Spirit created a fertilized egg and planted it in Mary’s womb it would go against everything else that Scripture tells us about the Christ Child. Think back with me to Genesis 3. Right after Adam and Eve had sinned, God declared a curse on the serpent, which is the devil. And imbedded in that curse, He also announced His plan of salvation. In verse 15 God said to Satan, “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” God was promising that a Savior would come to crush Satan’s power, and that Savior would come from the offspring of the woman. You see, if the Holy Spirit had just supplied a fertilized egg in Mary’s womb, then this word of prophecy would’ve been hollow and meaningless. This Child would have been the Son of God for sure... but not also true man, the offspring of a woman. So, from this we learn that Jesus was not merely a heavenly being descending with only the appearance of a human. Rather, this Savior would be born of the woman’s seed. He would be truly human, bone of her bone and flesh of her flesh.
Now let’s look at the other option: that the Holy Spirit caused one of Mary’s eggs in her womb to become fertilized. This option works well with what Scripture says. In Galatians 3:16St. Paul writes: “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.” The promise of a Savior from the seed of Adam and Eve was carried on through Abraham and his descendants.
That fits in perfectly with what the Book of Hebrews tells us about Jesus Christ. As you heard in our reading from chapter 2, “Since therefore the children share in flesh and blood, he himself likewise partook of the same things, that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery.” Can you hear that promise of Genesis coming through there? And the writer of Hebrews goes on to say, “For surely it is not angels that he helps, but he helps the offspring of Abraham. Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For because he himself has suffered when tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.” In order to fulfill God’s promise, Jesus needed to be the ACTUAL descendant of Adam and Eve and Abraham. So, God’s Son was truly born of a woman’s seed so that He could be just like you and me, but with one exception. Scripture tells us He was without sin.
That was quite a workout, wasn’t it? But don’t relax just yet because we’re not done! Now comes the really hard part. If the Holy Spirit fertilized Mary’s egg in her womb, we’ve still got a HUGE problem to deal with. The mother of Jesus was a sinful human being just like you and me. How do we know that? Listen to Mary’s own words about herself in what we call The Magnificat. In Luke 1:46-47, she declares, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior...” Now why would Mary need a Savior if she weren’t a sinner? Secondly, Mary died like any other human being. St. Paul tells us in Romans 6 that the wages of sin is death. You do the math. If Mary died, then what does that tell you about her? She was a sinner just like you and me! Scripture doesn’t paint any other picture of Mary. She was a specially chosen instrument of God’s, but she was still a sinner.
That’s where the problem comes in. If it was her egg that the Holy Spirit fertilized, then that means her offspring would inherit her sinfulness. Which means Jesus would have been a sinner. But the Bible is very clear that He was born holy and WITHOUT sin. He had to be or He never could’ve paid the price on the Cross for our sins. So what do we do now? Well, the Roman Catholic Church resolves the problem by saying that Mary was immaculately conceived and therefore was without sin. However, that’s not what Scripture says. Well, the answer is as simple as letting God’s Word speak for itself. In verse 37 of our Gospel reading, the angel Gabriel says to Mary, “Nothing will be impossible with God.” In Mary’s womb, God made the IMPOSSIBLE happen. Gabriel said that Mary would be overshadowed by the power of the Most High. In other words, the Holy Spirit’s power cleansed the womb of Mary. He purified and sanctified that egg which was fertilized and became the baby Jesus. Without the Holy Spirit cleansing Mary’s womb of her sinfulness, she would not have been fit to be the God-Bearer. But with God’s Almighty power at work within her, she became a pure and acceptable vessel for God to use in His divine plan of salvation.
Okay, that was a great mental and spiritual workout for us. But how does it affect our faith? Well, as difficult as it may sound, the Holy Spirit does the same thing within you and me that He did in Mary. Now don’t get excited. I’m not saying you’re gonna be pregnant! That would be quite an amazing thing... especially for us men. Like Mary, we are sinners who are unfit to be a God-bearer. But the power of the Most High has overshadowed us. In Baptism He cleansed our heart so that it would be an acceptable place for the Christ Child to be conceived. That’s exactly what we sing in that Christmas hymn, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Just listen to the first 2 lines of verse 4: “O holy child of Bethlehem, descend to us we pray; cast out our sin and enter in, be born in us today...” So, you see, you really ARE a God-Bearer now. In a very real way, the Christ Child has been conceived and born in the hearts of all Believers by the power of the Holy Spirit. Because of that we have a great reason to celebrate the birth of Jesus over and over again. By God’s grace He has shown us favor and brought us salvation through His Son who now dwells within us. Like Mary, may we be the Lord’s honored vessels. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!