Preached on 12-24-98

BORN TO A VIRGIN

A Christmas Family Sermon by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose

"Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Spirit." (Num. 24:17)

EVERY SINGLE BABY THAT IS BORN into this world has a mother, and has a father. In fact, this is one of the reasons that the Lord makes two kinds of people -- men, and women -- so that, after a man and woman fall in love and get married, they can have children, can have a family. And ever since the time of Adam and Eve, ever since the Lord made the first people here on this earth, every single baby has had a father and a mother. But once, just once, in the whole of history, there was a baby who did not have a father here on earth. Once upon a time there was a very special baby born here in this world. This baby had a mother, just like every other baby. But He did not have a father -- at least He didn't have a father here on earth.

This baby, this very special baby, was the Lord. His mother was a woman called Mary, and Mary was betrothed -- she was engaged to be married -- to a man called Joseph. But before Mary was married to Joseph, an angel appeared to her, and told her that she was going to have a baby boy. Mary was very puzzled. How could she have a baby without the baby having a father? The angel, though, told her that a wonderful thing was going to happen. The angel said that the power of the Highest would overshadow her, and the baby she would have would be the Son of God. This little baby that was to be born was to be a very special baby, unlike any other baby that would ever be born, because the father of this baby would be God Himself. If the Lord had had an ordinary father, here in this world, if, for example, His father had been Joseph, then the Lord would have just been an ordinary baby, just like everybody else. But the Lord was not an ordinary baby. He had a mother, just like other babies do. But His Father was God Himself. This is why the Lord is often called the Son of God.

Now some people think that because the Lord is called the Son of God, He is somehow different from God Himself. They think that the Lord was here on earth, and His Father was up in heaven, and that the Lord's Father, and the Lord Himself, were somehow different people. They are not different people, though. There can only be one God. It was God, the one only God, up in heaven, who wanted to come down to earth. He wanted to come down so that He could show Himself to people, and teach people, and save them from evil. And so that He could do this, inside Mary the Lord made for Himself a tiny body. He made for Himself the body of a tiny baby. And inside of this body, inside the body of a tiny baby, the Lord Himself came down from heaven into the world.

This is what is so wonderful about the Christmas story. The Christmas story is the story about the most wonderful baby that was ever born. When Mary had her baby, when her little baby was born in the town of Bethlehem, when she laid her little baby in the manger, that little baby lying in the manger was God Himself. The Lord Himself, high above the heavens, had come down through the heavens, had come right down to people here on earth. The Lord Himself, who makes all things in the universe, and who governs all things, had come down here to earth as a tiny little baby.

Now the Writings of the New Church are so emphatic in teaching that the Lord not only was not the son of Joseph, but also, that He is no longer the son of Mary. To think of the Lord as still being Mary's son would be to ascribe to Him something that is merely human. And so we read in the True Christian Religion that "it is believed that the Lord as to His Human not only was, but still is, the son of Mary; but in this the Christian world is under a delusion" (TCR 102). We read also that when He is called the son of Mary, rather than the Son of God, then "the idea of Divinity in respect to the Lord perishes, and with it all that is said of Him in the Word as the Son of God" (TCR 94).

This is a matter of fundamental importance. Our whole religion is founded upon the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our God. He is Divine. He cast off all merely human limitations, rising triumphant from the sepulcher as the one God of heaven and earth. To think that He is, in some sense, still the Son of Mary, would detract from His Divinity, and from His glory. It would, inevitably, detract from our worship of the Lord. The Lord is God. He is no longer the Son of Mary. The only things the Lord received from Mary were the infirmities and weaknesses that come from being born in a body of flesh and bones, things that were later rejected and cast off.

This might seem to make Mary's role in the Lord's advent to be almost insignificant. It would be a mistake, though, to think of Mary as nothing more than the source of the Lord's worldly body. Mary also represents something else in the Word, something very important indeed. She represents the Lord's church as it exists within the individual. More precisely, she represents that very quality we need within ourselves if the Lord Himself is to be born within our hearts and minds.

The Christmas story, you see, is not simply about something that happened a long time ago. It is a story for all peoples, and for all time. The Lord, at a turning point in human history, came down to earth to save the human race from evils which otherwise would have destroyed it. He came that He might assume power against the hells. He took on power to fight against evil, not simply evil in some general abstract sense, but evil as it exists within each individual human heart. So it is that the Christmas story must, as it were, be reenacted within the life of each individual person. The Lord must be born within the heart of each individual man and woman. He must be received within the heart and mind in order that He might deliver us from those evils which threaten our very salvation.

When we reflect upon the story of Christmas, we realize that there are, in a way, two threads running through the story. There is a dark thread. When the Lord was born, the spiritual state of mankind was low, very low indeed. It was a time of darkness. Evil had been passed on from parents to their children over countless generations. The teachings of the Word had been perverted and completely twisted. In the spiritual world the power of hell was fast beginning to threaten even heaven itself.

The Christmas story takes place at a time of great darkness and of great evil. And yet, despite this, despite the state of people at that time, there is another thread, another theme, which runs throughout, and in the end dominates, the story of Christmas. Despite the darkness and ugliness of the time at which He was born, the story of the Lord's birth is a story of the most wonderful beauty -- miraculous beauty. The miracle of Christmas is that despite the state of people here on earth, despite their falsity and despite their evil, the Lord still loved them, and He came to them, and saved them. The Lord came down to us, and dwelt amongst us, despite our weaknesses, despite our failings. Indeed, He surrounded Himself within a body that contained those very weaknesses and failings which threatened to destroy the human race. By fashioning for Himself a body within the womb of Mary, the Lord showed, in the fullest sense possible, that He can come to us and be with us, despite our weaknesses, despite our evils, despite our falsities.

Now some people understand the Christmas story, and, indeed, the whole of the Gospels, to mean that a person can be saved no matter how evil the life he might live. They think that even if a person remains in evil, he can nevertheless be saved by the power of Christ. But the Lord did not come to save those who wanted to remain in evil. He came to save those who wanted to be lifted up out of evil. He came to save those who wanted to change -- those who no longer wanted to live a life of evil -- those who wanted to be saved from a life of sin. No matter how evil a person might be, the Lord can save him. The Lord can be born into his heart, can come into his life. But for this to happen, there must be, within the person himself, a willingness to change.

It is this willingness which is represented in the virgin Mary. Mary was not perfect. She was an ordinary person, just like us. But despite her weaknesses, despite her imperfections, the Lord could come to her, and through her could be born into the world.

What was it about Mary that meant that she of all women was chosen for this most special role? It was, essentially, her humility. When Gabriel appeared to her and told her what was to happen, she did not understand, and asked how it was that she, who did not know a man, could bear a son. Once it was explained to her, though, and once she was told that "with God nothing is impossible" (Lk. 1:37), she willingly and humbly accepted the decision of the Lord. "Behold the handmaid of the Lord," she said; "be it unto me according to Thy Word" (Lk. 1:38).

Now the Christmas story, as we have said, testifies to the power of the Lord to save people from what is evil. It bears witness to the fact that the Lord can enter, can as it were be born, into a person's heart -- even though that heart might be filled with sin. If this is to happen, though, the person must be willing to change. Just as Mary was willing to accept what the Lord told her through the angel Gabriel, so too, we also must be willing to accept and to obey the Word of the Lord.

This is the very thing which is necessary if the Lord is to be born within us. We may be evil. Indeed, by ourselves we are evil -- all of us have inherited tendencies towards all kinds of evils. But still the Lord can come to us, and dwell with us. He can come and gradually lift us out of the selfishness and the worldliness that is all too often a major part of our lives. All that is required is that we have the humility, and the willingness, to submit our hearts, our minds and our lives, to a truth and to an authority that is greater than ourselves -- to the truth of the Word itself. We must be willing to say those same words which Mary spoke, when the angel Gabriel appeared before her so long ago in the small town of Nazareth. We must be willing to turn to the Lord, humble ourselves before Him, turn to Him and say: "Be it unto me according to Thy Word." Then the Savior, Christ the Lord, can be born within our hearts, and His light can shine within our minds, and He can redeem our lives and our souls, from the destruction and the darkness of evil.

Amen.

Lessons: Jn. 1:1-14; Luke 1:26-38; TCR 3:1.

© 1998 by the Rev. Patrick A. Rose