25 Days of Adoration

“You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus.” (Luke 1:31, NLT)

The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God. (Luke 1:35, NLT)

I love Mary’s question: “How can this happen?” Another translation says “How can this be?” (NIV). How is she supposed to have a baby when she is a virgin? My mind immediately asks the same question, one that I often ask when I read the Word of God…but HOW does this ACTUALLY happen?

• Does God, Creator of Life, spontaneously create an embryo in Mary’s womb?
• What DNA does God use? Is it similar to IVF where God uses Mary’s DNA to create and implant an embryo? What male DNA does He use? Is it Joseph’s?
• Or is it more like surrogacy, where God uses a “perfect” combination of DNA and then implants the embryo into Mary’s womb?

As I spiral down the rabbit hole of questions, I pause and ask myself, does it matter? Does it matter how it ACTUALLY happened? As a modern reader with a curious mind, I tend to ask questions that could be interesting to think about, but may miss the whole point. What I’m really saying is, give me proof. Make it make sense!

In Luke 1:37, the angel Gabriel says to Mary:

“For the word of God will never fail.”

Jesus says it this way, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” (Matthew 19:26, CSB). With God, the supernatural can occur. Maybe this is not far-fetched for some to grasp, but for me as a modern reader, with so much information at my fingertips, it can be challenging to acknowledge all that I don’t know. Mystery and wonder still operate today.

What is revealed to us, as demonstrated throughout the stories of the Old and New Testaments that God, Creator of Life, is in control of conception and life. From Eve (Genesis 4:1), to Sarah (Genesis 21:1-5), to Leah and Rachel (Genesis 30:17, 22-23), to Hannah (1 Samuel 1:19-20), to Elizabeth (Luke 1:13), each of these women have a story of unlikely conception, due to age or possible infertility, and yet God makes a way as it relates to His greater plan.

Mary is part of God’s plan too. Mary was ordinary, living as a Jewish person under Roman occupation in the first century. She had no accolades to earn her the role of mother of the “Son of God”. Yet God chose her.

God formed Jesus’s flesh with the Spirit (instead of through human relations) and then sent Him into the world through Mary. He was born of a woman, the same way all humans are born. He 100% God (John 14:8-9, Colossians 1:15) and 100% human. And since she was a virgin, Mary did not pass on the nature of human sin to Jesus. He lived a perfect, sinless, God-honoring life (1 Peter 2:22, 1 John 3:5). And He did this so that He could conquer death and bring about eternal life to us all.

I challenge me to extend the question, “How can it be?” to dwell on the brilliance of God, Creator of Life:

• • How can it be that an extraordinary God would use an ordinary person like Mary?
  • How can it be that a perfect Jesus, who is fully God, would humble himself, put on flesh, and enter the broken, imperfect world?
  • How can it be that Jesus, who is also fully human, is so relatable, having had a full human experience?

God, I adore you that you chose an ordinary person like Mary and created an extraordinary situation, entering the world through a virgin. I adore you God, that you are the Creator and Author of Life – you made all things and you hold it all together. I adore you that you would take on flesh and come into the world, not to condemn the world, but to save the world. I adore that you care so deeply about us, that you share our human experience so intimately, and yet you are set apart without sin. Thank you for using ordinary people for your extraordinary plans.