“‘For nothing will be impossible with God’. And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her” (Luke 1:37-38).
Gabriel’s final words to Mary bring to an end a conversation that had been quite literally impossible for her to understand. Mary had obviously heard Gabriel’s words before as a young girl growing up in the synagogue. These were the same words spoken to Abraham when he received the news that Sarah was pregnant (Gen 18:14). These were also the words spoken by Jeremiah when God told him the land of Israel would be repopulated once again (Jer 32:17). A virgin cannot be pregnant. But then again, old women are also not supposed to become pregnant either. And for that matter, the Jewish people should never have returned to the land of Israel after the Babylonian destruction. The virgin birth does not draw the story of Jesus closer to Greek pagan myths. Rather, it binds his story into the very essence of Jewish history. Had Jesus’ birth been normal, it would have disqualified him from being part and parcel of Israel’s impossible story. And by virtue of our faith in Jesus, be we Jewish or Gentile, the story of our lives is now part of this otherwise impossible story as well!
“But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God’s OWN POSSESSION, so that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9).
