Weird Ideas: Conceived by the Holy Spirit, Born of the Virgin MarySample

Today, common sense for many seems to say Jesus is just a man. Perhaps a great teacher or prophet, but still just a man. Back around Jesus’s day, it was the opposite. Their common sense told them Jesus only appeared to be a man, but was in fact a celestial being. Christians have a crazy idea. They say he’s both. The man is God and God became man.

Jesus is everything. He is our hope and the center of our faith. So knowing who (or what) he is, has always been important. What Jesus is changes everything you assume about God, humanity, and how to think about God in relation to the world.

That ancient summary of faith called the Apostles’ Creed gets at this. It describes Jesus as “conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary.” It will go on to say he “suffered” too. The Nicene Creed will clarify it even more: “Who for us men and our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary and was made man.” It’s making a point. Jesus is fully God. Jesus is fully man. Make no mistake, it says. This Jesus is God who came down from heaven. From the moment of conception he is God. Yet fully human from the moment of conception. Born of a virgin. But born. God from above becoming like you and me. How all this works is a mystery to be sure. But the Gospels are filled with wonderful examples showing Jesus’ divinity and humanity.

This week’s plan will trace God becoming human in the birth of Jesus as told in the Gospel according to Luke. Each day will also highlight a verse from the song, “Savior of the Nations Come,” written around the time of the Nicene Creed by a church leader known as Ambrose of Milan. It swirls us in the mystery of God in the flesh as our hope and salvation.

Savior of the nations come
Virgin’s Son, make here your home
Marvel now, O heaven and earth
That the Lord chose such a birth