Lk.1:30 – 35,37 – And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” But Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel answered and said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God.…For nothing will be impossible with God.” And Mary said, “Behold, the Lord’s bond-servant; may it be done to me according to your word.”
For whatever reason when unusual miracles happen we humans always want to credit the greatness of another human as the reason for the miracle to happen in the first place. In Mary’s case in has to be obvious it would be impossible for a human to take credit for a virgin birth. Since the beginning of time, logic and science testify, virgin births just don’t happen!! But in Mary’s case it actually did happen. The only rational conclusion one could come to would have to be this, God does what He wants when He wants with whomever He wants to use. This miracle happened to Mary through a supernatural encounter with an angel, a word spoken by the angel, and the powerful effect of an encounter with the Holy Spirit. All three of these things; the angel, the word, and the overshadowing of the Spirit are totally the work of God. Mary wasn’t expecting it, praying for it, or believing for it; it just happened by the plan of God. Here is how Luther describes this moment.
“This is a joyous Gospel, in which faith is held up for us. And in the whole we find both teaching and exhortation. This virgin had a faith of which there is no equal in the entire Bible. One can see here how reason is able to accomplish nothing at all—it fails completely, for faith cannot tolerate reason.”
So Mary believed the word of God delivered by an angel and Christ was conceived in her womb. This is really how all miracles happen; the word of the Lord is spoken, faith comes by hearing God’s word; then signs, wonders, and miracles follow.
