The Virgin birth - just a joke?

Here's a good Christmas joke...a little boy, Johnny, really wants a bike for Christmas. So he writes to Jesus - 'Dear Jesus, I've been a good boy for twelve months, please give me a bike for Christmas, love Johnny'. But then he remembers that Jesus knows everything about everyone, so he rubs out 'twelve' and writes in 'few'. But he knows that he hasn't been good for that long really, so he scrubs out 'few months' and puts in 'two days'. But on reflection, he knows that's not true either, so he gives up and goes downstairs...passing the family Christmas tree, he notices the nativity scene with little figures underneath, and Johnny has a thought. He takes the figure of Mary, goes back upstairs, shuts Mary into a drawer, and starts his letter again; 'Dear Jesus, if you ever want to see your mum again...'

That's a good Christmas joke - is the Virgin birth another one? 27% of Anglican clergy, according to a 2004 survey, think that it isn't true - and many commented that it doesn't really matter whether it's fact or fiction. Well here, based on Luke 1:26-38, are two comments on the Virgin birth...

1 - It's REAL. Luke says at the start of his book that 'I myself have carefully investigated everything from the beginning', and he's writing to his readers, 'so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.' (1:3,4). So Luke's not writing half-truths or jokes, but real FACTS - so that we can be CERTAIN that these things really happened.
Add to that, this book is in the Bible, God's own word, written by God (2 Timothy 3:16) and containing no lies (Titus 1:2). And so God doesn't allow mistakes or jokes we might mistake as being true into his word. If someone (even a vicar!) says something in the Bible isn't true, listen to God, not to them!

2 - It's RELEVANT because it's REVOLUTIONARY. Gabriel tells Mary 'You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus.' (1:31) That's a very normal sentence - all mums get pregnant, give birth and give their child a name. Jesus is totally human - but then, verse 35, 'the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.' In the Old Testament, 'the holy one' is God - and no-one else. So Jesus is a human, but he's also God - Mary's child is fully human and fully God, a unique one-off revolution. And so understanding who the baby in the manger is means we can understand the rest of his life - that his teachings aren't just guidelines we can pick and choose from, but the words of God which we must obey - and most importantly means we can understand his death - that the cross wasn't a terrible mistake, but was God dying for us in our place to rescue us from the punishment for our sin. If you throw out the Virgin Birth accounts, you throw out the God-man who brings us salvation.

The Virgin Birth isn't just a sweet fairy story for primary school kids to act out in school halls at Christmas - it's a REAL REVOLUTION, the coming of God to mankind, to be mankind, to lead us, to teach us, and to rescue us. Wonderful!