“You will give birth to a son.”
“How can this be, since I am still a virgin?”
You’ve read the story many times—probably every Christmas since you can remember. It can start to seem tired and cliché—an old tale without much current application.
The story has become expected. We know how it starts, how it ends, and the surprises just aren’t surprising anymore. But let me tell you, there is nothing expected about this story.
Every day at Life Centers, women walk through our doors and discover that they are pregnant. To them, this news is surprising and it can even be shocking. Our culture has termed these pregnancies “unexpected.”
Mary’s pregnancy was unexpected, too. There’s nothing more unexpected than a virgin giving birth! It’s easy to forget that, because we’ve come to expect the virgin birth. We know that God planned for Jesus to be born before the beginning of time. Was Mary’s pregnancy unexpected? To her, yes. To God? It certainly was not.
This is the truth we share with the women who come to our centers. She may think the baby she carries inside is unexpected, but we know that God expected and planned for this particular baby at this particular time. Ephesians 1:4 says “For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world,” and Psalm 139:13 says, “You knit me together in my mother’s womb.”
I wonder if Mary ever understood the prophecy Isaiah wrote thousands of years before Jesus’ birth: “For to us a Child is born, to us a Son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” Her unplanned pregnancy was planned before time began.
It’s a beautiful reminder. What the world sees as unexpected and unplanned, God sees as planned, expected, desired, and important. And He gives us the ability to see the same way.
For unto us a child is born.
Merry Christmas.