It was September 2012 and Chris Lemons and his co-workers were on a deep-sea dive working in an underwater oil field. The divers were connected to the ship by an “umbilical cord”, supplying them with oxygen, power for lights, communication, and warm water to keep their suits warm. The ship 100m above used a digital system to stay over the work site but the system failed and the ship began drifting. They alarmed the divers to return but as they did Chris’ umbilical cord got caught on the rig and snapped. Chris had only 5 minutes of emergency air to breathe. Making peace with death, Chris stared into the nothingness of the sea hoping for an impossible rescue.
What do you do when life feels like 100m of suffocating nothingness and rescue is impossible? What do you hope for? This is what the virgin birth is about. In Matthew 1:18-25 we meet a couple, Mary and Joseph, who are nobodies like you and me. They are from Nazareth, which at the time was a town where “nothing” good came from. The context of the virgin birth is a couple of nobodies from nowhere. The context of the virgin birth is what I try to avoid. I want to be someone with something to show for my life.
Mary and Joseph are not completely married yet and Mary is a virgin. But suddenly Mary starts showing and Joseph’s world surely came crashing down. Crushed were any dreams he had of finally being someone by getting married and finally making something of his life by building a family. Isn’t it one thing to feel nothing for an unknown reason but another thing for sin, like the sin of adultery, to make you feel like absolutely nothing? Now, we know Mary did not commit adultery but one thing is for sure: Mary and Joseph are sinners. The context of the virgin birth is a couple of nobodies from a nothing town who deserve condemnation for their sin.
But where there should be nothing, the virgin is pregnant! Mary is pregnant with a child “conceived in her from the Holy Spirit.” In the nothingness, God shows up. The virgin is pregnant with a baby boy who is God and man. He sees our world of “sins” and he shows up. This sounds like good news but why is he here? Joseph is told: this child will be called “Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” God knows the intensity of our problem and comes with an intense purpose to save us from it. God shows up to bring life where there is not even the potential for life.
Jesus is called Immanuel, “God with us”, because God came down to us, to be with us, and to give us life with him. You do not have to make yourself something. You do not have to be somebody. In fact, being a nobody from a nothing town simply qualifies you for God’s rescue. God loves nobodies from nothing towns and he is so for you that he took on your flesh for you, lived a righteous life for you, died a condemned death for you, and then rose to give you resurrection life.
