NATIVITY By Mike Herron

34 “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am

a virgin?”

Mary is willing to have this favored Son but how? ‘One can distinguish between Zechariah’s request for a sign…and Mary’s request for an explanation.’ 4 ‘It seems as if the angel purposely left out this vital point (how)…and thus invited Mary’s question.’ 5 35 The angel answered, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God. The Holy Spirit is God’s joyful answer to everything. The Holy Spirit will come on you… This is the same description that Jesus later gave his disciples; But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. (Acts 1:8) The angel then amplifies his explanation; the power of the Most High will overshadow you. This is the same language describing the cloud on the Mountain of Transfiguration (Mt 17 ) and ‘ the cloud that covered the tabernacle when the glory of God took possession of it, to conceal it from those that would too curiously observe the motions of it, and pry into the mystery of it.’ 6 Mary’s conception would take place without a sexual act in the utmost secrecy of the cloud of God’s great glory. ‘Just as you cannot understand the…mystery of a tiny baby growing in its mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the activity of God, who does all things.’ (Eccl 11:5) And so the church has confessed in the Apostle’s Creed through the ages; ‘ I believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary…’ 36 Even Elizabeth your relative is going to have a child in her old age, and she who was said to be unable to conceive is in her sixth month. 37 For no word from God will ever fail.” 38