We all know that conception does not take place without sexual intercourse, and I concur. And then we are confronted with the idea that Mary conceived without a male partner even though she was betrothed to Joseph.
According to the Gospel of Matthew, Joseph had in mind to let Mary go quietly so as to not cause much trouble for them both. All Joseph knew was that Mary was pregnant and he wasn't the father. Maury Povich would have nothing on this guy.
Joseph may not have been as enlightened as we are today, but he still understood that women get pregnant as a result of sexual activity. That explains all of the fuss. Joseph was just trying to follow all of the conventional rules of his community.
Now, what if Matthew's account was the only account we had of this event? There would be no trek of the holy family from Nazareth to Bethlehem, no angel Gabriel, no inn, no shepherds, and no chorus of the heavenly host. Matthew's story is bare bones, as it were. And our children's Christmas pageants would be very boring indeed!
But there is a nameless angel of the Lord who appears to Joseph in a dream (dreams are very significant in the Middle East. They literally "follow their dreams.") and tells Joseph to bypass the conventional wisdom and take Mary as his wife "for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit." Matthew then tells us that this is in fulfillment of Isaiah 7:14: "Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they (not he or she) shall call his name Immanuel" (which means, God with us)". To understand what going on here we need to briefly look at Isaiah 7:14 in context.
Isaiah 7 was intended to calm the fears of Uzziah, king of Judah, as a coalition was being formed between Israel and Syria to attack Judah because of the Uzziah's unwillingness to join the coalition and help head off an invasion by the Assyrians.
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Isaiah's message to Uzziah was basically, "Don't worry. Israel and Syria are nothings and will come to nothing before they can do anything to you. The Assyrians are breathing down their necks!"
As a sign, a woman will conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. This baby served as a reminder that the threatened invasion would not occur. In other words, God is with them.
Fast forward back to Jesus' time. The air was thick with rebellion against the Roman Empire. The Jewish people were sick and tired of being lorded over by pagans. They were confident that God would reverse their fortunes, topple Rome, and free Israel. Of course, there were many who felt that God could use a bit of help in this area and sharpened their swords.
Jesus would lead people in a completely different direction. He would warn the people of the futility of rebellion. There was no way they could head off, much less survive, a Roman onslaught. The only way to survive the inevitable invasion of Rome was to rid oneself of rebellion caused by idolatry (repent), receive Jesus' welcome (forgiveness of sins), and follow Jesus out of the whole mess (fleeing the wrath to come). Jesus was the sign that God was with them because he tried to save as many lives as he could.
The Assyrians invaded in 721 BC and decimated Israel; Rome invaded in 70 AD and demolished Jerusalem and the Temple. And what of the people who remembered Jesus' and his warnings? They fled as Jesus instructed them (Matthew 24:15-28). Jesus was truly Immanuel!
What about the "virgin" stuff? Well, why do we think it's so important?
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To me it doesn't matter if Jesus was conceived by human agency or not. Many believe he was and I don't have a problem with that. Many believe that Jesus was virginally conceived, and I don't have a problem with that either. To argue one way or the other, though, misses the point and betrays what's really on our minds most of the time.
Many times Israel is referred to as the "Virgin Daughter" in the Bible, a people that was supposed to be free of idolatry and pure. I would rather let Scripture interpret itself instead of bringing our knowledge of the biology of sex into it. There might be more to the term "virgin" than "sexless." But the point of the whole thing is "Immanuel"—God with us! The birth of Jesus reminded Israel that God was with them just as He was in 721 BC.
And so Matthew's Christmas narrative reminds us of the very same thing. God is with us, offering forgiveness to those who repent of their ways and escape from the tyranny of our various idolatries. It's a new start and a new life for God's new creations!
