Larger Catechism – Day 23 of Lent
Question 47: How
did Christ humble himself in his conception and birth?
Answer: Christ humbled himself in his conception and birth in that being
from all eternity the Son of God in the bosom of the Father, it pleased him in
the fullness of time to become the son of man, born of a women from a poor
family and into conditions that were even worse than ordinary.
Many years ago my family moved from eastern Oregon to central
Washington—I had almost completed my sophomore year of high school. New school.
New sports teams. New people to
get to know. A girl in my class got
pregnant and she decided to carry the baby to term and then give the baby up
for adoption. A very courageous choice. My guess is that at first only a few people
knew of the pregnancy. As time passed it
became obvious to everyone that she was pregnant. I am sure that she had more than her share of
strange looks (and possibly words) from people. An unwed teenage girl being
pregnant was not an “in” thing to be when I was in high school.
Today things are much different.
An unwed, single, teenage girls is common place—and quite
acceptable. The local school district
has a special high school so that non-traditional students can complete their
high school education. There is very
little negative stigma to being a teenage girl, single and pregnant.
Things back in Jesus’ day were quite different!! A single teenage girl that was to be married
to person #1 and gets pregnant by someone other than person #1 should have been
stoned to death. Even if the woman and
person #1 got married the child would always be viewed as having been conceived
out-of-wedlock. Knowing children and teens
as I do, I can imagine Jesus being teased, kidded and ridiculed for his
less-than-honorable conception.
Mary, Joseph and Jesus had to leave their homeland and live as
foreigners in Egypt because Herod was trying to have Jesus killed. Foreigners
were never trust. Foreigners were never
a part of the culture. Foreigners were,
well, foreigners.
Jesus was willing to give up his high place in heaven so that he
could provide a way for us to be reconciled to God. He was will to be humiliated in being a
helpless baby (see prior posts). He was
willing to be humiliated by being conceived out-of-wedlock. He was willing to be humiliated by living as
a foreigner in a foreign land. Over and
over again Jesus demonstrated how much he loves us by the things he was willing
to endure on your behalf. Jesus truly is
a Great God.
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