Teaching the Virgin Birth: Uncommon Applications You Can Share Today

Every year, Sunday school teachers spend time teaching the virgin birth. But pastors and small group leaders teach it too—and as a small group leader or pastor, you can dive deeper into Mary’s story and its applications.

For one, faithfulness to God can disrupt your life and defame your reputation. That’s our Christmas story today.

Heaven’s chosen virgin told the announcing angel: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word” (Luke 1:38). But Mary’s legendary submission to God’s will for her life did not spare her the pain or shame associated with radical faithfulness.

Insights on the virgin birth

The cost of obedience

Mary’s fiancé doubted she was telling the truth. Imagine her impassioned appeal to the man she loved: “I wasn’t unfaithful to you or to God—please believe me!” Joseph didn’t. He decided to divorce her quietly because, according to Matthew 1:19, he was “a just man and unwilling to put her to shame.”

So Joseph was a decent man who didn’t wish to humiliate Mary publicly; he just needed to get her out of his life. So he “resolved” to abandon his beloved to the minimum consequences of adultery. It took a dramatic visit from an angel to convince Joseph that Mary was telling the truth. Gabriel defended Mary’s faith and faithfulness: “That which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit” (Matt 1:20).

We don’t know how long Mary was in limbo with Joseph. The Bible just says, “As he considered these things” (Matt 1:20)—that is, he was considering how to implement his resolution to put her away.

Another miraculous pregnancy

Meanwhile, Mary’s neighbors in Nazareth may have noticed her swelling abdomen. Sly looks and whispers of gossip would not have encouraged the young mother-to-be. Apparently desperate, “Mary arose and went with haste to the hill country, to a town in Judah” (Luke 1:39). This was not a shopping trip to find cute outfits for the new baby. Mary got out of town “with haste” and traveled on a lonely journey of 90 miles to find shelter with the only couple in Israel who knew firsthand about angels announcing miracle pregnancies.

Imagine Mary’s relief upon finally arriving at the home of Elizabeth, who greeted her with a Spirit-inspired affirmation: “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb” (Luke 1:42). So this young mother was blessed by God, not deserving of rejection by the man she loved. And her Baby was blessed too—not a son of shame, but Immanuel, God with us.

Mary stayed several months at Elizabeth’s crisis pregnancy shelter before returning to Nazareth’s suspicions and gossip. Ultimately Joseph did believe her—after that personal visit from an angel to persuade him about Mary’s moral integrity.

Learning from Mary’s faithfulness

What can we learn this Christmas season from Mary’s time of trouble? Many things, including Paul’s assessment of the good life that comes from the obedience of faith: “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us” (Rom. 8:18). So whatever may be our own suffering this season, we may echo Mary’s courageous commitment: “Behold the servant of the Lord, do with my life whatever you will.”

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• Mary: Devoted to God’s Plan
• Book Study: The Gospel of Luke with Dr. Andrew Pitts
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• Introducing the Gospels and Acts: Their Background, Nature, and Purpose with Dr. Darrell Bock
• Logos’ Sermon Builder
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