Hennie Symington

The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you … Luke 1:35

“How can that be?” we ask ourselves in the words of Mary in Luke 1:35. Here too, the Spirit, as in the in beginning of creation, when God said, “let us” make humankind,” acted in his creative power to create humankind. It is the same Spirit who is present where-ever new life occurs. Also in our own lives where our own spirit is constantly renewed by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Mary was one of two people mentioned in the Twelve Articles of Faith, the other being Pontius Pilate. Does that mean that she had a special status in terms of the Trinity or that she acted as a go-between between God and man? In the Protestant tradition Mary is seen purely as the mother of Jesus from whom He receives his human nature. Later we find that Mary became part of the growing body of believers but with no special intercessory powers.

Consider the following – Jesus had a normal birth just like countless births occurring all over the world every second of the day. Like any other baby he cried when he was hungry, and slept when he was comforted. He had the soul of a human baby.

The difference between this birth and billions of other births, was that the Son of God chose to be born in human form. This cannot be said of any other being on earth. By doing so, Christ showed that it was good to be human. What does this mean to us?  Everything! On the day he was born, Calvary began. On that day, Christ set out on his journey towards salvation for mankind.So, in effect, he born to die so that we could live.

Prayer: Lord, you chose to be one of us, so that we could become like you, human yet divine, mortal but immortal. We do not understand, yet we believe. Amen