Daily Bible Reading 8th March 2026 // Luke 1:26-38
26 In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27 to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin's name was Mary. 28 And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favoured one, the Lord is with you!” 29 But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30 And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33 and he will reign over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”
34 And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?”
35 And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36 And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37 For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38 And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.
There are three points in particular that may be underlined in considering the meaning and significance of the virgin birth of Christ. First of all, it bears witness to the essentially supernatural nature of the Christian Faith and tells us that in the divine provision of salvation man, as man, is set aside. 'The male, as the specific agent of human action in history, with his responsibility for directing the human species, must now retire into the background as the powerless figure of Joseph.... God did not choose man in his pride and defiance, but man in his weakness and humility, not man in his historical role, but man in the weakness of his nature as represented by the woman, the human creature who can confront God only with the words, “Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it unto me according to Thy word”’ (Barth). The doctrine of the virgin birth tells us that that part in us which wants to do - indeed, insists on doing - something active for our own salvation is resolutely and firmly set aside by God. Salvation is of God, and of Him alone.