But before the marriage took place, while she was still a virgin, she became pregnant through the power of the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)
The term “oxymoron” comes from two Greek words, meaning “sharp” (oxos) and “dull” (moros). How can something be “sharp dull”? They logically can’t. They just don’t fit together. Like bitter sweet, ill health, awful good, and original copy. We’ve made them work (at least in English), but they don’t naturally do so through the meaning of their separate use as stand-alone words (or concepts signaled by words, but that’s a linguistic diversion).
So with pregnant virgin. It just doesn’t work in language, biology, or explanations of life. “Honey, you are pregnant? And a virgin?! Oh, sure you are! It happens all the time!”
But in the story of the birth of Jesus, it does happen. Somehow. As a matter of fact, it has to.
“The virgin shall be with child.” Not “with child” after the “normal means” run their course, but with child without the normal means, and when it all happens (pregnancy, birth) she is still a virgin. Huh?
As one lets that reality roll over the brain, it doesn’t signal impossibility, but signals God’s miraculous plan.
Too far-fetched?
Too outlandish, and disqualifying?
Such a crazy idea no one would ever believe it to be true, and it would fit immediately into the folder marked “no way, not today, not tomorrow, not ever”?
You think it’s hard to explain? Put yourself in Mary’s shoes. We aren’t told if her parents were still alive. If they were, she had some serious “splaining” to do. (Good luck with that, as the old saying goes.) Or what about Joseph? You know that words failed him as he endured the shaming looks, taunts and eye-winks of friends and family. Probably pretty easy to just give up and walk away from this. And while he’s on the way out, he might want to make an appointment with the village psychiatrist. However, I’m fairly certain that the resident mental health professional in Nazareth had never had a patient who referenced “pregnant virgin” in his initial office visit.
“Pregnant virgin” represents the all-time greatest oxymoron. We will do well to grasp its meaning.
“Father, thank you for the pregnant virgin, who experienced something no one else ever has, and who gave birth to Someone who is unlike anyone who ever lived.”
Freddy Boswell 