First Signs

When the story first speaks of Jesus being present on the earth, He is shrouded in the invisible. Our first hint that the Incarnation has become reality is through the words of an angel telling Mary she will conceive through the power of the Holy Spirit.   It was surely confounding to Mary and perplexing to Joseph. Mary needed the external validation of Elizabeth being pregnant and Joseph needed the encouraging assurance of an angel in a dream to embrace the divine mystery which was about to unfold in their lives.  

Even as the ancient prophets challenged the Hebrew people to believe in something not yet seen, so does the early words of Jesus being present cause us to believe in something not seen, but about to happen.   For nine months the Son of God would silently grow in the darkness of Mary's womb.  A speck would become a mass, a mass would become form, a form would be framed into a mere baby, and then into the light the eternal Light would come forth to be visibly present among us.  

There is no mystery like the mystery which took place in those days between announcement and birth.  Even as we are one like Him, so would He would become like us.  Even as we bear the image of His holiness, so would be bear the image that would mark Him as one of us.  Fully understanding what it means for the "Word to become flesh..." (John 1:14), or for Jesus "...though He was in the form of God...to empty Himself...and to be found in human form..." (Philippians 2:6-7), is impossible for us to grasp; yet, such is how we first see Him and know by faith that our Savior has come.