I was pleased this week to see that our intersection with the Catechism parallels the special occasion on which we find ourselves today, better known as Mother's Day. Questions 35 and 36, which we'll cover, actually discuss the Immaculate Conception and the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, our Lord. And for lack of a better way to put it, I just think that's awesome. We kind of have just run right into it. With that being said, question and answer 35. What does it mean that he was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary? It means that the eternal son of God, who is and remains true and eternal God, took to himself through the working of the Holy Spirit from the flesh and blood of the Virgin Mary, a truly human nature so that he might also become David's true descendant, like his brothers and sisters in every way, except for sin? I like to think of this question a different way. Knowing where we are in the catechism, knowing what we've seen recently, we've been working through the divinity of Christ. We've really been forming a Christology, a doctrine of who Jesus Christ is. We've looked at his offices. We've looked at recently, he is the only begotten of God. We're getting deep into Christ. And I want to replace this question with a different phrase that I think will help us understand it better. How can Jesus, the eternal, natural son of God, be born both truly God and truly man? How did he do that? The first thing the writers say is that Jesus, when becoming truly man, did not diminish or lessen his deity. He did not subtract from his godness. in order to become a man. He did not subtract from his godness to add humanness merely. They say who is and remains true and eternal God. And this Jesus, true and eternal, took to himself the human nature by his mother Mary, yet also through the Holy Spirit. And first off, there is an aspect of mystery here. We do not fully understand the scope of this doctrine. And what I would encourage you to do is actually to go to somebody who has studied it even more in depth than I have and from this own pulpit has worked through this beautifully. Dennis back in, I want to say June or July, took us through this doctrine of canonic Christology, the idea that Jesus can be both truly man and truly God. And how does that work? I would encourage you to go there. We believe that Jesus Christ is one person with two distinct natures, and that He is not simply fully both of those, but that He is truly both of those. He is not filled up with these two natures as if He could diminish in one of those two. He is truly God and truly man. He is truly these natures through and through. But the logical supposition then arises, if Jesus is truly human, then he must be tarnished by the sin nature. That's what our Bibles would lead us to think. And our Bibles and the writers of the catechism don't actually give us room to stay there. They write, he took a truly human nature so that he might also become David's true descendant, like his brothers and sisters in every way except for sin. In this mystery of the incarnation and Mary's conception of Jesus by the power of the Spirit, the Son of God, was not born into human flesh with the sin nature. While yes, truly human, He is not blemished with sin. But how? How? I remember Steve telling me many times, you won't be a Christian very long if you don't have room for mystery. You won't. Friends, the Bible does not tell us exactly how Jesus can be born by a human and by the Spirit without the sin nature. But right there, that is the answer. That is what the Bible says. Therefore it is true. And regardless of if we can flesh every little detail of that out, we believe that. Because as God is true and cannot lie, so is His revealed Word. We don't get to know everything The Pope has been in recent conversation, the Catholic Church is at the front stage of the world. And I would insert here, we don't have room to make up doctrines in order to fill in those gaps. That's not our call. We take what God says, we study it, we flesh it out, and at the end of the day, He is God and we are not. Now quickly, question and answer 36. How does this holy conception of Jesus Christ, how does the holy conception and birth of Christ benefit you? He is our mediator and in God's sight, he covers with his innocence and perfect holiness my sinfulness in which I was conceived. I've been in the book of Job in my Bible reading and just a couple of days ago, I read through probably one of my favorite sections, chapter nine, But Job, and you all know the story, he's in agony from what the Lord has allowed Satan to do. He's lost everything, as it were. And Job and his friends are struggling through this issue. And Job knows that he's innocent. He knows that he hasn't done anything necessarily to deserve this. It wasn't based on his works. It wasn't based on his unrighteousness. And while Job knows that he's a sinner, he wants to contend with God. He wants to go to the throne room, the courtroom of heaven, as it were, to plead his case before the divine judge, all while knowing he is a sinner and not worthy of defense. And Job says in verse 32 of that chapter, talking of God, For he, God, is not a man as I am, that I may answer him, that we may go to court together. There is no umpire. between us, who may lay his hand upon us both." This umpire, we hear that and think of baseball. But in a courtroom setting, this is the arbitrator. This is the go-between between both parties to seek to find a solution to a disagreement, a wrongdoing. This is the mediator. And what Job is saying all the way back in probably the first written book of the Bible, I need a mediator. The writers say, how does the birth of Christ benefit you, friends? Because as truly human and truly divine, Jesus Christ can be our sinless mediator between God and man to take his hands in this language of Job and to lay them on each party. With his left, he lays them on you. He lays them on Job. And with his right, before the throne of God above. And he pleads your case. And not only that, but this mediator says, you know what, let me step in between even more so. And he takes the punishment of your case. And not only that, but he gives you his perfect innocence. Job knew that it wasn't based on his sin that the Lord had led him to be afflicted. But even more than that, this sinner, and more importantly than that, Our God steps in the place of sinners. How does the birth of Christ benefit you, brothers and sisters? The birth of Christ allows sinners born in sin to experience the new birth and life in Christ forevermore. Amen.