Barrenness and the Firstborn

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Lord closed Hannah's womb. She was afflicted with the burden of barrenness, the cross of childlessness. Her suffering was compounded by the rich fertility of her husband's other wife, who bore him many children, and received from Elkanah the recompense for her labor. Hannah was tormented not only by the failure of her own flesh, but by the taunting and despising of her own household. Though Elkanah her husband loved her, there was nothing he could do about her pitiable condition.

Why was this the situation? Why did our Lord choose to close Hannah's womb, and to open the womb of Peninah over and over? Why some and not others? This is the question that virtually everyone asks with respect to some desired state at some time in life. For the barren woman, or couple, this is a daily plea: “Why me, O Lord?” The Lord gives abundantly to some, and withholds from others. The answer, for those who live under the sun, is that we do not know. The Lord gives, and the Lord withholds – blessed be the Name of the Lord.

Barrenness can be a very hurtful experience. Hannah lived with the double anguish of her own bodily frailty and the judgment of Peninah, and the society in which she lived. Often, the quality of a woman, or of a couple, is judged by their output – their ability to have children, to produce heirs. In the ancient world, a woman was considered damaged goods, liable to all sorts of shame and mistreatment, if she could not produce an heir for her husband.

Even today, a barren woman faces great anguish. Talk of children pervades our culture and our world, because children are our future. The barren woman is often relegated to the sidelines in discussions of family, of school events, of vacation plans, of shopping trips and birthday parties. All because the Lord has closed her womb. Mother's Day becomes a day of pain and grief, rather than a day of celebration.

Hannah knew this pain all too well. So she went up to the house of the Lord, to the Tabernacle at Shiloh, and she prayed before the altar of the Lord, that the Lord would look upon the affliction of His servant and grant her the child she so fervently desired. “If You . . . will give to Your servant a son, then I will give him to the Lord.” She barters with the Lord, that if He will grant her petition, the son she bears will be devoted to the Lord – a living thank-offering to God, if you will.

And so, it is recorded, the Lord had compassion on Hannah, and granted her request. Therefore, with great joy and thanksgiving, she did what was required by the Law, and more so. She offered up her son to the Lord, just as she had vowed, returning to the Lord that which He had so graciously given to her according to His good will and mercy.

Jump forward several centuries, and a young maiden named Mary is visited by the Archangel Gabriel, and is overshadowed by the Holy Spirit, who conceives in her none other than the Son of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. This virgin according to the flesh is now the Mother of God. The one whose womb had been closed now is opened, not by the will of man or by flesh and blood, but by the will of God and the work of the Holy Spirit in her own flesh.

A firstborn son is given to Mary, just as unexpectedly as was to Hannah. Her womb is opened, and her firstborn son is given to be offered to the Lord, to live in His house forever and serve the Lord all the days of His life. But Jesus is much more than simply the firstborn of Mary.

Long before Mary, our Lord Christ was the firstborn. St. Paul says of Him: “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:15-16).

We confess that our Lord Jesus Christ is the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of His Father before all worlds. He is neither before nor after His Father in time or in majesty, but co-equal and co-eternal. And yet He is the firstborn of all creation because in Him and through Him and for Him all things were created. Without Him was nothing made.

Jesus is the Word of God who created all things, and in Him all creation hangs together. It is He who created each and every one of you, who creates and gives life and meaning and value to every child conceived in a woman's womb. He gives life to the universe, to all of creation, and to each and every person individually.

It is by His Word and at His command that the heavens were stretched out like a tent, that the winds were appointed to the four corners of the earth, that the sun and the moon follow their courses, and that every life on earth lives and moves and has its being. He is the One who opens the womb of creation by bringing forth all that is, and by being the life of all the living.

Yet, despite this glorious gift, the creation prefers to tell the Creator how to run His business. You would prefer to dictate to the Lord of Life how life should come about, how it should run, and how it should end. You would prefer to define life and personhood and value according to your own standards, rather than according to the plumb and level of the Lord. You would rather say “no thank you” when He gives His gifts, then grab them for yourself when He withholds them. And you despise those who are lacking, those who are barren, those who hurt for want of what you take for granted.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the firstborn of creation, and He is also the firstborn of Mary. He is the child conceived in her by the Holy Spirit, the Son promised by the Angel Gabriel. He opens her womb by the blessing of God. He hallows her flesh by receiving from and in her human flesh and blood, so that He might share in not just the flesh and blood of Mary, but that of all mankind. Through His share of Mary's flesh, our Lord Christ shares also in your flesh and blood, being fully human, possessed of all which you possess, save the curse of sin.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the firstborn of Mary, born of woman, born under the Law in order to save us who were under the condemnation of the Law on account of sin and death. The womb of creation had been closed, and the people of God had become as those who writhe in the travails of labor, and then give birth to wind, as the prophet Isaiah wrote. The virgin womb which first was given to Eve for the procreation of the nations became a place of death, whence children were conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity.

But our Lord was brought forth from the womb of Mary not as one conceived in sin, not as one needing purification according to the Law. Mary needed no purification because her conceiving and bearing her Son was not in sin. But she did what was required by the Law, and our Lord submitted to the demands of the Law, not because it was required for Him, but because it was required for you and for your salvation.

Our Lord did what was necessary, all things whatsoever were necessary, in order that the Law of Moses might be fulfilled for you. You, conceived in sin and brought forth in iniquity, were – and still are – incapable of keeping the Law. And so you needed a savior who could and would fulfill all that the Law requires. This Jesus did, for you and for your salvation. He was the firstborn of Mary, that the Son of God might become the Son of Man. God has become man, so that He might deliver mankind from sin, death, and the devil.

But our Lord is more than just the beginning of creation, more than just the son of Mary. He is also the firstborn from the dead. And because of this, He is the head of the Church. St. Paul writes, “And He is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything He might be preeminent” (Col. 1:18).

Our Lord Jesus Christ has done more than open the creation of the world. He has done more than open the virgin womb of Mary. He has opened the grave, opened the earth, that it might give up its prisoners and offer up its dead. He has gone the way of death, traveled the road to hell, and has conquered sin, death, and hell by the power of His death and resurrection. He has opened the way of heaven to all believers.

Jesus is the firstborn from the dead, the first of all creation to die to sin and rise to God. He has, by His death and resurrection, conquered death once and for all. He has opened the womb of the Church, so that she might give birth to the children of God, sons and daughters of the King of Kings, adopted and sanctified by the washing of rebirth and regeneration by the water and the Spirit.

What was once a watery grave now is the way of birth, of life, of salvation. A child is conceived in the water, and brought forth from the water as a new life, full of the Breath of Life, the Spirit of the Living God who creates and sanctifies and sustains all things. Jesus Christ is the firstborn from the dead, that you might not be numbered among the dead but among the living. He has opened the grave and deprived it of its sting. And He has opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers.

Where this world was once – and still is – barren and desolate, giving birth to wind and vanity, the Church of God is a place of life and joy, giving birth to ever-living children, holy and precious to God, sanctified by the One who sanctified all wombs by His own birth.

Jesus Christ our Lord was born in order that He might be the firstborn, paving the way for us men and for our salvation. And He was presented in the Temple, as was the custom and the requirement of the Law. When He was brought into the Temple, the faithful Simeon “took [Jesus] up in his arms and blessed God and said,

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,

according to your word;

for my eyes have seen your salvation

that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,

a light for revelation to the Gentiles,

and for glory to your people Israel.”

The firstborn of all creation, The firstborn of Mary, The firstborn from the dead – He is the salvation of the Lord. He is the light for revelation to the Jews and the Gentiles – to all who sit in darkness and dwell in a land of deep darkness. He is the glory of His people, the New Israel which comes from every nation, tribe, language, and people.

And the salvation prepared in the presence of all peoples, the salvation upon whom Simeon gazed and whom he held in his hands with joy – this same salvation is here today for you to gaze upon with your own eyes. He is here for you to hold with your own hands, and more and better than Simeon, for you to eat and drink and be joined to in your flesh. What was presented in the Temple is here presented for you, for your salvation, for the forgiveness of your sins.

The purification of Mary and the presentation of our Lord is not about making a sacrifice for the sake of holiness, but it is about our Lord fulfilling the Law for you. And it is about Him bringing about an end to the barrenness of sin. He is the firstborn from the dead, that you might be the firstborn into everlasting life.

In the Name of Jesus. Amen.