Part of the board during our 12/7/11 Immaculate Conception discussion, a subtopic in the lesson on the first chapter of Luke
1. The Holy Spirit overshadows Mary, Ark of the New Covenant, as the Shekhinah overshadowed the Ark of the Old Covenant. That dot in Mary's womb is newly-conceived Jesus, made from one of Mary's eggs and the divine overshadowing.
2. The dot grows into a more recognizable baby. This life-size Jesus in the womb shows his complete physical connection to, and dependence on, his mom. Jesus gets all his oxygen and food from Mary's body. If Mary was a sinner, how would that sinful stuff stay out of Jesus? How could a sinful Ark be a suitable home for a sinless person?
3. Mary even as a little girl already has in her the egg that will become Jesus. Would it make sense for Jesus to be conceived using a sinner's egg? How could Jesus be made of sinful stuff? Would God want to get the sin out of the egg before it was used to make Jesus? Wouldn't it be more straightforward to have Mary be saved from sin when she was conceived in her mom? That way Mary's tummy would be a pure place for Jesus to grow, and her egg would be a source of sinless stuff for Jesus' body to grow from.
4. Who perfectly atoned for our sins? Jesus. Yes. And the Church teaches that Mary was spared from Original Sin by Jesus' atonement before she was born. But Mary was born first! Yeah, so? So how could Jesus die for her sins? He would be too late! Well, look at this:
Remember, God stands outside of time. Time is something He created, so he doesn't see things one after the other like we do. It's like Highway 178 from Pickens to Rosman- it may take 20 minutes to experience the road in your car. But daughter, if you were up above the road in this balloon, how long would you need to see the whole road? I could see it all at once! Yes. You'd need no time at all. God sees everything all at once, too. So for God to let Jesus' atonement work "ahead of time" for Mary would be no big deal.
4. Who perfectly atoned for our sins? Jesus. Yes. And the Church teaches that Mary was spared from Original Sin by Jesus' atonement before she was born. But Mary was born first! Yeah, so? So how could Jesus die for her sins? He would be too late! Well, look at this:
Twist & turn Highway 178 perceived from the road itself, versus from a hot-air balloon
Remember, God stands outside of time. Time is something He created, so he doesn't see things one after the other like we do. It's like Highway 178 from Pickens to Rosman- it may take 20 minutes to experience the road in your car. But daughter, if you were up above the road in this balloon, how long would you need to see the whole road? I could see it all at once! Yes. You'd need no time at all. God sees everything all at once, too. So for God to let Jesus' atonement work "ahead of time" for Mary would be no big deal.
This post is linked to RAnn's Sunday Snippets