Christmas Secrets Series

C.S. Lewis is one of the most read and most quoted Christian scholars of the 20th century,

but he had to endure the burden of a very heavy secret in his life. He fell in love with a

divorced woman and his church, the church of England, forbid marriage to one who was

divorced. Joy Davidman, the woman he loved, was an American and she would soon have to

leave England if she did not marry a British citizen. Lewis was in a terrible bind. He wanted

to obey his church but he did not want to lose the woman he loved. So he slipped away with

her and on April 23, 1956, they were secretly married in a civil service. This kept her in

England, but what a pain it was to keep it a secret. They lived in separate houses and it was

not long before the gossip was growing because of his frequent visits and late night stops at

her house.

When Joy took a fall and ended up in the hospital she was told she had cancer. That is

when they decided it was time to tell their secret to the world. When it was learned that she

would never recover, the church leaders had compassion and allowed this 42 year old

divorcee to be officially married in the hospital before she died.

Joseph and Mary had a problem like this as well. They had a heavy secret to bear and at

first they had to bear it alone. Mary did not have the nerve to tell Joseph she was with child.

How do you explain to man you love that you have been secretly visited by an angel who has

told you that you will conceive a child by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Messiah? No

wonder she left town and headed for the hill country to stay with

Elizabeth. Gabriel had told Mary the secret of Elizabeth, that she too was with child in her

old age. As soon as Mary stepped in the door and greeted Elizabeth, her secret was out and

Elizabeth exclaimed, "Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear."

Here are two women who haven't said more than hello to each other and they both already

know each others secret-they are going to have babies.

Three months later when Mary came back to Nazareth poor Joseph did not need an angel

to tell him what Mary had been hiding. Her body language exposed her secret and poor

Joseph was plunged into a secret civil war. How would you feel if your bride-to-be took off for

three months and then came back pregnant? Joseph was caught in a terrible bind. Do I

expose her to public disgrace and let her be the victim of the law, which could lead to he being

stoned, or do I just divorce her and let her go quietly? He loved her even though he was

deeply hurt and so he was leaning toward divorce. Then the angel came and let him know in a

dream the secret that Mary was to give birth to the Messiah.

When he woke up he was a partner in the secret and he took Mary to be his wife and the

bore the secret together. Nobody in Nazareth ever knew that Joseph was not the father of

Jesus. The virgin birth was a secret that became a Christian doctrine only after Jesus died

and rose again. Let's look for a few moments at-

I. THE SECRET OF THE VIRGIN BIRTH.

This was not a secret Mary was urged to proclaim from the house tops. She never even

told Joseph. The angel had to reveal this secret to him. This was their family secret and not a

matter of public information. There is not a hint that anybody outside of their family ever

dreamed Jesus was virgin born. The references to Joseph and Mary and Jesus make them

seem like normal family with nothing unusual about them. Doctor Luke in Luke 2:27 says,

"When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the law

required...." Joseph is called the parent of Jesus. In verse 41 Luke refers to them both again

as the parents of Jesus. In verse 33 he writes, 'The child's father and mother marveled at

what was said about him."

There is no doubt about the reality of the virgin birth. Joseph was not the literal father of

Jesus, but the fact is, it was kept a secret. As far as the people were concerned, Jesus was the

son of Joseph. The virgin birth was not known until after the death and resurrection of

Christ. In His lifetime He was known only as the son of Joseph. John 1:45 says, "Jesus of