Virgin Birth

Who is the most-powerful being in the Marvel Multiverse? It’s not Spiderman, Iron Man, Thor, or Thanos, but someone called “the One Above All.” Here’s how he makes his appearances in the universe:

Appearances of the One Above All are few and far between. The deity sometimes appears as a blinding white light, or a nondescript homeless man. However, one of the most notable sightings of the being was seen in Fantastic Four #511. Traveling through a realm that could only be described as heaven, the four pass through a door and emerge in an ordinary living room. Before them sits the One Above All, sketching comic panels and characters on a drawing board--and he bears a striking resemblance to the legendary artist Jack Kirby.

As the co-creator of the Fantastic Four, Captain America, Spider-Man, Thor, Black Panther, the X-Men, and countless other characters over the decades, Jack Kirby is an ideal representation of the God of the Marvel Universe. Even so, he takes a phone call from a "collaborator" in a later panel (heavily hinted to be Stan Lee), much to the amazement of the Fantastic Four.

Marvel's depiction of the One Above All as a simple human artist works perfectly within their universe. As the OAA-as-Jack Kirby himself says "That's what my creations do. They find the humanity in God.”

Possible Preaching Angle:

Often when humans imagine God, they imagine him to be a really big version of themselves. What if God, our creator, stepped inside his creation, in a way we could understand and find relatable? And amazingly, he did!

The famous 20th century British writer Malcolm Muggeridge once noted that in modern times, with family-planning clinics offering ways to correct "mistakes" that might disgrace a family name:

It is … extremely improbable … that Jesus would have been permitted to be born at all. Mary's pregnancy, in poor circumstances, and with the father unknown, would have been an obvious case for an abortion. Her talk of having conceived as a result of the intervention of the Holy Ghost would have pointed to the need for psychiatric treatment, and made the case for terminating her pregnancy even stronger. Thus our generation, needing a Savior more, perhaps, than any that has ever existed, would be too humane to allow one to be born.

In an article for Christianity Today Rebecca McLaughlin writes:

I’d just read my four-year-old the story of the angel Gabriel meeting with Mary. I tried not to panic when she said, “I don’t believe that.”

“Well, do you believe that God made you?”

“Yes, I believe that.”

“And do you believe that Jesus died for your sins?”

“Yes.”

“And that he rose from the dead?”

“Yes.”

After more gentle probing, it turned out it was really just the angel that she didn’t buy. But nonetheless, my daughter isn’t alone in her natural skepticism about the supernatural. When we stop to think about it, Christmas stretches our credulity. It comes complete with an angel appearing, a virgin conceiving, a star guiding, and heavenly hosts singing. How can rational, scientifically literate, 21st-century people like us believe such things, when even a child finds them hard to take?

However, to believe in the God of the Bible who created the universe and not to believe in miracles is rather obtuse. It would be like my daughter believing her dad could make bread from scratch (which he can) but that he couldn’t toast a Pop-Tart. In fact, if you are a Christian you are already signed up to believe that the universe and everyone in it is God’s handiwork.

Physicist Jonathan Feng says, “What is truly amazing about the Christian faith is the idea that God made the universe—from quarks to galaxies but at the same time cared enough about us to be born as a human being. To come down, to die and be crucified in the person of Jesus, and to bring forgiveness and new life to broken people.”

Christians believe in Christmas in all its supernatural glory because miracles aren’t hard for God.

The virgin birth is far less mind-boggling than the power of all Creation stooping so low as to become one of us.

—U.S. author Madeline L'Engle (1918–2007)

Society never actually wanted the Incarnation. "Emmanuel, God-with-Us" does not sell computer games or cologne. Society wanted the cute stuff--rustic stable, adoring shepherds, fluffy sheep, cows, donkey, holy family, infant Jesus, gift-bearing kings, stars, angels, St. Nicholas, reindeer, fir trees, holly, and presents. The pagan stuff they will retain--even if they do dye the trees powder blue and decorate them with miniature hanging appliances and Disney ornaments. ...

The marketplace will also retain some of the traditional hymnody, but in upbeat arrangements that remove them from the realm of traditional worship. Ancient chants are popular, too. They sound religious and profound and--best of all--nobody understands Latin, so no shoppers are offended.

He undertook to help the descendants of Abraham, fashioning a body for himself from a woman and sharing our flesh and blood, to enable us to see in him not only God, but also, by reason of this union, a man like ourselves.

Jesus Christ is the only God who has a date in history.