Conceiving Jesus

Many churches have given Joseph and Mary and the baby Jesus lots of "air time" in recent weeks and tonight there will be plenty of nativity tableaux gracing Christmas Eve services. But one congregation in New Zealand has created a major stir with a billboard of the holy couple in bed and the caption "Poor Joseph. God is a hard act to follow." The idea was to jolt folk out of their Christmas sentimentality to really consider what the story is saying to us about God's involvement in Jesus' conception.

The result has been a fair amount of controversy and a man has taken it upon himself to paint over the image in what he must feel is righteous vandalism. It does raise important questions about how we interpret the stories of the gospels about Jesus' conception and birth. We all read Luke at the this time of the year but Mark and John say nothing about Jesus' birth, nor does the apostle Paul. Their focus is ministry, passion, and resurrection and for Paul, Good Friday and Easter are the main events.

One religious leader who finds the billboard offensive says this:

"Look, we haven't got a problem with the fact that they want a debate around the virgin birth, about sex and religion, we just don't think it's appropriate on a public billboard to be talking about the sexual prowess of God versus the sexual prowess of Joseph. That's a debate you have inside the church building, not on a public billboard that families and kids are going to see."

Do you think the billboard is irreverent or topical? How important is the birth of Christ to your faith?