Luke 2:1-20 "In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” This episode talks about how Jesus was born in a manger and how Mary liked to ponder. Music:"Adding the Sun" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
Mary Liked to Ponder
Luke 2:1-20 "In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered. This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. All went to their own towns to be registered. Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child. While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child. And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn. In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!” When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them. But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.”
There are two things about this verse that I would like to focus on today. The first is how Jesus was born in a manger. Growing up I didn’t understand this. I felt like if Mary was giving birth to the Son of God, then the least He could do is provide her with a comfortable bed to deliver the baby in. I felt like it was all so disorganized and I really didn’t understand why God didn’t plan better. Now that I am an adult, or actually more accurately, now that I know more about God and the story of Jesus I am able to understand that it was all very well planned out. God always has a plan. God had been preparing His people for this birth for a very long time. He had given very specific details and He was ensuring that all the details were accurate so that His people would know that His son was the Savior.
Jesus was not born into luxury because He was not going to be that kind of king. He was going to be an amazing leader and yet He would also be a servant. I have a rosary app on my phone and I like how they describe Jesus’ birth. Jesus enters the world in poverty to teach us the detachment from earthly things. I have also heard others describe that he was born in the stable to teach us humility. I am not sure why Jesus was born in a stable, but I think it set Him on the path for what kind of person He wanted to be. If we have a lot of stuff, we don’t need to rely on the Lord as we feel we can provide for ourselves. We also get distracted by all that stuff and then sometimes don’t think about God or don’t want to give up that time we spend doing other stuff to spend with Him. When you experience poverty you are also more grateful for the things that you have. I now know that Jesus’ birth happened exactly as it was supposed to and was very well thought out.
The second thing I would like to talk about are the word at the end of this section. Luke 2:19 says, “But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.” I think Mary does this a lot. I remember Father Michael Gaitley talking about Mary’s heart pondering in his Book 33 Days to Morning Glory. When the magi, or the shepherds visited Jesus they told Mary and Joseph all that the Angel’s said about Jesus. Mary did not get overwhelmed, she did not freak out, she treasured all they said and she pondered them in her heart. I am not sure what I would do if I were in her circumstance. I think I would feel that was a lot of pressure, but it doesn’t seem like she felt that way.
At the end of chapter 2 in Luke it mentions Mary pondering again. Do you remember the story of when Mary & Joseph went to Jerusalem for the festival of Passover and then when it ended they started the return home and Jesus wasn’t with them? They were traveling with friends and family and assumed He was with them, but He wasn’t. They were a whole day’s journey away before they found out. When they found Him and asked Him where He was. In Luke 2:49-51 Jesus said to them, “‘Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?’ But they didn’t understand what he said to them. Then he went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. His mother treasured all these things in her heart.” I find it interesting that the verse says that Mary and Joseph didn’t understand what he said to them. I wonder if this happened a lot? At this point Jesus was 12 years old. I remember watching this scene in the show The Chosen. I remember Mary looked up to the Lord and said, “Not yet,” or “I’m not ready yet,” or something like that. I can imagine that is how she felt.
I can imagine how difficult it is when our kids grow up and move out of the house. I have several friends whose kids went to college over the last few years and they are sad they don’t see them every day. I can imagine Mary being concerned that Jesus was going to grow up and have to leave home to fulfill his destiny too soon. I don’t know how much of Jesus’ life and destiny was revealed to Mary, or when it was revealed. She new from before His conception that He would be the Son of God, but was she able to understand what that meant? Was she given an understanding of all He would have to go through? I wonder if she knew from the beginning that he was going to have to sacrifice himself for us?
Do you see why Mary would have a lot to ponder. I can imagine when others told her things, like the shepherds, she might not have understood the gravity of the situation. The definition for ponder is to think about something carefully, especially before make a decision or reaching a conclusion. A synonym for it is to meditate. It makes sense that Mary would spend a lot of time pondering things. As I said the other day, it is hard enough being the parent of any child. I can imagine the pressure would be so much greater if we were parenting God’s child.
There are so many things about Mary that we could look up to. Pondering is one of them. Instead of making decisions or leaping to conclusions before we have all the facts, maybe we can slow down and do some pondering. We could take some time and ask God what He thinks we should do, or how we should think about things. When we hear something that is upsetting or overwhelming maybe we could ponder it for a bit before we react. I know this won’t always be easy. I don’t think it was always easy for Mary either. I think it is something to consider though. Think about what normally happens when you get upset. For me, I hear something upsetting and if I react right away I am not reacting as my best self. I may say unkind things, or maybe I am sarcastic or rude. However, after I react and I have time to calm down and really think about it, I realize that I should have done things differently. What if we all took time to ponder more this year? How would our relationships be different if we pondered more before we reacted? I wonder if we would grow in wisdom if we took the time to ponder why things were happening and the meaning behind them?
Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless all those listening to this episode today. Lord, we ask that you help us to ponder more this year. Help us to slow down and not let life just pass us by. We ask that you help us to ponder the things that happen to us and why they are happening. Help us to be willing and mindful participants in our own lives. Don’t let us just sleepwalk through life on auto pilot. Help us to take it all in and enjoy it. Lord we ask that this Christmas season is amazing for all of us and that you bless those that need your blessings Lord. Please help those that are struggling and help them to feel loved. We love you Lord, you are amazing. We are so very grateful to you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.
Thank you so much for joining my on this journey to walk boldly with Jesus and this week for joining me in preparing our hearts and minds for celebrating the coming of our Savior, Lord Jesus Christ. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and I will be here to spend time with you again on Monday. Have a blessed weekend!