"So Joseph also went up from Nazareth to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David... He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was expecting a child.
While they were there the time came for the baby to be born and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. And she wrapped him in cloths and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn.
And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their sheep by night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them. And they were terrified!
But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people! Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you. He is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." Suddenly a great company of heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and singing,
"Glory to God in the Highest
and on earth, peace to men on whom His favor rests!"
When the angels had left them and went into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about." So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph and the baby, who was lying in the manger. When they had seen him they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child...
But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
(Luke 2:2-19)
The story of the first Christmas is familiar to me as I quietly sit reading it once again. Yet this time there is a verse that keeps pulling at me, tugging at my thoughts and beckoning me to stay a bit:
"But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."
I imagine on that first Christmas so long ago, Mary had much to treasure up...
...all that the shepherds had told her about the heavenly chorus singing because a Savior had been born.
...the words from the Angel Gabriel 9 months earlier, telling her she had found favor with God; that the Holy Spirit would come upon her, the power of the Most High would overshadow her and she would give birth to a child.
...this child would be called the Son of God. He would sit on David's throne and His Kingdom would never end.
Mary had been told great and marvelous things about this little one she had just delivered, certainly many things to treasure up!
But we are told she also "pondered them in her heart". To ponder means to think deeply and thoroughly about something, to meditate on it. It's like taking many different pieces of a puzzle and trying to fit them together in your mind to give you a sense of the big picture.
Mary had much to ponder because it would seem that none of the puzzle pieces of all she had been told were fitting together.
Mary had much to ponder because it would seem that none of the puzzle pieces of all she had been told were fitting together.
Consider her situation:
Heavy with child, she travels 80 miles with her fiance because Caesar has issued a decree. When they arrive in Bethlehem they find no one has room for them. Far from home, about to deliver, the trauma of being refused a place to lodge - she goes into labor in a dirty, filthy stable.
I cannot imagine she was expecting this.
When Almighty God Himself plants a child in your womb you would think things would go a bit smoother. If this child is the Son of the Most High God born to reign on David's throne forever, then what is she doing in this smelly manger with Joseph, her baby and some dirty shepherds who had been living in a field? She had been called "blessed" by the Angel Gabriel and "highly favored". Yet little of her present circumstances seem blessed or favorable; here she was, shunted off to a barn to deliver the Savior of the world.
Mary, indeed, had much to ponder...many pieces of a puzzle that didn't seem to fit together.
Sometimes life is like that.
How is it for you?
Are the pieces of the puzzle of your life fitting together, snapping into place easily? Or does it seem it would take a sledgehammer to make a piece fit? Maybe you are thinking there are just too many pieces of the puzzle missing; life is not turning out as you expected...
...a loved one passed away this last year and this is your first Christmas without her.
...one you love is given a diagnosis of cancer and you wonder if the treatment will work; will he be here for next Christmas?
...the lay-off notice you were fearing is now a reality, just in time for the holidays.
...your spouse has had an affair and you wonder if you will ever get over the pain and rejection.
...you are more connected than ever: internet, Facebook, Instagram. Yet you have never struggled more with loneliness and depression.
...you raised your child from birth to know Jesus; now as a young adult he has chosen to walk a different path.
When the pieces of the puzzle of our lives don't seem to fit together we, like Mary, do well to ponder, to think deeply about what it means that God chose to come as a helpless baby born in a stable to a teenage girl in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, so that he could be "Emmanuel - God with us.'"
He is not only God with us - in the really good times when the puzzle pieces seem to fall easily into place or the deepest darkest times of life when nothing seems to make sense - but he is God for us, the Apostle Paul tells us.
"And if God is for you who can be against you? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?...Christ Jesus who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No! In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."
"I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation..."
not illness - not cancer or depression - not loneliness or divorce or separation - not loss of job or loss of home - not even the loss of a loved one - nothing
"...will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8)
What do you need from him this Christmas? No situation is too great, no heart too hard, no budget too little, no marriage too lonely. God is with us, God is for us and nothing can separate us from his love!
He is calling us: ponder the story! Not the Christmas story we celebrate these days with so much busyness and things to do. Ponder the story of that first Christmas, when none of the puzzle pieces seemed to fit together. When the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Eternal and Almighty One, chose to leave his heavenly throne and come to us; God...wrapped in cloths and lying in a dirty manger.
Where could that puzzle piece possibly fit?
It fits right in with the cross of Calvary.
We cannot separate the precious little baby lying in a manger from the spotless lamb who would hang on a cross so that, by his blood, he can forever be "Emmanuel, which means God with us!" Oh how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ! He who did not spare his only son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? This is our God - with us! He is the one piece that will help you make sense out of the puzzle of your life!
This Christmas may you find that one piece of the puzzle that makes everything else fit: Emmanuel, God with us. May he be what we, like Mary, treasure up and ponder in our hearts.
How is it for you?
Are the pieces of the puzzle of your life fitting together, snapping into place easily? Or does it seem it would take a sledgehammer to make a piece fit? Maybe you are thinking there are just too many pieces of the puzzle missing; life is not turning out as you expected...
...a loved one passed away this last year and this is your first Christmas without her.
...one you love is given a diagnosis of cancer and you wonder if the treatment will work; will he be here for next Christmas?
...the lay-off notice you were fearing is now a reality, just in time for the holidays.
...your spouse has had an affair and you wonder if you will ever get over the pain and rejection.
...you are more connected than ever: internet, Facebook, Instagram. Yet you have never struggled more with loneliness and depression.
...you raised your child from birth to know Jesus; now as a young adult he has chosen to walk a different path.
When the pieces of the puzzle of our lives don't seem to fit together we, like Mary, do well to ponder, to think deeply about what it means that God chose to come as a helpless baby born in a stable to a teenage girl in Bethlehem 2000 years ago, so that he could be "Emmanuel - God with us.'"
He is not only God with us - in the really good times when the puzzle pieces seem to fall easily into place or the deepest darkest times of life when nothing seems to make sense - but he is God for us, the Apostle Paul tells us.
"And if God is for you who can be against you? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all - how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?...Christ Jesus who died - more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of God? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No! In all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us."
"I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels or demons, neither the present nor the future nor any powers, neither height nor depth nor anything else in all creation..."
not illness - not cancer or depression - not loneliness or divorce or separation - not loss of job or loss of home - not even the loss of a loved one - nothing
"...will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8)
What do you need from him this Christmas? No situation is too great, no heart too hard, no budget too little, no marriage too lonely. God is with us, God is for us and nothing can separate us from his love!
He is calling us: ponder the story! Not the Christmas story we celebrate these days with so much busyness and things to do. Ponder the story of that first Christmas, when none of the puzzle pieces seemed to fit together. When the Sovereign God of the Universe, the Eternal and Almighty One, chose to leave his heavenly throne and come to us; God...wrapped in cloths and lying in a dirty manger.
Where could that puzzle piece possibly fit?
It fits right in with the cross of Calvary.
We cannot separate the precious little baby lying in a manger from the spotless lamb who would hang on a cross so that, by his blood, he can forever be "Emmanuel, which means God with us!" Oh how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ! He who did not spare his only son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? This is our God - with us! He is the one piece that will help you make sense out of the puzzle of your life!
This Christmas may you find that one piece of the puzzle that makes everything else fit: Emmanuel, God with us. May he be what we, like Mary, treasure up and ponder in our hearts.
