Last Sunday in church we looked at the account of Jesus' birth in Luke 2. One of the things that struck me from Kruger's sermon was Mary's response to the remarkable events. Luke writes 'But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart' In the previous verse Luke tells us about the shepherd's response that they spread the word about what they had seen and everyone was amazed by their story. However, it seems by using the word 'But' Luke wants to contrast Mary's response to that of the shepherds. While the response of the shepherds was perfectly natural we don't hear about them again or the people they told. But Mary treasured all these things going over and over them in her heart.
One writer points out that pondering it is not so much a weighing up as allowing matters not fully understood to reside in one's depths where they can be treasured and quietly reflected on. When a boat or ship was entering shallow water, a "pondus" or weight on a line was used to get an idea of how close the bottom of the sea was. We have a saying, to get to the bottom of it, meaning to probe and be able to see what currently is not obvious.
Bible
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, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
Luke 2: 16-19
Oh, how I love your law! I meditate on it all day long Psalm 119:97
It goes without saying that the true meaning of what was happening in the manager at Bethlehem was not immediately obvious. Imagine how confused Mary must have been, how hard it would have been for her to get her head around what just happened. There isn't a lot of time for pondering in our fast past culture, we want things as quickly and efficiently as possible, if our web page doesn't load instantly we are soon thrashing on the mouse and grunting at the screen. But like Mary we need to 'ponder' to give ourselves the time to see the depths of what is happening at Christmas. This was Mary's act of worship; this was the appropriate response to what God had done. Pondering is not just for those with too much time on their hands, but is at the heart of our worship. If we want to worship the new born King this Christmas then He invites us to take some time out of our busy lives, to ponder what it might mean for God to become man and live among us.
Prayer
Lord Jesus we confess, how little we ponder and meditate on the incredible truth that you became man and were born in a manger so that you could reveal yourself to us. Help us to turn the volume down on all the distractions around us, to turn off our media devices so we can really get what is important this Christmas. Amen
Steve
for
Kruger
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