“But Mary kept all these things, pondering them in her heart.” (Luke 2:19)
Read Luke 2: 15-21
What all did Mary “ponder in her heart?”
Perhaps she “pondered” the last year … the angel’s announcement to her nearly a year before, “Mary you have found favor with God. You will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” Or her cousin Elizabeth’s declaration, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!” Maybe she “pondered” Joseph’s and her trek to Bethlehem and Jesus’ lowly birth. Perhaps Mary “pondered” the shepherds’ account of the angels proclaiming “for to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord!”
Mary had much to reflect upon in the marvelous events of the last year of her young life.
What all did Mary “ponder in her heart?”
Perhaps, Mary wondered, “What was the meaning of it all?” “What kind of Savior would Jesus become?” “What would her son teach?” “How would the history of God’s people reflect the consequence of Jesus’ coming?”
Philippians 2: 5-11 reads, “…….. Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
What “ponderings” are in your heart this first day of the New Year? What does the significance of all we have celebrated in the past week call us to now, today - and in all our days to come? What difference does it all make? What then shall we believe or do?
The “ponderings” in my heart are mostly a challenge.
We are called to be a holy people - special, different, set-apart - just as God is holy. In a world that often ignores God, we are called to worship and pray, and witness to the Good News of the Gospel that Jesus Christ is Lord, while serving all people and continually striving for peace and justice.
May each of us rejoice today and always in this high calling.
Rev. David R. Peters
Hurricane, WV (retired UM pastor)
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